American Library Association Midwinter Conference
January 22, 2006, San Antonio
Present: Al Jones (Chair), Victor Schill, Alma Ortega, Sarah Smith, Tamiye Meehan, Carole McCollough, Myra Appel, Tess Tobin, Gail Schlachter, Felipe de Ortego y Gasca, Satia Orange, Jordan Scepanski
Al Jones welcomed attendees. Attendees introduced themselves.
Minutes from the 2005 Annual meeting were approved with one correction. (See #1 of motions proposed and passed.)
Reports
Chair – Al Jones gave a verbal report.
- First bulletin in MultiCultural Review was published. It might get indexed as part of the publication. A couple of women volunteered to edit the bulletin and then resigned. Sarah Smith edited the first insert and has submitted content for the second. We are on track.
- We need to encourage members to send materials to the archive. David Cohen has most of EMIERT’s historical materials and should be encouraged to send his materials in. We need a geographically local contact to talk to him.
- David Cohen was nominated for lifetime membership. We’ve received acknowledgment that ALA has received the nomination and are considering it.
- Potential EMIE publication – handbook of working with multilingual clients/patrons. Al Jones will be talking to the Children’s Committee about it. He has already talked with editor Charles Harmon of Neal-Schumann Publishers. The book would be about 200 pages. Al Jones will edit it. Potential topics are: what is needed when a large percentage of people speak Spanish at home and then the children go to school and have to speak English; policies and/or applications written in other languages; best practices; how to; Queensborough program (identify exemplary programs).
Treasurer – Tamiye Meehan passed around a financial report.
- With increased dues, EMIERT is doing much better financially and in fine shape.
- Needs to know expenditures for 2007 – is estimating $8,000.
- No contribution from the Coretta Scott King Committee was received.
Nominations – There are enough nominations for all vacancies.
Coretta Scott King – Carole McCollough gave a verbal report.
- There was no profit from the sale of seals and the committee did not have revenue. Satia Orange elaborated that the same publisher won two years in a row, so not as man seals were sold. Hopefully, this is something that will not recur often.
New Business
Loriene Roy – Candidate for ALA President
Introduced herself culturally and provided personal background information, including her New Zealand Maori contacts. Loriene Roy works on many indigenous initiatives. She has a blog at http://lorieneroy.blogspot.com. She outlined her three platform points: circle of literacy, workplace wellness, and supporting LIS education through practice. Brochures and flyers were passed around.
Myra Appel – EMIERT Co-Chair and Chair of Collection Development Committee
Needs authors for a book on collection development. Original plan was to include model collection development policies and how different institutions work them up. The new idea is to have chapters be a little more in depth on issues such as censorship, fundraising, collecting materials from other countries, types of diversity, and establishing contacts with vendors. Myra is looking for ways to get contributors. One suggestion was to post a prospectus on EMIERT’s website. On the topic of collecting materials from other countries, Felipe Ortego suggested that librarians run into problems buying materials from Latin America because Spanish from Argentina is not Spanish from Mexico (where the majority of US immigrants come from). Alma Ortega stated that there is a denial of Mexico in some areas.
Satia Orange – OLOS Director
Meeting attendees were invited to attend the Martin Luther King, Jr Sunrise Celebration the following morning. Al Jones would participate and everyone will receive a copy of Singing for Dr King. JCLC raffle tickets are $5 each. JCLC is not just for librarians of color; it is for people that serve populations of color. EMIE has an opportunity to do a program for the JCLC Conference October 11-15. The program deadline is February 1st.
The Pura Belpré Award is celebrating its 10th Anniversary on Sunday, June 25, 2006. It is a free event. Postcards were passed around. Monday, June 26th, will be Jazz in the Morning, a ticketed event ($43) celebrating the 35th anniversary of OLOS. Carla Haydn will be the speaker for the Jean Coleman lecture.
EMIE is its own marketer. We need to work on marketing what we do and name recognition. A new edition of Ventures into Cultures is needed.
Jordan Scepanski – Representative of the twelve smaller round tables’ views and interests on the ALA Council, including EMIERT. Asked EMIERT to consider (1) looking for someone to run for representative (requires Thursday night – Wednesday afternoon commitment at each conference) and (2) supporting the attempt to expand the number of counselors. There is a proposal that if personal membership of a roundtable exceeds 1% of total ALA membership (currently 618), the roundtable would get its own counselor. At the present time, four roundtables would qualify for their own counselor. EMIERT is the largest of the eight smallest roundtables and within 40 members of reaching 1%. Jordan read the part of the resolution pertaining to the change to bylaws. Support for the resolution was approved. (See #2 of motions proposed and passed.) Tamiye Meehan will consider running for council representative.
Annual 2006 – Homa Naficy and the Children’s Services Committee are doing a program. The Coretta Scott King Committee will be submitting a program.
Handbook – Needs to be updated and brought back on track.
Tess Tobin may have a more recent copy than 1999. Bylaws changes to be made: update terms of office, change nominations to require one or more candidates, change announced nominations from bulletin to website (and list serv). Changes to bylaws approved. (See #3 of motions proposed and passed.) Membership will vote on changes at the annual conference.
Motions proposed and passed:
- Minutes approved with the correction that the Coretta Scott King Committee is no longer using the phrase “Task Force” in their name. Motioned by Tamiye Meehan and seconded by Alma Ortega. The motion was passed unanimously.
- Support for resolution to change the bylaws to expand the number of counselors on the ALA Council approved. Motioned by Victor Schill and seconded by Tamiye Meehan. The motion was passed unanimously.
- Changes to bylaws approved. Motioned by Carole McCollough and seconded by Alma Ortega. The motion was passed unanimously.
Sarah Smith, Secretary, recording.