ALA |

I have to admit that I wasn’t looking forward to a conference in Anaheim. I had been there years ago for BookExpo America (BEA), and the most I could remember about it was the extreme heat and the theme park atmosphere. What a surprise! This year, the weather was perfect and Mickey Mouse seemed to be confined to the park. I was an ardent fan of The Mickey Mouse Club in my youth, and I have to admit that as I landed at the airport in Orange County, I found myself singing The Mickey Mouse song. The lyric that popped into my head about the time we taxied to the gate was “Forever Let Us Hold Our Banner High,” a phrase that became symbolic of the week ahead. As the conference week unfolded, it was clear that ALSC's events and programs were among the best– a reason to “hold our banner high.”

The first event that I attended was the ALA Spectrum Scholarship Fair. I had never attended this special event until this summer, and I was totally inspired by these young librarians from diverse populations who are eager to become actively involved in ALA. One young woman asked me to tell her what it was like working with children. This was quite a “banner flying” moment because this young woman then told me that she had applied to work in children’s services at a large public library system. Our participation in this event greatly supports our initiative to attract new professionals to children’s librarianship.

An equally exciting event was ALSC 101. Thanks to Jenny Najduch, ALSC staff member who works with membership, and the Membership Committee for planning this event where members who are new to ALSC or first-time conference attendees have the opportunity to get to know the organization. There were creative get-acquainted games, and ALSC leadership was on hand to answer questions.

The ALSC banner flew very high when Dr. T. Berry Brazelton, nationally acclaimed pediatrician, spoke at the Charlemae Rollins President’s Program. At 90-years-old, his inspiring words regarding child development and the role of libraries in serving children and their caregivers brought the vision of ALSC front row and center to other ALA divisions who were in attendance that morning. Congratulations to Jane Marino, immediate past president, and her terrific planning committee for making this program possible.

I’ve never attended an ALA conference at which ALSC members didn’t share Newbery Caldecott Banquet experiences. This year’s stirring performances by Brian Selznick, Caldecott medalist, and Laura Amy Schlitz, Newbery medalist, will be long remembered in the Newbery Caldecott history books.

What’s next? The ALSC National Institute in Salt Lake City (September 18-20) continues the association’s effort to offer quality programming to our members. Please visit the ALSC Web site for details regarding this conference. ALSC is also pleased to offer four online courses to librarians who are interested in continuing education. This information is also available on the ALSC Web site.

Great plans are underway for annual conference in Chicago in 2009. Make plans to attend. It’s shaping up to be another “banner flying” conference.—Pat Scales, ALSC President

Council News

ALA’s 2008 Annual Conference was held in Anaheim, California, with 22,047 members and exhibitors attending. This compares to attendances of 28,228 in Washington, D.C. (2007) and 16,784 in New Orleans (2006).

Some pioneers in children’s librarianship would have gasped to have seen their professional descendants navigating Disneyland hotels and meeting colleagues at the statues of “Mickey Mouse” in hotel lobbies. In Anaheim, it’s a “mall” (sic) world after all.

ALA Council’s business essentially deals with internal ALA issues and with external matters of concern to librarians. ALA is our collective voice on issues that affect the quality of our resources and services. Councilors analyze, discuss, and debate a wide range of topics. My notes here merely highlight a few of those topics, but a full account of Council actions can be found at: http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/governance/council/actions/index.cfm.

Internally, Council is addressing two major concerns, electronic participation and Council transparency. Janet Swan Hill chairs the Task Force on Electronic Member Participation (TFOEMP) and plans to report their recommendations to Council at Midwinter 2009.

Council passed a resolution instructing ALA Executive Director Keith Michael Fiels to “explore methods of making Council proceedings transparent to the ALA membership and report back to Council at Midwinter 09.” The resolution also cites using “user (membership) input to gauge interest and help guide future efforts in making the business of the association more visible to the membership.”

In another internal matter, Council established an ALA policy against the ALA use of materials and products produced by sweatshop labor.

improving the Federal Depository Library Program and Public Access to Government Information;
supporting funding for cataloging and bibliographic control at the Library of Congress;
supporting the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) (urging the reinstatement of “transgender” persons in the bill);
clarifying and updating six interpretations of the Library Bill of Rights;
advocating the return of historical documents confiscated from the Iraqi National Library;
supporting funding for the National Agriculture Library;
urging Congress to support the measure put forward in the E-Government Reauthorization Act of 2007;
supporting the preservation of sound recordings made prior to February 1972 ; and
adopting definitions of digital preservation and the revised preservation policy.

Although councilors had received a variety of emails regarding Cuba prior to the conference, no resolution was introduced during the conference. At the final session, Council discussed the fact that some candidates for Council had received “surveys” regarding their opinions on the Cuban question and assurances of votes or loss of votes, depending on their survey answers. ALA is investigating these reports.

Prior to the conference, Michael Dowling, director of ALA’s International Relations Office (IRO), sent an updated report* to councilors regarding Cuba. Shortly afterward, councilors received a report that appeared to be an official update of Dowling’s report, but it was neither from Dowling nor from the IRO. Following the conference, some councilors received another deceptive, official-looking post that advocates the oft-repeated messaging regarding Cuba, which many councilors have come to regard as tiresome.

Finally, ALA Council, acting as ALA/APA, passed a resolution recommending that the minimum salary for a professional librarian be $41,680 and that the minimum wage for all library workers be $13.00 per hour.—Linda A. Perkins, ALSC Councilor

*I will be happy to email or mail a copy of this report to anyone who would like to read it.