All Activities, Great and Small, Need to Be Documented

One of the many benefits of being ALCTS Newsletter Online editor is receiving copies of the committee and discussion group reports after each conference. This gives me a valuable “snapshot” of the many activities in which our division is engaged. I encourage you to read the two articles I compiled for this issue, because I think you'll agree there is a lot going on. However, these articles will be even more valuable if every committee, task force, and DG chair turns in a report. There are over one hundred committees and discussion groups in our division, but I received reports from fewer than sixty after the Midwinter Meeting in Washington. I am not asking for these solely for my own purposes; these reports are the official record of our divisional activities and provide continuity and history as leadership changes occur. If you are unclear about your reporting responsibilities, please read Documenting Your Work, a portion of the online ALCTS Policy and Procedures Manual. Perhaps you do not know that you can now submit these forms very easily online. They are available in either HTML or PDF format at www.ala.org/alcts/you/manual/forms/index.html, and the HTML version files the report electronically with both the ACLTS office and your humble editor.

This issue contains part 2 of the reports that our division representatives to IFLA filed on last August's conference in Jerusalem, and a Q & A session with the three candidates for ALA president in this spring's election. I want to thank Janet Swan Hill for her work on the latter article. We also have statements of concern from the two candidates for ALCTS vice president/president-elect, a report on division finances, and other news of our recent conference.

By the time you read this column, Karen Muller will have several weeks under her belt in her new position as ALA Librarian and Knowledge Manager. We wish Karen all the best in her new assignment, and extend hearty thanks to her for all she has done for us, individually and collectively, over the past fourteen years as our division executive director.

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