Chair Jan Sanders presented the Committee on Legislation’s resolution supporting congressional efforts to amend the USA Patriot Act.

Ismail Abdullahi, associate professor at the Clark Atlanta University School of Library and Information Studies, urged Council to pass a resolution deploring the school’s scheduled closing.

Nann Blaine Hilyard was elected to a three-year term on the Executive Board.

Janet Swan Hill, newly elected to the Executive Board. 

 
Norman Horrocks saw Council reject a measure that would have rescinded the ALA motto he had resurrected 15 years ago. 

ALA Council,
2004 Annual Conference

It may have been the mellowing effect of the Southern California sunshine and balmy temperatures, or perhaps you can chalk it up to extensive preconference discussion on ALA Council’s online discussion list; but potentially contentious issues that faced the Association’s governing body were dispatched swiftly and civilly at the group’s three San Diego sessions, January 12, 13, and 14.

Foremost among the potential pitfalls was the quagmire surrounding ALA’s policies—or lack of such—regarding Cuba, which have been the subject of recent attacks by newspaper editorialists, notably civil libertarian Nat Hentoff, who condemn ALA for failing to defend the self-styled "independent librarians" who operate small private libraries out of their homes in Cuba. After an unsuccessful attempt to pass a resolution on the contentious issue at last summer’s Annual Conference (AL, Aug. 2003, p. 79–80), Council directed the International Relations Committee and the Intellectual Freedom Committee to take another stab at it. In San Diego the IRC asked Council to adopt the committees’ joint report (CD#18.1) as ALA’s statement on matters relating to freedom of access to information in Cuba.

The document, based largely upon previous findings and resolutions of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, "joins IFLA in support and assistance to the Cuban library community in safeguarding free access to print and electronic information, including the Internet"; "supports IFLA in its call for the elimination of the U.S. embargo"; "joins IFLA in its deep concern over the arrest and long prison terms of political dissidents in Cuba in spring 2003"; urges the Cuban government to respect Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights; and "joins with IFLA in urging the Cuban library community to monitor violations of freedom of access to information and freedom of expression."

Councilor Karen Schneider submitted and then withdrew a more strongly worded resolution (CD#55). She later attempted to add an amendment to the IRC report (CD#55.1) that would have called for the immediate release of the dissidents, but, fearing that would upset what Councilor Michael Gorman called the "masterpiece of consensus" that IRC and IFC had hammered out, Council rejected her suggestion.

Council took a more active stance closer to home by approving a resolution supporting congressional moves to amend the USA Patriot Act (CD#20.2). Another resolution calling for repeal of the entire act (CD#58) was withdrawn by its movers, Al Kagan and ALA Immediate Past President Maurice Freedman, who said they hope to revisit the issue at Annual Conference in Orlando. Council had passed an earlier resolution opposing sections of the law at last year’s Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia (AL, Mar. 2003, p. 63–64).

Displeasure on the part of some councilors over ALA’s legal counsel, Jenner & Block, was on display in a resolution (CD#59) submitted by Freedman, who said the measure was prompted by the firm’s taking on as a client Divine, a company that Freedman said "has caused more damage to America’s library’s and serials publishers than any other in history" by leaving them holding the bag after its business collapsed (AL, Apr. 2003, p. 22). Pointing out that a court had found no conflict of interest in Jenner & Block’s representing Divine, June Pinnell-Stephens added that ALA has had a long-term relationship with the firm, which has considerable expertise in the Association’s areas of concern. "I share the outrage, but I suggest that we direct it at the wrongdoer, not at their lawyers," she said.

Council voted to send the first part of Freedman’s resolution, which sought to establish a policy for dealing with the retention of legal counsel in cases of conflicts with ALA or the interest of libraries, to the Budget Analysis and Review Committee. The second part, which expressed ALA’s "outrage and extreme displeasure" over Jenner & Block’s representation of Divine, was rejected.

A resolution deploring the closing of the Clark Atlanta University School of Library and Information Studies and calling upon the trustees and administration to rescind their decision (CD#35) passed resoundingly. The school, the only ALA-accredited library science program in Georgia and one of only two nationwide at historically black schools, is set to close at the end of the current academic year (AL, Nov. 2003, p. 14).

Council accepted a pair of items (CD#25) submitted by the Constitution and Bylaws Committee for placement on the spring ballot for a vote by membership. The first, which would amend the ALA Constitution to eliminate the current procedure of a mail vote by membership when the position of ALA treasurer becomes vacant, passed with little comment.

