Kansas ALA Councilor

ALA Council III Washington
Memorials and Tributes are passed by consent.  They were:
Memorials:
Frank Iacono
Barbara Gittings
Kurt Vonnegut
Ridley R Kessler
Tributes and Testimonials:
ALCTS 50^th Anniversary
Saundra Williams Hughes
George Eberhart
LAMA 50^th Anniversary
New Members Round Table 75^th Anniversary
Report from the Committee on Organization
To revise the composition of the Chapter relations Committee to include the following requirement:
To be eligible to be a member of the Chapter Relations Committee (CRC), an individual must be an ALA member who is also a member of an ALA Chapter or divisional affiliates.  Names of individuals being considered for CRC should be forwarded to the Director of the Chapter Relations Office, who will check to see if the individual is a member of an ALA Chapter of AASL Affiliate.
Passed.  I voted yes.
To recommend that Council adopt the following report and action item on E-participation:
ALA should expand electronic participation as soon as possible.  The best way to enable e-participation is to proceed from the following assumptions: that it is proven; that it is in use; that it is more democratizing in many circumstances; and that policy and procedure should reflect and encourage common and effective practices.
Therefore, ALA Council directs:
1.      That ALA and its units work to implement e-participation tools.
2.      That ALA Council direct Loriene Roy to establish a formal task force charged with examining existing documents and developing recommendations to adapt association policy so as to help ALA move forward with effective e-participation practices.
3.      That the Task Force complete its charge by Midwinter 2009.
Passed.  I voted yes.
Report from Consitutions and Bylaws Committee
Catholic Library Association application for ALA affiliate Status
Resolved, that ALA affiliate with the Catholic Library Association.
Previous problems that caused issues between the CLA and ALA have been resolved and the committee recommends the affiliation.
Passed.  I voted yes.
Resolved to delete the last sentence in Article III, Section 1(c), which reads “The position of candidates on the ballot shall be determined by lot,” and create a new subsection, Article III, Section 3(d) to read “The position of candidates on the ballot shall be randomized.”
The way the original bylaw was written the randomness of names was only for the council list and not all lists of candidates’ names.  This changes that to include all lists of candidates.
Passed.  I voted yes.
Revision of Article VIII, Section 2(a) and Article VIII, Section 2(b) as follows:
Article VIII, Section 2(a) iii be revised to read “The standing committees shall include administration, general and advisory committees.”
Article VIII, Section 2(b) iii be revised to read “There shall be such other committees as Council may establish.”
Passed.  I voted yes.
Report from International Relations Committee
Report from the Intellectual Freedom Committee
Resolved, that the ALA condemn the use of National Security Letters to obtain library records; and, be it further
Resolved, that the ALA urge Congress to pursue legislative reforms in order to provide adequate protection for each library user’s Constitutional right to be free from unwarranted and unjustified government surveillance, including judicial oversight of National Security Letters (NSLs) requiring a showing of individualized suspicion and demonstrating a factual connection between the individual whose records are sought by the FBI and an actual investigation; elimination of the automatic and permanent imposition of a nondisclosure or “gag” order whenever an NSL is served on an individual or institution; allowing recipients of NSLs to receive meaningful judicial review of a challenge to their NSL without deferring to the government’s claims; increased oversight by Congress and the Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Justice over NSLs and FBI activities that implicate the First Amendment; and providing for the management, handling, dissemination and destruction of personally identifiable information obtained through NSLs; and, be it further Resolved, that the ALA Communicate this resolution to the Office of he President and office of the Vice President, Congress, ALA members, and state chapters; and that ALA urge its members, state chapters, and all library advocates to ask Congress to restore civil liberties and correct the abuse and misuse of National Security Letters.
Passed unanimously.  I voted yes.
Action items that have policy implications and to be placed in the policy manual are:
Support of Immigrant Rights
ALA strongly supports the protection of each person’s civil liberties, regardless of that individual’s nationality, residency, or status; and that ALA opposes any legislation that infringes on the rights of anyone in the USA or its territories, citizens or otherwise, to use library resources, programs, and services on national, state, and local levels.
Passed.  I voted yes.
The Role of Libraries in Providing E-government and Emergency Services
The ALA urges governments at all levels to acknowledge and support the essential role local libraries play in providing e-government and emergency response/recovery services, and to include libraries in relevant legislative or other policy actions.  The ALA also encourages continued research documenting library needs and capacity to provide effective e-government and emergency response/recovery services, and help libraries develop best practices and train staff to deliver these essential services.
Passed.  I voted yes.
Resolutions:
Accessible Digitization Projects Resolution
Resolved, that the ALA strongly encourage all libraries and other entities engaging in digitization projects to adopt Section 508 regulations to ensure that they are creating versions of materials that are accessible to persons using screen-reader or other assistive technologies; and, be it further Resolved, that ALA forward this resolution to other agencies and organizations that help libraries digitize their materials and that design access software, such as the Institute of Museum and Library Services and state library agencies, and to companies that work with libraries doing digitization project.
Passed unanimously.  I voted yes.
Resolution on representation
Resolved that the Committee on Organization be requested to develop and propose improvements to the processes of selecting committee members and to the communications protocol with successful and unsuccessful committee candidates; and that the Committee on Organization be requested to report such improvements to the ALA Council of the 2008 Midwinter meeting.
Passed. I voted yes.
Announcements:
21,466 registrants and 7,169 exhibitors for a total of 28,635; the largest ALA conference in history.
