Council I Washington
Greetings from Washington, DC. So far the weather has been particularly nice.
Ken Burns was the first speaker and presented some clips from his upcoming series on the Second World War. It was his usual fine work and I encourage you to make sure you see this production.
2. Recognize employers who consistently provide a high level of support for their employee’s participation in ALA governance.
3. Investigate the feasibility of reducing the length of governance activities at ALA meetings.
4. Market the benefits of participation in ALA governance to targeted ALA members, including NMRT, Emerging Leaders, Spectrum Scholars and committee interns, and to members of ALA chapters.
5. Communicate the effectiveness of Council to ALA members by:
a. Establishing a regular column about Council in American Libraries,
b. Providing more in-depth coverage of Council in AL Direct, and
c. Enhancing the governance section of the ALA web page, including creating a Council blog and wiki.
6. Restructure the orientation and mentoring of newly-elected Councilors to maximize their effectiveness as ALA leaders.
7. Restructure the reception for newly-elected Councilors at Midwinter to create an opportunity for councilors to “meet and greet” ALA members and to establish personal contacts with potential Council candidates.
6,875 exhibitors
I attended an Advocacy/Media Training on Friday which was quite good.
Ken Burns was the first speaker and presented some clips from his upcoming series on the Second World War. It was his usual fine work and I encourage you to make sure you see this production.
David Baldacci, author, spoke and was very interesting and funny. If you get a chance to hear him, I recommend it. Even if you don’t read his books, you would enjoy his presentation.
Sunday started with our informational meeting. This is a time for reports from committees and task forces. I am always happy to share details on these reports with anyone who is interested. The following were the reports heard: Budget Analysis and Review Committee, Graduated Dues Structure Task Force, Endowment Trustees, President’s report, President-elect report and announcements from Keith Michael Fiels.
Attendance information as of Friday, June 22 was 18,709 registrants with 6,477 exhibitors for a total of 25,186. Compared to the same date for the Chicago conference of 20,824 we are on a pace to break all previous attendance records.
Next was the ALA-APA information session.
ALA Council I
Candidate slates were presented for the Committee on Committees, Planning and Budget Assembly.
Keith Michael Fiels presented his report. The new ALA website is planned to be released in the fall. They are doing usability testing and plan to have ongoing usability during the life of the site. Special work is being done to make sure that the site is accessible to those with disabilities. After dues increases it is expected that dues revenues drop. That has not been experienced to date. Everyone is encouraged to make sure that the public are aware of ilovelibraries.org the new ALA website for the public.
At Midwinter-Seattle we had a brainstorming session on “Creating a Buzz about Council” which attempted to address obstacles to serving on Council. Some topics were brought forward for additional discussion:
1. Investigate the feasibility of meeting registration waiver or discount registration for Councilors.
2. Recognize employers who consistently provide a high level of support for their employee’s participation in ALA governance.
3. Investigate the feasibility of reducing the length of governance activities at ALA meetings.
4. Market the benefits of participation in ALA governance to targeted ALA members, including NMRT, Emerging Leaders, Spectrum Scholars and committee interns, and to members of ALA chapters.
5. Communicate the effectiveness of Council to ALA members by:
a. Establishing a regular column about Council in American Libraries,
b. Providing more in-depth coverage of Council in AL Direct, and
c. Enhancing the governance section of the ALA web page, including creating a Council blog and wiki.
6. Restructure the orientation and mentoring of newly-elected Councilors to maximize their effectiveness as ALA leaders.
7. Restructure the reception for newly-elected Councilors at Midwinter to create an opportunity for councilors to “meet and greet” ALA members and to establish personal contacts with potential Council candidates.
This discussion will continue.
Attendance information:
19,971 attendees
6,875 exhibitors
Total 26,846 which is about 3,000 over Chicago totals.