However, the second measure, which would add a new membership category for support staff, with a separate dues amount of $35, drew considerable discussion. Some counselors voiced a preference for a flexible dues schedule based on salaries that would apply to all library workers—Tom Wilding pointed out that he knew librarians who earned less than his support staff—but ultimately Council voted to offer membership the opportunity to decide.

Treasurer’s tidings

"The bad news is that revenue decreased from 2002," reported ALA Treasurer Teri Switzer (CD#13.0). "But the good news is, so did our expenses." After a deficit of $634,000 last year, ALA managed to realize a positive net gain of $115,000 in FY2003, said Switzer.

Conference revenues declined by $3 million, mostly due to decreased attendance at the Toronto Annual Conference, which took in nearly $750,000 less than the 2002 Atlanta conference. Additionally, division conference revenue was $2 million less than in 2002, due largely to the fact that only one division conference was held, compared with two the previous year. However, Switzer explained, ALA adjusted its budget and implemented an expense-reduction plan, and the final figure came in "right on the mark."

Switzer noted that over the past 12 years ALA membership has increased 26%, revenues have increased 72%, and expenses have gone up 80%; however, she added, the endowment increased 94%, dues revenue has increased 66%, and total publishing revenues have gone up 54%.

As ALA begins planning for FY2005, said Switzer, "We need to continue to expect lower revenue streams from interest income, advertising, meetings, and conferences and graphics." She observed that ALA’s greatest strength is "the ability to look to the future and outside the box, analyze what is going on in the general economy, and make adjustments when needed."

"The past couple of years have been a test for ALA," Switzer said, "and we passed. We remain financially solid. However, we have to continue to study our investments. . . . We need to continue to monitor trends to make sure we are heading in the right direction and have the financial resources to do what we want and need to do."

Earlier, BARC Chair Patricia Smith had called FY2003 "a roller coaster of a year." In her report to Council (CD#33), Smith gave five reasons ALA managed to end the year in the black: members and staff contained expenses; the Executive Board and ALA management made "tough and painful" cuts; the vendor community allowed ALA to apply half of the Toronto cancellation fees to the following year’s Orlando conference; ALA staff negotiated concessions from the Toronto hospitality industry; and ALA management tracked management and financial information to provide accurate financial forecasts. "It was one hell of a year," Smith concluded, "and we have an extraordinary staff who really, really made us all very proud."

Values added

Along with the ALA Executive Board and membership, Council took part in a discussion of the profession’s core values as part of the ongoing effort to develop a core values statement. Following small-group breakout discussions, participants proposed myriad additions to the already lengthy list of suggested values. Several speakers warned about the need to distinguish values (such as "learning") from the means to achieve those values (such as "collaboration"); others warned against confusing values with goals.

At the close of the hour-long session, Patricia Glass Schuman, chair of the ALA Core Values II Task Force, promised that the group would try its best to fulfill its charge of coming back with a statement of core values at the Annual Conference in Orlando.

A proposal by Janet Swan Hill to rescind the ALA motto (CD#57) provoked what was arguably the liveliest discussion of the three sessions, and some of the best rhetoric heard on the floor of Council in recent memory. Hill argued that the motto—"The best reading, for the largest number, at the least cost"—was "not only seriously outdated and incomplete, but also paternalistic and condescending." She suggested that the Association retract it in order to have "an empty space" for a new motto that would stem from its current efforts to develop a core values statement.

Michael Golrick pointed out that the motto, which had fallen into disuse, was restored by Council in 1988 at the urging of Norman Horrocks (who had earlier been selected, along with Sanford Berman, for honorary membership, the Association’s highest honor). Golrick agreed with Hill, however, that the phrase should be replaced with one that was "short, snappy, catchy, and really reflects what the Association stands for."

Although Elaine Harger agreed that the phrase was "a very quaint, outdated motto," she noted that "it still embodies something that is still very important to this Association and to every library."

Calling herself "probably the only person in the world who uses this motto" when she asks her library school students to come up with contemporary substitutes, Loriene Roy pointed out that the motto was written by ALA founder Melvil Dewey at the birth of ALA. Maurice Freedman noted that Dewey was a "sexist, anti-Semite, and racist, but he did something good for us. I’d like to keep that part of Mr. Dewey’s legacy."

Michael Gorman argued that dropping the motto would represent an "implied retreat from a commitment to reading and literacy." Even more urgently, Carol Barta maintained that the motto’s values were "embedded in the very marrow of your bones. Do we not all do these exact things as we work in our libraries—Promote reading? Wring that last penny out of our budgets so we can provide the best things for the patrons? This is the deepest core value of our librarians than I can imagine. And I think it’s what most of us live for, whether we are conscious of it or not."

