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July 02, 2008

ALA Council III Anaheim

ALA Council III Anaheim

 

Normal housekeeping was conducted. 

 

Memorials were for:
Carol Combs Hole
Ellen Ruth McCrady

 

Tributes:
Library Support Staff Interests Round Table 15th Anniversary
Resolution Honoring Gail McGovern
Resolution Applauding San Jose School of Library Information Science
A Tribute in Honor of Barbara Walden
Lois Ann Gregory Wood – 40th Anniversary as an ALA Staff member

 

 

Resolutions from the Constitution & Bylaws Committee:

 

Resolved, that the American Library Association accept the Association for Rural and Small Libraries (ARSL) as an affiliate under Article X of the ALA Constitution.

 

I voted for this and it passed.

 

Resolved, that the American Library Association accept the Association of Bookmobile and Outreach Services (ABOS) as an affiliate under Article X of the ALA Constitution.

 

I voted for this and it passed.

 

According to bylaws, Council must approve any proposed amendments twice before it goes to the general membership for a vote.

 

We had an amendment regarding vacancies in the president-elect and treasurer.  They were approved at Mid-winter-Philadelphia.   They came back at this conference.

 

I voted for this and it passed.

 

The same action occurred for terms of office.

 

I voted for this and it passed.

 

We received a report from the Intellectual Freedom Committee.

 

IFC proposed six revisions to the Interpretations and other policies.  As these documents are rather long, I will provide the wording if anyone wishes.  They are:

 

  1. Access to Library Resources and Services Regardless of Sex, Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation – I voted for this and it passed.
  2. Access to Resources and Services in the School Library Media program- I voted for this and it passed.
  3. Diversity in Collection Development-I voted for this and it passed.
  4. Evaluating Library Collections-I voted for this and it passed.
  5. Expurgation of Library materials-I voted for this and it passed.
  6. Free Access to Libraries for Minors-I voted for this and it passed.

 

We received a report from the International Relations committee.

 

We passed a resolution condemning the confiscation of documents from the Iraq National Library at Mid-Winter in Philadelphia.  It was requested that the following changes to that resolution be made, due to some inaccuracy in the facts on the original resolution:

 

Current:
Resolved, that ALA condemns the confiscation of documents from the Iraq National Library and Archive by the United States and British forces and strongly advocates the immediate return of all documents, and, be it further
Resolved, that ALA calls for the United States Government to honor the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and its Second Protocol.

 

With:

 

Resolved, that ALA condemns the confiscation of all seized documents from Iraq and strongly advocates the immediate return of those documents of the people of Iraq, and, be it further
Resolved, that ALA calls for the United States Government to honor the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and its Second Protocol.

 

I voted for this and it passed.

 

We had a motion to revise the composition of the Committee on Accreditation.  This was done to bring policy in line with current practice.

 

I voted for this and it passed.

 

The committee on Legislation gave a report and had the following action items:

 

Resolution in Support of the National Agricultural Library (NAL)

 

Resolved, that the American Library Association urges the United States Congress to fund NAL for FY 2009 at the $22 million level recommended b the House Agricultural Subcommittee, and be it further
Resolved, that the American Library Association incorporate our five national libraries in the @ Your Library campaign to raise the awareness of the value of our national libraries to the ALA’s membership and the American public.

 

I voted for this and it passed.

 

 

Resolved, that the ALA
  1. urge Congress to re-emphasize its commitment to support eh role of libraries in the delivery of E-Government services,
  2. support the measures outlined in the E-Government Reauthorization Act of 2007 (S.2321) for the Director of the Office of Management & Budget (OMB) to provide guidance and best practices to ensure availability of public on-line federal government information and services,
  3. support language in the E-Government Reauthorization Act of 2007 to mirror the language in Section 213 of the E-Government Act of 2002 which recognizes the critical role public libraries play in providing E-Government services to the American public,
  4. urge Congress to authorize adequate funding to support the role of libraries in the delivery of E-Government services as expressed in Section 213 of the E-Government Act of 2002,
  5. support the measures outlined in the E-Government Reauthorization Act of 2007 that will ensure compliance by federal agencies with the guidelines outlined by the OMB.

 

I voted for this and it passed.

 

Resolved, that the American Library Association urges Members of the U.S. Congress to charge the U.S. Copyright Office to conduct a study on the desirability of bringing sound recordings before February 15, 1972, under federal jurisdiction.

 

I voted for this and it passed.

 

 

The following resolutions were proposed:

 

Resolution Adopting the Definitions of Digital Preservation and the Revised Preservation Policy for the American Library Association

 

Whereas, the American Library Association’s preservation policy (53.1.7) is based on the Association’s mission to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all, and
Whereas, the Association for Library Collections  & Technical Services charged the Preservation and Reformatting Section to draft definitions of digital preservation and update the American Library Association Preservation Policy to include digital preservation: now, therefore, be it
Resolved, that the American Library Association adopt the definitions of digital preservation and the revised Preservation Policy for use on the web, verbally, in written policy statements, and other documents.

 

 

I voted for this and it passed.

 

Resolution on Expanding Council Transparency

 

Whereas, members of the American Library Association (ALA) have expressed the need to understand more fully decisions made by the ALA Council; and
 
Whereas, many members of ALA cannot physically attend ALA Conferences; and
 
Whereas, many physically present conference attendees cannot attend the ALA Council sessions; and
 
Whereas, audio or video recordings of in-session discussions and considerations will furnish information not shown in minutes and voting records; and
 
Whereas, streaming video and audio of physical meetings to the web is already being done by individual ALA units, as encouraged by the Task Force on Electronic Meeting Participation; now

 

Therefore, be it resolved that the ALA Executive Director:

 

  1. Explore methods of making Council proceedings transparent to the ALA membership; and

 

  1. Report back to ALA Council at Midwinter 2009, and

 

  1. Request member input, to gauge interest and to help future efforts in making the business of the Association more visible to the membership.

