ALA Council,
2001 Annual Conference

Although discussion of the Marriott Hotel boycott took up more than half of ALA Council’s four-hour final meeting at Annual Conference, the debate over whether the Association should require a boycott clause in its hotel contracts ended in referral. Issues such as preservation, privatization, and continuing education got less time but more action from Council during its three sessions at the Moscone Center in San Francisco June 17, 19, and 20.

The long Marriott debate grew out of a resolution (CD#61) brought forward by councilor Al Kagan asking that all hotel contracts contain both a strike clause (as is current practice) and a boycott clause, “providing the flexibility to void contracts where labor bodies have endorsed either type of organized action.”

Numerous councilors lined up at the microphones to take sides on the issue. ALA Executive Director William Gordon was asked to provide details about how the policy would affect hotel contract negotiations. He pointed out that the penalty to withdraw from the Marriott over the boycott would have been $465,000, but admitted that if there had been a strike there would have been no penalty because there is a strike clause in the contract.

ALA President-elect Maurice Freedman took issue with Gordon’s assertion that a boycott clause would make ALA less desirable to hotels and conference centers, saying that ALA is a very attractive organization to convention cities. Others wanted to know if other organizations include a boycott clause in their contracts, and councilor Sarah Pritchard said that the American Public Health Association does.

After prolonged debate, councilor Karen G. Schneider moved that the resolution be referred to the Conference Committee. “This is not a move to tank the resolution,” she said. “This is a move that is from my own conflict as a former shop steward with local 400 right here in San Francisco and yet as somebody who is sensitive to budget issues. This has very costly implications.” Her motion passed, with a report due at Midwinter next year from both the Conference Committee and the Budget Analysis and Review Committee, as requested by ALA Treasurer Liz Bishoff.

Preservation plus

A draft revision of ALA’s 1991 preservation policy (CD#39.1), presented by Ross Atkinson, was greeted by some as timely, in light of the criticism of library practices launched by Nicholson Baker, author of Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper, whose talk at the San Francisco conference attracted some 500 people. Atkinson assured the group, however, that “the committee was working on this long before we were double-folded.”

Several councilors objected to the policy’s language concerning “replacement or reformatting of deteriorated materials,” hoping to amend it so that preservation in all formats is encouraged. Councilor Don Sager observed that the policy did not include the responsibility libraries have for preserving their own history.

Councilor Peter Graham argued that “we have to recognize that moths and rust are going to win. There is a misleading idea, which Baker and others have been circulating, that somehow we can stave off the destruction of all that we have ever thought and said. We know this is not true. . . . There is something fundamental about our understanding of our lives and civilization and realizing it’s an important battle we have to fight; but like the battle for our own lives, we are not going to win it.”

Councilor Mark Rosenzweig argued that “anything that is worth the cost and effort of reformatting is worth keeping as an original copy,” and ALA’s preservation policy should take a strong stand to that effect.

The argument over whether Baker is right or wrong continued as several other councilors spoke to the amendment, pro and con, but in the end the preservation policy was adopted as presented. Atkinson said the new policy preserves the concepts and values of the 1991 version but emphasizes the preservation of digital information and the role of the federal government.

Long-awaited privatization policy

Having evolved through four years of debates, referrals, and task forces related to “outsourcing,” a policy on “privatization” prepared by the ALA Executive Board and presented by Sally Reed was finally passed by Council, over the objections of several councilors representing the interests of public libraries. The statement reads that ALA “affirms that publicly funded libraries should remain directly accountable to the publics they serve” and “opposes the shifting of policy-making and management oversight of library services from the public to the private, for-profit sector.”

Objections to the hard-won policy centered on what councilor Christine Hage called “a governing board’s prerogative to hire whomever they would like . . . to develop policy for them.”

Public Library Association councilor Jo Ann Pinder spoke against the policy, saying it was “fine that ALA affirms that we should be directly accountable to the publics we serve, but if those publics decide that they are better served by having a lawyer come in and write their policies, if they are better served by having a lawyer come in and work with management, then it is a local decision.”

“Many of our policies of values and standards set a high bar,” said Reed, “and not all libraries achieve them or desire to achieve them, and that’s certainly their prerogative. One of the obligations of a professional association is to set the standard as high as possible for the good of the people we serve.”

Advancing continuing education

Major steps toward changing ALA’s role in library education got Council approval. The first was a proposal to establish an allied professional organization, a 501(c)(6), to certify librarians in areas of specialization beyond the master’s degree. Although there were objections, ALA’s governing body also approved a draft of bylaws for the establishment of this “institute for professional practice.”

Councilor Beverly Lynch said the bylaws should be more like those that govern ALA’s Freedom to Read Foundation and that the new organization should be set up with more independence from the Association. Others began to question the value of voluntary certification and ways it might damage professionals who do not choose to seek it.

Presented by chair Mary Y. Moore, the Committee on Education’s report (CD#50.3) also included a confusing recommendation that the Committee on Organization lengthen the term of service on COE. Councilor Pritchard moved, to Council approval, that the matter of structure and term lengths in view of the new certification process be referred to COO so that “the most optimal revisions may be proposed.”