"My board of trustees loves the third part," said Mario Gonzalez. "My community loves the first part. And the Friends of my library love the middle part. . . . If you do rescind it, then I’ll take it for my library."

Favoring the motion, Wyma Rogers said she was "just fascinated that there is such passionate support for a motto that people have forgotten all about twice" and that "had to be brought back in 1988, to be forgotten again." Karen Schneider stressed that the statement didn’t speak to her work as a digital library manager—"We don’t have any books, we don’t have a building"—and added that the motto is "old" and "stale. Women couldn’t vote when it was written." But Ellen Zyroff maintained that "best reading" didn’t necessarily apply just to books, observing, "It can be taken as a metaphor for what we do today, including the electronic and all the values and efficiencies that we are looking for."

As the discussion wound down, Hill expressed her surprise at how few people seemed to view the motto as a condescending view "reflecting a history in which librarians regarded themselves as the social superiors of the poor, whom they were going to satisfy with reading." She stressed that the phrase was "seriously paternalistic and reflecting an aim of libraries that we have long since abandoned, and a vision of ourselves that we no longer hold." Despite Hill’s final impassioned argument, her proposal failed by a vote of 52–98.

Action roundup

In additional actions, Council:

• Received a report (CD#16) from Senior Endowment Trustee Rick Schwieterman that noted the market value of the endowment was approaching $19 million—an $8-million increase from the prior year, due mostly to the sale of ALA’s Huron Plaza headquarters building (AL, Dec. 2003, p. 78), as well as favorable changes in the stock market.
• Defeated a resolution on endorsements and use of funds by divisions and round tables in ALA elections (CD#56). Mover Ling Hwey Jeng said the measure was intended to reflect the current practices of the groups, but councilors speaking on the proposal called it unnecessary, several of them observing that it fixes something that isn’t broken.
• Passed a resolution opposing the Database and Collections of Information Misappropriation Act (CD#20.1).
• Elected Janet Swan Hill and Nann Blaine Hilyard to serve three-year terms on the Executive Board beginning at the 2004 Annual Conference (CD#11.2).
• Heard Membership Committee Chair Linda Williams report (CD#24) that ALA has chosen Marsh & McLennan Companies to offer a health-insurance package to members. Rollout of the program is scheduled for this spring.
• Received an update (CD#34) on the work of the Task Force on Rural School, Tribal, and Public Libraries. Task Force member Carol Barta said the group has received a large amount of raw data, and it plans to present its findings and recommendations to Council at Annual Conference in Orlando.
• Heard Conference Committee Chair Tom Wilding pass along concerns from exhibitors about unhappiness with the traffic in the Midwinter exhibit hall. "We need to find ways to encourage people to go," said Wilding, "but we also need to find ways to make it possible for them to go in a four-day period, where there are 2,800 meetings calling for them." He said a possible remedy would be for each division to schedule a no- or low-conflict time to give their members opportunity to visit the exhibits. The Executive Board subsequently took up the problem (see p. 66). —Gordon Flagg

Allied Professional Association:
Salaries and Status at the Forefront

While President Carla Hayden was being interviewed about the Newbery and Caldecott awards on San Diego’s Fox Morning Show, President-elect Carol Brey-Casiano presided over the January 13 meeting of the ALA–Allied Professional Association.

Maurice Freedman, chair of the ALA–APA Committee on Salaries and Status of Library Workers, provided an update on his group’s work. Nine people have been appointed to the committee, which has a structure analogous to the original makeup of the Social Responsibilities Round Table: an informal working group structure without fixed memberships or formal appointments. Some of the groups will go out of business once their task is completed, Freedman explained, and some of the tasks will be "ongoing and eternal—unless we all solve the problem of salaries for every single library worker in the country, which probably will make it eternal, anyway."

The working groups include a Video Advocacy group, which has been funded to produce a 12-minute video designed as an advocacy tool for better salaries, pay equity, and comparable worth; and a Training and Advocacy group that will meet in Orlando.

Freedman added that the AFL-CIO, which "has taken a great interest in the activities of the APA salaries committee," plans to sponsor a free breakfast with a speaker at the Orlando Annual Conference in June. He also announced a handshake agreement with Dynix Corporation to fund an annual award of $5,000 to the person who has done the most to promote better salaries and pay equity for library workers.

In its sole vote, the Council passed a resolution presented by Janet Swan Hill (ALA-APA CD#5) establishing a membership and charge for the ALA-APA Committee on Organization. Hill added that ALA–APA COO will investigate questions that have been raised about the activity of ALA–APA members who might be public employees whose conditions of employment place restrictions on their lobbying activities. COO plans to ask ALA’s legal counsel to attend a future meeting to discuss the matter and its possible ramifications.