ALA Council III Washington
Memorials and Tributes are passed by consent.  They were:
Memorials:
Frank Iacono
Barbara Gittings
Kurt Vonnegut
Ridley R Kessler
Tributes and Testimonials:
ALCTS 50^th Anniversary
Saundra Williams Hughes
George Eberhart
LAMA 50^th Anniversary
New Members Round Table 75^th Anniversary
Report from the Committee on Organization
To revise the composition of the Chapter relations Committee to include the following requirement:
To be eligible to be a member of the Chapter Relations Committee (CRC), an individual must be an ALA member who is also a member of an ALA Chapter or divisional affiliates.  Names of individuals being considered for CRC should be forwarded to the Director of the Chapter Relations Office, who will check to see if the individual is a member of an ALA Chapter of AASL Affiliate.
Passed.  I voted yes.
To recommend that Council adopt the following report and action item on E-participation:
ALA should expand electronic participation as soon as possible.  The best way to enable e-participation is to proceed from the following assumptions: that it is proven; that it is in use; that it is more democratizing in many circumstances; and that policy and procedure should reflect and encourage common and effective practices.
Therefore, ALA Council directs:
4.      That ALA and its units work to implement e-participation tools.
5.      That ALA Council direct Loriene Roy to establish a formal task force charged with examining existing documents and developing recommendations to adapt association policy so as to help ALA move forward with effective e-participation practices.
6.      That the Task Force complete its charge by Midwinter 2009.
Passed.  I voted yes.
Report from Consitutions and Bylaws Committee
Catholic Library Association application for ALA affiliate Status
Resolved, that ALA affiliate with the Catholic Library Association.
Previous problems that caused issues between the CLA and ALA have been resolved and the committee recommends the affiliation.
Passed.  I voted yes.
Resolved to delete the last sentence in Article III, Section 1(c), which reads “The position of candidates on the ballot shall be determined by lot,” and create a new subsection, Article III, Section 3(d) to read “The position of candidates on the ballot shall be randomized.”
The way the original bylaw was written the randomness of names was only for the council list and not all lists of candidates’ names.  This changes that to include all lists of candidates.
Passed.  I voted yes.
Revision of Article VIII, Section 2(a) and Article VIII, Section 2(b) as follows:
Article VIII, Section 2(a) iii be revised to read “The standing committees shall include administration, general and advisory committees.”
Article VIII, Section 2(b) iii be revised to read “There shall be such other committees as Council may establish.”
Passed.  I voted yes.
Report from International Relations Committee
Report from the Intellectual Freedom Committee
Resolved, that the ALA condemn the use of National Security Letters to obtain library records; and, be it further
Resolved, that the ALA urge Congress to pursue legislative reforms in order to provide adequate protection for each library user’s Constitutional right to be free from unwarranted and unjustified government surveillance, including judicial oversight of National Security Letters (NSLs) requiring a showing of individualized suspicion and demonstrating a factual connection between the individual whose records are sought by the FBI and an actual investigation; elimination of the automatic and permanent imposition of a nondisclosure or “gag” order whenever an NSL is served on an individual or institution; allowing recipients of NSLs to receive meaningful judicial review of a challenge to their NSL without deferring to the government’s claims; increased oversight by Congress and the Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Justice over NSLs and FBI activities that implicate the First Amendment; and providing for the management, handling, dissemination and destruction of personally identifiable information obtained through NSLs; and, be it further Resolved, that the ALA Communicate this resolution to the Office of he President and office of the Vice President, Congress, ALA members, and state chapters; and that ALA urge its members, state chapters, and all library advocates to ask Congress to restore civil liberties and correct the abuse and misuse of National Security Letters.
Passed unanimously.  I voted yes.
Action items that have policy implications and to be placed in the policy manual are:
Support of Immigrant Rights
ALA strongly supports the protection of each person’s civil liberties, regardless of that individual’s nationality, residency, or status; and that ALA opposes any legislation that infringes on the rights of anyone in the USA or its territories, citizens or otherwise, to use library resources, programs, and services on national, state, and local levels.
Passed.  I voted yes.
The Role of Libraries in Providing E-government and Emergency Services
The ALA urges governments at all levels to acknowledge and support the essential role local libraries play in providing e-government and emergency response/recovery services, and to include libraries in relevant legislative or other policy actions.  The ALA also encourages continued research documenting library needs and capacity to provide effective e-government and emergency response/recovery services, and help libraries develop best practices and train staff to deliver these essential services.
Passed.  I voted yes.
Resolutions:
Accessible Digitization Projects Resolution
Resolved, that the ALA strongly encourage all libraries and other entities engaging in digitization projects to adopt Section 508 regulations to ensure that they are creating versions of materials that are accessible to persons using screen-reader or other assistive technologies; and, be it further Resolved, that ALA forward this resolution to other agencies and organizations that help libraries digitize their materials and that design access software, such as the Institute of Museum and Library Services and state library agencies, and to companies that work with libraries doing digitization project.
Passed unanimously.  I voted yes.
Resolution on representation
Resolved that the Committee on Organization be requested to develop and propose improvements to the processes of selecting committee members and to the communications protocol with successful and unsuccessful committee candidates; and that the Committee on Organization be requested to report such improvements to the ALA Council of the 2008 Midwinter meeting.
Passed. I voted yes.
Announcements:
21,466 registrants and 7,169 exhibitors for a total of 28,635; the largest ALA conference in history.