ALA Anaheim Council I
Greetings from Anaheim!
Normal housekeeping tasks and information occurred.
2. ALA has a de-facto two year budget cycle-due to timing of conference
3. 2009 is the last year of the dues increase
4. ALA must continually develop new sources of revenue
1. Continue to seek efficiencies in existing operations in make resources available for strategic priorities.
2. Increase collaboration between ALA units to reduce redundancy and increase impact of programs and services.
3. Invest in and develop new revenue generating products, publications and services in response to library needs.
4. Seek additional financial support from outside organizations that share ALA’s mission and vision.
5. Utilize increased dues revenue to support strategic priorities and initiatives.
I am a member of the Council Orientation Committee which met on Friday and then sponsored the council orientation session on Saturday morning. Those meetings went well. We are constantly looking for ways to help new councilors figure out what happens and how to do their job better.
I am also an ALA Ambassador. The purpose of this program is to help new attendees navigate through their first conference. As a part of this commitment, I worked an information desk for two hours on Friday. It was very much like working a reference desk in a library. It was fun and I got to know several other members that I had not met before.
I attended a work session, “Advocating for all libraries: Saving the Library Ecosystem.” This was a brainstorming session for the new ALA Advocacy Committee and Jim Rettig’s Ad Hoc Advocacy Task Force. We addressed four questions in break out groups: 1. commanlities in Library Advocacy: Getting the Message Out, 2. Creating Best Practices of Successful Collaborations, 3. Finding Solutions, 4. Creating Connections that stick: Shaping the 2008-2009 Year. This was a lively group and a number of issues were brought forward and several solutions were suggested. This information is being compiled and will become part of a report from the committee.
Sunday morning I went to the talk by Don Borchart who wrote, “Free for All” a book about his public library in LA. He was a humorous speaker and had a number of anecdotes that were similar to events we all experience.
Sunday morning starts the busy council schedule. We started with the ALA information session, where we get more detailed reports on budgets and investments, etc.
Keith Michael Fiels, ALA Executive Director reported attendance figures as of Saturday: attendees 15,436; exhibitors 5,627 for a total of 21,063. This figure is lower than last year in Washington, DC but significantly higher than two years ago in New Orleans.
The ALA-APA information session followed. There was minimal information to report so we adjourned early.
Council I
Normal housekeeping tasks and information occurred.
All state association presidents and other officials were introduced. There were a number of association presidents from foreign countries present. I was introduced as the MPLA President.
We received reports of those who have been nominated to committees that require our vote and for all other committees.
We spent some time on the process of changing the format of resolutions. While this took a lot of debate, I believe that the outcome was positive and a new form will be devised to improve the resolutions process.
There are discussions underway to shorten both Mid-winter and Annual conference in the future. The earliest this could possibly happen is 2010 due to contracts already in place for intervening years.
Key points from the Treasurer:
1. ALA needs $600,000 to $750,000 in new revenue each year just to stay even
2. ALA has a de-facto two year budget cycle-due to timing of conference
3. 2009 is the last year of the dues increase
4. ALA must continually develop new sources of revenue
Five strategic pillars of finances:
1. Continue to seek efficiencies in existing operations in make resources available for strategic priorities.
2. Increase collaboration between ALA units to reduce redundancy and increase impact of programs and services.
3. Invest in and develop new revenue generating products, publications and services in response to library needs.
4. Seek additional financial support from outside organizations that share ALA’s mission and vision.
5. Utilize increased dues revenue to support strategic priorities and initiatives.
The meeting adjourned.