 

I voted for this and it passed.

 

There was discussion about some problems related to inappropriate actions by some people regarding the Cuba situation.  ALA administration will investigate.

 

Attendance: 22,047 as of Tuesday.

 

Retiring councilors were recognized.

 

We adjourned.

 

 

 

 

 

Posted by Rob at 12:02 PM | | Comments (0)

July 01, 2008

ALA Council II - Anaheim

ALA Council II-Anaheim

 

We initially convened as the ALA-APA Council to vote on the FY 2009 Budgetary Ceiling due to lack of information available in a timely manner yesterday.  We voted to approve the ceiling.

 

We then re-convened as ALA Council II.

 

The Policy Monitoring Committee made a number of changes to unify language in the policies.

 

These all passed.  I voted for all of them.

 

We voted to restructure corporate membership.  I voted for it and it passed.

 

We voted on a budgetary ceiling of $67,984,278 for FY 2009.  I voted for this and it passed.

 

We received a report from the Freedom to Read Foundation.  There are three law suits in which the FRF is involved.  1.  Indiana law requiring anyone selling “harmful to minors” materials as defined by Indiana statute to register with the state as an “adult business.”
2.      Powell’s Books, Inc. v Hardy Myers, challenges a new Oregon law that criminalizes the dissemination of sexually explicit material to anyone under the age of 13 or the dissemination to anyone under the age of 18 of any material with the intent to sexually arouse the recipient or the provider. 3. Issues surrounding Valerie Plame.

 

A resolution regarding Federal Depository Library programs was referred to the Committee on Legislation for further review.  I voted for this and it passed.

 

We discussed the following resolution:

 

Resolution on Support for Funding for Cataloging and Bibliographic Control at the Library of Congress

 

Whereas, the Library of Congress is the “de facto” national library and is perceived as such by the American library community and the international library community, and
Whereas, the Library of Congress is the premier research library in the United States and in the global library community, and
Whereas, the number of cataloging specialists at the Library of Congress has substantially decreased over the past five years, and
Whereas, the Library of Congress takes a leadership role in cataloging standard-setting, development, and maintenance, and
Whereas, the United States, including every type of library, library users from students to researchers to the general public, and to other users of metadata such as commercial enterprises like Google and Amazon, derives substantial economic benefit from intensive specialization of the professional catalogers a the Library of Congress, and
Whereas, the Library of Congress is a federal agency that operates in a political environment: now, therefore, be it
Resolved, that the American Library Association urges the Library of Congress to devote more resources to the training of professional bibliographic access librarians, both those employed at the Library of Congress and in other American libraries, and be it further
Resolved, that the American Library Association (ALA) Executive Director instruct the Washington Office to advocate and petition for increased federal funding to support the work of bibliographic control at the Library of Congress by filling and expanding the number of bibliographic access positions, and be it further
Resolved, that the ALA Executive Director instruct the Washington Office to communicate this message in discussions with members of Congress and others.

 

I voted in favor of this resolution.  It passed.

 

We discussed the following resolution:

 

Resolution Supporting the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA)

 

Whereas, the American Library Association (ALA) supports Equal Employment Opportunity 54.3, Inclusiveness and Mutual Respect 54.7, and Gay Rights 54.16, and
Whereas, ALA’s commitment to diversity includes Combating Prejudice, Stereotyping, and Discrimination 60.3, and Recruitment and Retention of Diverse Personnel 60.6, and
Whereas, library workers are not federally protected from employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression, and, in fact, continue to experience employment discrimination, and
Whereas, for many years, there has been proposed legislation in Congress to end this discrimination and declare that fairness is a fundamental American principle, and that it is unfair to fire or refuse to hire people based on identity, rather than job performance or qualifications, and
Whereas, the original Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), H.R. 2015, was drafted to remedy these lacks of federal employment protection, and
Whereas, H.R. 3685, the version of ENDA passed by the House on November 7, 2007, does not protect library workers from employment discrimination on the basis of gender identity and expression, therefore, be it
Resolved, that the American Library Association (ALA) calls for the reinstatement in the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) of protections for transgender persons from employment discrimination on the basis of gender identity and expression, and be it further
Resolved, ALA calls for passage of H.R. 2015 or other inclusive version of ENDA by both Houses of Congress.

 

I voted for this resolution and it passed.

 

We discussed the following resolution:

 

Resolution Concerning ALA Policy Opposing Sweatshop Labor

 

Whereas, the American Library Association (ALA) has broad social responsibilities (Policy 1.1); and
Whereas ALA and its divisions, round tables, and other various units purchase all kinds of products for distribution to membership, such as tee shirts, conference bags, etc.; and
Whereas a large proportion of those available products are produced in sweatshop conditions; now, therefore

 

Be it resolved that
  1. the American Library Association and its divisions, round tables, and all other units should purchase all products for distribution to membership from sweatshop free producers; and
  2. this resolution and information about how to comply with it shall be communicated to all ALA divisions, round tables, all other units, and ALA staff.

 

It was reported that ALA leadership is in the process of compiling a comprehensive “green/socially responsible, etc.” plan for ALA to be presented at a later conference. 

 

I voted for this resolution and it passed.

 

Attendance:

 

21,817 which is smaller than DC but greater than New Orleans.

We adjourned.

Posted by Rob at 01:58 PM | | Comments (0)