From the President
 Change
in CMDS Leadership
It is with considerable regret that I have accepted the resignation of
Bonnie Cox as chair of the Collection Management and Development Section.
Bonnie has been an active member of ALCTS and CMDS and was very excited
to have been elected chair.
Unfortunately, Bonnie's partner of 40 years, Guy Davenport, is seriously
ill, and Bonnie has decided to retire at the end of December to spend
as much time with him as possible. We will miss her expertise and enthusiasm.
I have assured her that our thoughts and prayers will be with both of
them.
Fortunately, chair-elect, Larry Alford, has agreed to assume early leadership
of CMDS effective immediately. Essentially, Larry will serve a two-year
term as chair (Bonnie's term as well as his own). In the Spring 2005 elections,
a chair elect for CMDS will be elected as usual. That person's term as
chair will begin following the Annual Conference in 2006. Larry has already
picked up the reins of the section with preparations for Midwinter well
underway. I am grateful for his quick and ready agreement to take on these
additional duties.
ALCTS Newsletter Online Editor Search
Miriam Palm, ALCTS Newsletter Online (ANO) Editor, will complete
her five-year term this coming summer. As I contemplate finding a replacement
for Miriam, I recognize what a tall order that will be. If your name has
ever appeared on one of Miriam's naughty or nice lists about submission
of reports for the Newsletter, you'll understand the size of the
shoes to be filled by her successor. We want to name the next editor by
the end of summer 2005 to permit a time to work closely with Miriam, or
as Charles so eloquently put it, "to help orient that person to the
wacky world of Miriam."
Doug Litts has agreed to serve as chair of the search committee with Adam
Schiff and Harriett Lightman rounding out the membership of the committee.
The call
for nominations is included in this issue. ANO is a key communication
vehicle for our association and we welcome your nominations of candidates
for the position. The committee will begin its work at Midwinter with
plans to interview candidates at the Annual Conference in Boston, June
2005.
Audiovisual Requests
Audiovisual equipment for the Midwinter and Annual Conferences has essentially
been "free" to ALCTS in the past if we met the deadline for
requesting that AV from ALA Conference Services. Of course, that equipment
hasn't really been free: ALA has been covering the costs from conference
budgets. With the growth of technology and laptop computers, as well as
the popularity of PowerPoint, the conference AV budget has grown dramatically
in the past five years.
ALA has reduced its AV budget significantly for the Midwinter Meeting
and is planning to do so for the Annual Conference. AV is one of the largest
single expenses ALA incurs at the conferences and it is an ever-increasing
expense. In the past ALCTS has always been able to adjust its requirements
enough to reduce its own usage. However, since ALCTS continues to be one
of the biggest users of AV, it is now necessary to make more significant
reductions in our own AV expense for this Midwinter. Charles has been
working with ALA Conference Services and the senior management of ALA
to try and preserve some of our traditional needs. However, we are forced
to reduce AV expenses across the board and in some cases eliminate the
current request completely. Charles has assessed each request in light
of the number of participants at the meeting and the type of business
or program provided. He has communicated with those whose request for
AV equipment cannot be honored.
There are two alternatives:
- The ALCTS Office can supply the discussion group or committee with
photocopies of any PowerPoint presentation that was to be made. The
number of copies will be based on your anticipated attendance.
- ALA will pay for less expensive AV such as an overhead projector.
We regret that this reduction has been necessary but as my banker-father
used to say, "Money doesn't grow on trees."
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