Council III Memorials and Resolutions

By Amy Carlton | January 12, 2016

On Tuesday morning, ALA President Sari Feldman called the final Midwinter Council meeting to order at 9:30.

Council members rose as Feldman read memorials for Shereen Marx, Kuang-Hwei (Janet) Lee-Smeltzer, Richard C. Fyffe, Billy Charles Beal, Allene Farmer Hayes, and Linda Waddle. A tribute was read for Barbara Blosveren.

Kent Slade, chair of the Council Committee of Tellers reported the election of three ALA Executive Board members. Karen E. Downing and Andrew K. Pace were elected for three-year terms, 2016–2019. John C. DeSantis was elected to an immediate two-year term to succeed Gail A. Schlachter, who passed away April 27, 2015.

In the Intellectual Freedom Committee (IFC) report (CD#19), Pamela Klipsch introduced the new director of ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, James LaRue, and announced the launch of a new journal, In Libris Libertas: A Journal of Intellectual Freedom and Privacy, to replace the Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom.

IFC also proposed the resolution User-Generated Content in Library Discovery Systems (CD#19.2), which was carried over from the 2015 Annual Conference with significant revisions and feedback during Council forum. The motion passed overwhelmingly.

A resolution presented jointly by IFC and the Committee on Legislation (COL) (CD#19.1 and CD#20.1), Resolution for Restoring Civil Liberties and Opposing Mass Surveillance, also passed overwhelmingly.

In COL’s report (CD#20), Chair Ann Dutton Ewbank thanked members for the more than 10,000 messages sent to Congress on behalf of the Every Student Succeeds Act. She thanked the ALA Washington Office for a decade of advocacy on getting the bill passed.

COL also proposed CD#20.2, Resolution Honoring James H. Billington, Librarian of Congress Emeritus, which passed.

In new business, resolutions concerning accessibility of ALA conferences and meetings for people with disabilities (CD#31), replacing the Library of Congress subject heading “Illegal Aliens” with “Undocumented Immigrants” (CD#34), and supporting the 2015 Advocacy Implementation Plan (CD#35) all passed.

ALA Executive Director Keith Michael Fiels announced final registration at 7,183 attendees and 3,622 exhibitors, for a total of 10,805, just over the Chicago 2015 total.

The meeting adjourned at 10:17.

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