Susan K. Martin, chair of the External Accreditation Task Force, said no official action was being requested of Council until next year, but she said the group will continue its work on a proposal for the establishment of an external organization for the accreditation of programs in library and information studies to replace the current ALA-run system (CD#40.1). She invited input.

Crossing the $50-million mark

“We’re hitting a major milestone with this budget,” said ALA Treasurer Bishoff, “as we have just crossed the $50-million mark for the first time, with a budgetary ceiling of $50,119,000.” Her report (CD#13.5) summarized the basic FY 2002 budget assumptions, including the continuation of the “ALAction 2005” five-year plan and the implementation of membership and technology business plans.

Questions from Council mainly concerned specific programs. Michael Golrick asked if the disabilities pavilion was to become a permanent fixture of Annual Conferences. Harriet Ying asked if 50 Spectrum scholarships were included in the budget. Executive Director Gordon said the pavilion would continue, and Bishoff said the number of Spectrum scholarships depends on the rate of return from the Spectrum endowment fund and the level of success of the Scholarship Bash.

Reporting as chair of the Membership Meetings Task Force (CD#41), Kent Oliver said the second meeting at conference had drawn a quorum thanks to the topic of the day, the Children’s Internet Protection Act, and that the task force planned to continue the practice of an assigned topic. The life of the task force was extended for another year, and Oliver said the possibility of having one long meeting instead of two short ones was being considered.

Meanwhile, councilor Larry Romans successfully introduced a resolution (CD#60) to establish a special committee to examine the concerns of members who favor and oppose lowering the quorum requirement from 1% of total members; the committee will collect information about how similar organizations conduct membership meetings, and develop recommendations.

Councilor Andrew Venable introduced two resolutions (CD#62, #63) directing that ALA avoid holidays in the scheduling of conferences. Although several councilors argued that meeting during the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday presented ALA members with a golden opportunity to honor the slain civil rights leader, the majority voted that the Association should try to avoid scheduling Midwinter Meetings during the holiday. A second resolution, to avoid Father’s Day, was defeated.

President-elect John W. Berry was taken to task by councilor Erlene Bishop Killeen for the way he chaired the Council Committee on Committees nominations. Killeen said she wanted her name removed from the list of committee members, since she “had no input into this list.”

Proceedings ground to a halt while Berry apologized; nominations were reopened, and the committee met again and ratified the slate. Elected to the Council Committee on Committees were Kate Nevins, Michael Golrick, Susan Madden, and Vivian Melton (one of those nominated from the floor), and as representatives to the Planning and Budget Assembly (CD#12.2) David S. Clark, Marilyn Schulte, Diane Tebbetts, June Pinnell-Stephens, and Jennifer Jung Gallant.

Committee on Legislation chair Patricia Smith sent a resolution sailing through Council (CD#20.8-9) urging the U.S. Department of State to include representation from the library and educational community to the Draft Hague Convention of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Cases, which has implications for libraries concerning contracts and intellectual-property rights.

International Relations Committee chair Jordan Scepanski presented a resolution on Cuba (CD#18.2-3), which passed with little debate. It urges the U.S. government to share information materials widely with Cuba, especially with libraries, and to lower postal rates for library materials sent there. The resolution also asks IFLA to join ALA in opposing all efforts to limit access to information in Cuba’s libraries.

Ross Atkinson also successfully presented a resolution (CD#66) calling for Congress and the Smithsonian Institution to restore funding to the Smithsonian Center for Materials Research and Education. “This is an important federal program,” he said, “that is being eliminated without any discussion with anyone.”

ALA is a great example of democracy at work, said Nancy Kranich, summing up her year as president of the Association, and her theme of libraries as the cornerstone of democracy. “When we try to get our message out, when we are proactive, when we sue the government on CIPA and get our message out to the media, we get far better results that when we are on the defensive.”

Council takes action

Among other actions, Council:

• Received activity reports from President Kranich (CD#21.1), President-elect Berry (CD#29.1), and Executive Director Gordon (CD#9.1, #15.2).
• Paid tribute to ALA affiliate Reforma: The National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking, on its 30th anniversary, in a resolution presented by Executive Board member Camila Alire.
• Received a progress report from the Core Values Task Force II, chaired by Patricia Glass Schuman, and endorsed the committee’s efforts to continue the discussion about formulating a set of core values for the profession. A final report is due in 2003.
• Received a report (CD#22.1) from Candace Morgan, president of ALA’s Freedom to Read Foundation, describing various legal actions FTRF is involved in. She drew special attention to the foundation’s amicus brief in AAMA v. Kendrick, a case in which the rights of minors to access video games was upheld in the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago.
• Received a report from the Intellectual Freedom Committee (CD#19.5), presented by chair Margo Crist. She highlighted the committee’s work on an interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights on privacy.
• Accepted a report (CD#17.1) from Ma’lis Wendt, chair of the Policy Monitoring Committee, a review of policy actions taken by Council during ALA’s Midwinter Meeting. 
• Referred to the Budget Analysis and Review Committee a resolution from Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Services (CD#65) councilor Jan Ison calling for a financial commitment to ALSC’s Roads to Learning Initiative, a grant-funded program that ends in October.