ALA Executive Board,
2004 Annual Conference
Old issues revisited but not resolved.
Meeting in a sunlit room overlooking the San Diego harbor marina, the ALA Executive Board revisited contentious old issues—notably socially responsible investing and campaign procedures for candidates for ALA offices—and faced new ones at its Midwinter sessions January 9, 12, and 14.
Executive Director Keith Michael Fiels shared what he understood to be the current guidelines on support to candidates for ALA offices, based on existing policy. He drew attention to three sections of the document (EBD#12.12.1): There is no policy prohibiting endorsements by divisions, round tables, or committees; the use of funds—including budgeted funds for mailings, production of campaign materials, or use of staff time to support individual candidates—is inconsistent with ALA policy; and there is no restriction on the use of electronic discussion lists.
The board was prepared to update the guidelines to reflect any actions taken by Council at Midwinter; Council, however, chose not to act on the issue at this time (see p. 65).
The Endowment Trustees’ report (EDB#13) presented by Senior Trustee Rick Schwieterman highlighted the fact that after three years of a down market resulting in losses by ALA, the Association’s portfolio appreciated this year. Schwieterman also noted that if ALA decides to purchase real estate for use by ALA’s Washington Office, it will likely be financed with the endowment; however, he stressed that any such transaction "will be based on sound economics, with no impact on the funding for the scholarships and programs."
Schwieterman also addressed the recurring topic of socially responsible investing, focusing on the "challenge system" approved by the board at its fall meeting (AL, Dec. 2003, p. 78). He called the process, which would allow members to challenge investment holdings, "very, very complicated," "time consuming," and burdensome on staff. Schwieter-man warned that rather than being a prudent business practice, SRI is "a political matter. And I don’t know that politics lends itself to the best business decision."
"The best business decision may not be the most human, healthy, the most democratic decision," retorted Maurice Freedman. "I think there are all kinds of examples of business decisions paving the road to hell extraordinarily well." Schwieter-man answered, "What you may want to do and what is practical and feasible to do might be two different things."
At a subsequent session, the board approved a recommendation by its Finance and Audit Subcommittee (EBD#4.11) to place $200,000 of the endowment in a socially responsible mutual fund. Michael Golrick, a longtime proponent of socially responsible investing, commented that "while it’s not as far and as fast as some members would like, at least it’s reflecting the fact that we listened and heard about the importance of this as a value to some of our members."
Core quandaries
Discussion of a report (EBD#10.3) from the Core Competencies Task Force grew to encompass the Association’s protracted efforts to develop a statement of the profession’s core values. Barbara Stripling stressed that while the development of a core values statement should involve receiving a broad range of input from across the profession, a core competencies statement needs to involve specific expertise and research.
Bemoaning ALA’s difficulties in coming up with a list of core values, Michael Gorman said, "The plain fact is that we have a professional association that cannot come up with a statement of what it believes in and what you need to know in order to be a member of that profession," leading him to wonder if the process was futile.
Conference Services Director Deidre Ross reported (EBD#12.19) that Midwinter registration was 7,940, down from 10,254 last year in Philadelphia. However, she explained, the lower attendance had been expected, since locations in the Northeast are always the highest draw, so the conference revenue was some $25,000 over budget.
The board approved a skeleton schedule for Midwinter 2005 in
Boston that, in an effort to increase attendance at the Presidential Candidates’ Forum, moves the event from Monday afternoon to Sunday morning. The board also discussed exhibitors’ complaints about low traffic in the San Diego exhibit hall and ways to improve the low turnout at Membership Meetings, but no actions were taken. Exhibitors’ concerns that the growth of programmatic activities at Midwinter, which are not authorized by ALA policy, have resulted in drawing attendees away from the exhibits prompted Chair Tom Wilding to ask the board to charge his Conference Committee with reviewing Midwinter activities and developing recommendations; the board granted Wilding’s request (EBD#12.34).
Accreditation delayed
In her update (EBD#8.1, 8.1.1) on the status of recommendations stemming from the three Congresses on Professional Education, ALA Senior Associate Executive Director Mary Ghikas noted that the recommendation to explore the feasibility of an external accreditation body had been delayed, "perhaps terminally." Voicing his disappointment, Kent Oliver said that "if ALA lets this issue slip through its fingers we will be missing the boat," adding, "If we don’t proceed with this at some point, I think we are going to be in trouble."
Patricia Glass Schuman, chair of the Public Awareness Advisory Committee, updated the board on the Campaign for America’s Libraries. She praised the staff’s work on the five-year public-education effort, "despite the fact that only about 50% of what was originally budgeted has been spent on this campaign." Schuman noted that the campaign is "one of the things that makes ALA really visible to its members," but added that "we have to have at some point a long-term budgetary and staff commitment to this."
Executive Director Fiels noted that the campaign was originally envisioned at a significantly higher level of funding. Pointing out that the project received $500,000 worth of pro bono advertising in the last quarter, Fiels said more effort would be going toward supporting the campaign on soft money. He added that in the future, all the contributions made by ALA’s Library Champions would be going to public awareness efforts.
Kenneth Herlin of the accounting firm of Ernst and Young termed the auditors’ report (EBD#4.7) "a solid audit" with no material errors. This year’s audit was the first to also consolidate the accounts of the Allied Professional Association. Several board members suggested that it would be preferable to have a separate statement for the APA. "Sometimes the appearance is more important than the substance," observed Golrick. "To show that it really is a separate organization means that you have a separate audit." ALA Associate Executive Director for Finance Gregory Calloway pointed out that the ALA Executive Board also serves as the board of the APA, and "that interlocking board means you have control over these assets and that’s why it’s consolidated." However, he agreed that it would be feasible to conduct a separate audit.
Fiels gave the board an update (EBD#12.30) on progress toward development of ALA’s 2005–2010 strategic plan. He said the effort was in the initial phase, which involved gathering information from members; focus groups have already been conducted and a membership survey is being planned. The strategic plan is in "a much more active planning phase as we move out of this Midwinter conference," Fiels announced.
In her Washington Office update (EBD#12.25), Director Emily Sheketoff announced an agreement with the long-distance and credit-card company Working Assets for ALA to receive a donation for each new voter that is registered in a public library.
The board also approved President-Elect Carol Brey-Casiano’s 2004–05 presidential initiative of grassroots advocacy.
President Carla Hayden presided. Other board members present were Treasurer Teri Switzer, Kathleen Bethel, Nancy Davenport, James Rettig, and Patty Wong. —Gordon Flagg
Allied Professional Association:
Director Hired, Newsletter Launched
The brief board meeting of the ALA–Allied Professional Association opened with a pair of introductions: Executive Director Keith Michael Fiels introduced Jenifer Grady, who became the new director of the APA in December (AL, Jan., p. 8); and Office of Diversity Director Tracie Hall presented the board with copies of the inaugural issue of Versed, the office’s monthly newsletter, which will be a perquisite of organizational membership in ALA.
Fiels reported on progress toward APA’s offering public library certification. As part of his work on a master’s in business administration, Association for Library Trustees and Advocates Director Kerry Ward will be developing a marketing plan for the certification program. Fiels added that the next certification will be for library technical assistants.
Maurice Freedman reported on the activities of the ALA-APA Committee on Salaries and Status of Library Workers. In addition to items covered in his report to the APA Council (see p. 66), Freedman announced a proposal to set aside one day of National Library Week to honor people who work in libraries, tentatively deemed "Library Workers Day" (see p. 8).
The board also approved a revised memorandum of understanding (APABD#4.0.1) that changes the method of assessing overhead on the APA to one based on a head count of FTE staff rather than revenue.
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