Association leaders wobble through a
pas de deux for one.
“It’s a little bit like creating a parallel universe,” said President John W. Berry as he struggled to bring order to the ALA Executive Board’s awkward attempts at hammering out its new concurrent role as the board of ALA’s just-launched Allied Professional Association. Despite its modest size (13 members), the board’s three Annual Conference sessions, June 14, 17, and 19, were only moderately less confusing than those of Council (with 170 members).
The efforts of Immediate Past President Nancy Kranich, who led the 13-member transition team charged with getting the APA off the ground (EBD#8.7), were repeatedly thwarted and no attempts to simplify the process yielded results, nor did they head off the mayhem that broke out in Council.
“This is a high-risk initiative for the board,” warned Treasurer Liz Bishoff, saying membership must buy the products and services created in the APA in order to finance advocacy for better salaries and benefits for librarians. The adjunct association was formed for that purpose last year—after seven years of planning.
In good-humored frustration, Berry devised a method to distinguish one board from the other. “When we meet as the APA board,” he quipped, “we will all speak French.”
At another point in the proceedings, the ALA board found itself demanding that the APA board prepare a business plan before any operating loan could be arranged. The exercise of making a demand as one board and responding as another proved more baffling than productive. The problem: The ALA board and the APA board are two distinct bodies—except that they are the same body.
During a presentation (EBD#3.0, #3.4.2) by Patricia Smith, chair of the Budget Analysis and Review Committee, the board voted to allot $15,000 from the executive director’s contingency fund to prepare the APA business plan.
The ALA board did finally manage to convene briefly as the APA board, but foundered on budget issues. Board member Molly Raphael observed that ratifying a budget ceiling before seeing a business plan did not seem like the appropriate sequence. Kranich countered that the point of establishing a ceiling was to shape the scope and depth of the business plan. “New businesses start out with a concept and a loan, like a start-up company.”
ALA Counsel Paula Goedert was called to the table and explained that the APA could move forward without a budget decision, so the board deferred discussion until its fall meeting, when a business plan would be due.
Rocks in the whirlpool
“Our own history is being lost,” said Kathleen de la Peña McCook, presenting the board with a study (EBD#5.1) of ALA’s focus on “equity of access,” which has proven to be the most difficult key action area for the board to get a grip on (the others being diversity, literacy, intellectual freedom, and education/continuous learning). Calling the study Rocks in the Whirlpool, McCook said her quest for documentation of activity related to access revealed that Association records are spotty, scattered, and often missing entirely.
The board agreed that “access” tends to be marginalized because it has no ALA office, committee, or other home in the organization, but they were reluctant to conclude that an office should be established. “Equity of access” belongs to everyone, the study shows, “which may, in bureaucratic structure, mean no one.”
President Berry said that one of his task forces would be recommending an appropriate way to institutionalize this priority area.
Wrangling over accreditation
Jane Robbins, chair of the Committee on Accreditation, noted that ALA has “the best accreditation process in the U.S.” Her report to the board (EBD#10.4) called for approval of a revised appeal process, which contained new language incorporating two grounds for appeal if accreditation is denied to a library school—“procedural errors” or “arbitrary, capricious, or not supported by significant, relevant information or evidence.”
President-elect Maurice Freedman said that if an appeal were launched the board would seem to have fiduciary responsibility in the process with only “observer status” and no authority. Robbins responded that removal of accreditation is a lengthy and well-documented process, and that the committee works diligently at avoiding appeals.
Treasurer Bishoff again expressed concern that “an ALA committee with no fiduciary responsibility can put ALA in court,” and “I am troubled by that.”
The fact is, said Robbins, who is dean of the School of Information Studies at Florida State University, “judgments are made. It’s the way we as human beings have agreed to go on with things. That’s what the education of people is all about.”
Robbins and Office for Accreditation Director Ann O’Neill tried to convince the board that the appeals process was sound, but the board concluded that it needed to consult further with ALA counsel before action could be taken.
President Freedman takes the helm
For its third conference session, the board shifted to new leadership, saying goodbye to board members Nancy Kranich, Julie Cummins, and Alice Calabrese, and welcoming new members Kathleen Bethel and Nancy Davenport. Newly inaugurated President Maurice Freedman replaced John W. Berry as meeting chair.
Bishoff announced that the fall budget adjustments were effective and that “we’ll be $115,000 in excess revenue over expenses” at the end of the fiscal year, August 31. The board approved the FY 2003 budgetary ceiling of $49,721,383 recommended by its Finance and Audit Subcommittee.
Action roundup
In other actions (or in some cases inactions) the board:
Other board members present were: Camila Alire, Kenton Oliver, and Patricia Wong. —L.K.