American Library Association (ALA) President Wanda Kay Brown called the third ALA Council meeting at ALA Virtual to order at 12:05 on June 27.
Memorials were read for Gayatri Singh (M#8), Yen-Tsai-Feng (M#9), Thomas Low (M#10), Clement Chu-Sing Lau (M#11), Tze-chung Li (M#12), Patricia Ann Hannon (M#13), Mary Ardeth Gaylord (M#14), Michelle Marie Miller (M#15), Ruth and Jay Toor (M#16), J. Linda Williams (M#17), Mary Jo Lynch (M#18), Peggy Sullivan (M#19), Charles Brown (M#20), William A. Bill Garrison Jr. (M#21), Walter “Cat” Walker (M#22), and Teresa Mlawer (M#23).
Tributes were offered to the 100th anniversary of the Southeastern Library Association (T#3), the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association’s 40th Anniversary (T#4), Mary Biblo (T#5), the Nebraska Library Association’s 125th Anniversary (T#6), the 50th Anniversary of the Rainbow Round Table (T#7), Mary W. Ghikas (T#8), Charles Kratz (T#9), ALA staff (T#10), and the Association of Specialized, Government, and Cooperative Library Agencies and Jeannette Smithee (T#11).
Karen Quash, chair of the Council Election Teller’s Committee, reported the results of the 2020–2021 Committee on Committees (COC) and 2020–2022 Planning and Budget Assembly (PBA) elections (CD#12.1). LeRoy LaFleur, Melissa Cardenas-Dow, Leslie Preddy, and Eric Suess were elected to one-year terms on COC. Sam Helmick and Jack Martin were elected PBA chapter councilors, while Louis Muñoz, kYmberly Keeton, and Susan F. Gregory were elected PBA councilors-at-large.
ALA Treasurer Maggie Farrell provided an update on ALA financial questions asked at the Midwinter Meeting (CD#48). Farrell also provided updates on the net balances for ALA round tables (CD#48.1) and divisions (CD#48.2), as well as spending controls put into place since Midwinter. Farrell yielded the remainder of her time to ALA Executive Director Tracie D. Hall, who provided an update on ALA staff furloughs.
Council Parliamentarian Eli Mina explained the options for changing ALA’s constitution and bylaws as a precursor to the discussion on Forward Together, the Steering Committee on Organizational Effectiveness (SCOE). A proposal to amend by substitution the motion presented in CD#42 passed. The motion Forward Together (CD#42) as amended passed.
A resolution condemning US media corporations’ abridgment of free speech (CD#46) was referred to the Intellectual Freedom Committee and the International Relations Committee, who will report on the matter at Midwinter 2021.
A resolution on financial autonomy and collaboration among ALA management and divisions and round tables (CD#47) was defeated. A resolution on developing library security policies in keeping with ALA policy (CD#45) passed.
Lorelle Swader, associate executive director of ALA-Allied Professional Association (ALA-APA), clarified that ALA-APA meets with Council only during Midwinter, not Annual.
Hall directed councilors to two recent ALA statements, one affirming the rights of transgender people and one accepting and acknowledging institutional racism within the Association and the profession.
Brown adjourned the meeting at 2:48 PM.
Immediately following, a special Council session was called to order for the purpose of dissolving four ALA divisions. Votes to dissolve these divisions occurred in Council II on June 23. ALA bylaws require a second official vote for dissolution.
The first vote—to dissolve the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services, the Library Information Technology Association, and the Library Leadership and Management Association—passed. These divisions will merge into Core: Leadership, Infrastructure, Futures, effective September 1.
The second vote—to dissolve the Association of Specialized, Government, and Cooperative Library Agencies (ASGCLA)—also passed. ASGCLA’s components will be allocated to ALA’s Chapter Relations Office; Office for Diversity, Literacy, and Outreach Services; Core; and Reference and User Services Association.
Brown adjourned the special session at 3:07 PM.
