ALA Executive Board,
Midwinter 2000
Plans Move Forward—Both External and Internal
The ALA Executive Board’s three Midwinter Meeting sessions in San Antonio, January 14, 17, and 19, concentrated on the management body’s planning role—both within the Association and in connection with a new communications strategy aimed at educating the public about the value of libraries.
Subsequently approved by ALA Council, the board’s “ALAction 2005” five-year plan (EBD#12.15) recommits the Association to its “five key action areas” (diversity, education and continuous learning, equity of access, intellectual freedom, and literacy) and identifies four “action goals,” stating that by 2005 ALA will:
- Have increased support for libraries and librarians by communicating clearly and strongly why libraries and librarians are unique and valuable.
- Be recognized as the leading voice for equitable access to knowledge and information resources in all formats for all people.
- Be a leader in the use of technology for communication with, democratic participation by, and shared learning among its members.
- Be a leader in continuing education for librarians and library personnel.
Speaking directly to the first of the four goals, consultant Jennifer Sosin of BSMG Worldwide explained that a new public-education campaign will be ready for unveiling in July. Meanwhile, its messages are being developed: Libraries are one-stop shops, they are part of the American Dream, and they are changing and dynamic places.
Sosin said the campaign will cost $611,500, not including the four to five staff that will be required to execute it. She suggested that the basis for the campaign will be the network of activity and contacts ALA already has. “We need to be the architects of a house that contains all those rooms of activity,” she said, instead of the owners of “the dispersed trailer park of communication” ALA now has. The board approved the direction of the campaign.
Plans for the public relations effort were complicated by ALA Executive Director William Gordon’s announcement that Linda Wallace, director of the Public Information Office since 1984, has resigned, effective March 1. At least one board member expressed concern about the short time frame, but Gordon and Peggy Barber, associate executive director for communications, were confident that the plan will proceed on schedule.
White House may sponsor forum
Robert Willard, executive director of the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, informed the board that President Clinton has expressed interest in sponsoring a national forum on libraries (EBD#1.11), similar to but smaller than the White House Conferences on Libraries and Information Services held in 1979 and 1991. He said he had reminded the president that he had spoken at the last WHCLIS shortly before his presidency and that another library conference would make a nice capstone. “He seemed interested,” Willard said, asking for ALA’s participation.
Who gets the windfall?
At least two of the “$150 billion” in suggestions Gordon has received for what to do with the $3-million windfall ALA received as a result of the refinancing of Huron Plaza made themselves known in San Antonio. During his report for the endowment trustees, Bernard Margolis encouraged the board to put the entire amount back into the endowment, which was the original agreement (EBD#12.20, #13.3).
Meanwhile, Betty Turock, E. J. Josey, Seoud Matta, and Janice Koyama, reporting for the President’s Special Advisory Committee on the Spectrum Scholarship Program, asked that $1 million from the windfall be used to enrich the Spectrum scholarship fund for minority library school students and to carry it past the four years for which it is currently authorized. She noted that the committee viewed this as money in addition to the $1-million fundraising goal already set for the committee. Turock said approximately $350,000 had been raised toward that goal.
Immediate Past President Ann Symons pointed out that although the 1988 agreement says the money will go into the endowment, the board could overturn that action. A decision is expected at the board’s spring meeting.
The board met consultant Sandra Danforth, temporary ALA development officer, who is overseeing the transition of the Fund for America’s Libraries into a development office. She and Gordon said a plan for the new office will also be completed by the board’s spring meeting (EBD#12.18).
Gordon emphasized that the development office’s fundraising must be “strategic” so as not to compete with local fundraising. Danforth said the office will serve the mission of the organization and that its priorities should reflect the priorities in the new ALAction 2005 plan.
Action summary
The board also:
- Received a question-and-answer sheet (EBD#1.6.1) itemizing current policy and practice with regard to the question “Who speaks for ALA?” The sheet led to lively debate and disagreement on the floor of Council (see p. 77), and Julie Cummins, board liaison to the Social Responsibilities Round Table, warned that SRRT plans to continue to operate as it has in the past with regard to communicating ALA policy to the outside world.
- Learned from Washington Office Director Emily Sheketoff that April 11 is “Thank You Day” during National Library Week, an opportunity for librarians to build closer relationships with their legislators.
- Accepted an audit (EBD#4.9, #4.10) from Ernst and Young that identified “no matters considered to be internal weaknesses,” according to auditor Frank Jakosz. The board nevertheless voted to draft a letter to the firm taking issue with some of the “management points” in the audit, which members felt were related to the new iMIS association management system recently installed at ALA Headquarters.
- Approved Minneapolis as the site of the Association of College and Research Libraries’ national conference, April 7–10, 2005 (EBD#12.22), and Kansas City as the site of the American Association of School Librarians national conference, October 21–26, 2003 (EBD#12.17).
- Received a report (EBD#7.3) from President-elect Nancy Kranich on plans for her presidential year, 2000–2001; $100,000 is budgeted for initiatives related to her theme of “Libraries Are the Cornerstone of Democracy.”
- Approved the allocation of $64,570 as a one-time, two-year expense for accreditation appeals (EBD#12.11) during a report from Liz Bishoff for the Budget Analysis and Review Committee (EBD#3.11).
- Received an update on the forthcoming second Congress on Professional Education, to focus on continuing education (EBD#5.0).
The board meetings were chaired by ALA President Sarah Ann Long (EBD#7.0). Other board members present at some or all of the meetings were Alice Calabrese, Treasurer Bruce Daniels, Mart¡n Gomez, Ken Haycock, James Neal, Robert Newlen, and Sally Reed.
—Leonard Kniffel
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