Council I: Resolutions and Governance Policy

TAG Action Item #1 passes as amended

By Sallyann Price | June 25, 2022

American Library Association (ALA) President Patricia “Patty” M. Wong called the first ALA Council meeting of the 2022 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Washington, D.C., to order at 2:50 p.m. on June 25.

The Rules and Guidelines for ALA Hybrid Council Meetings (CD#5.2) and the agenda for Council I (CD#8.6) were adopted without objection. The minutes from the January (LibLearnX) and March 2022 Council meetings (CD#2.1–2.2) were approved.

ALA Executive Director Tracie D. Hall reviewed Executive Board actions taken since the 2022 January virtual meeting (CD#15.1), including the nomination of Past ALA President Loida Garcia-Febo as 2022–2023 president-elect of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, and the implementation of Council actions from the January and March 2022 virtual meetings (CD#9.1).

Resolutions Committee chair Aaron Dobbs gave the committee’s report and brought four resolutions to Council for a vote (CD#10.2). Resolutions calling on President Biden to cancel student loan debt for all borrowers (VMD#2) and condemning the destruction of libraries, schools, and cultural institutions in Ukraine (CD#57) were adopted. A resolution in defense of the right to engage in political boycotts (CD#55) was defeated. Councilors voted to refer a resolution in support of continuing virtual access to ALA membership meetings to ALA’s Budget Analysis and Review Committee (CD#59).

Incoming ALA President Lessa Kananiʻopua Pelayo-Lozada, chair of the Committee on Committees, presented the committee’s nominations for the 2022–2023 Council Committee on Committees and the 2022 Planning and Budget Assembly Election (CD#12–12.1).

The Jason Reynolds/Simon & Schuster travel grant (CD#48), which sponsors five Black school or youth services librarians to attend Annual, was approved.

Amy Lappin, chair of Transforming ALA Governance (TAG), presented the task force’s initial recommendations (CD#36) and called a vote on TAG Action Item #1. Council passed two proposed amendments, one meant to clarify Council’s role as a policymaking rather than advisory body and another to mandate Rainbow Round Table representation on the Executive Board. Action Item #1 passed as amended.

Wong adjourned the meeting at 5:22 p.m.

SALLYANN PRICE is an associate editor at American Libraries.

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