Council Tackles the Association's Business in Record Time

ALA’s governing Council ended two of its three Midwinter Meeting sessions early in dealing with the Association’s business and also received good news about conference attendance in Boston.

A total of 11,095 people attended Midwinter—8,526 registrants and 2,559 exhibitors representing 432 companies. That compares with attendance of 10,220 from the 2009 Midwinter Meeting in Denver. ALA Conference Services Director Deidre Ross said the attendance figures mean that they made 98% of their budget, off about $15,000.

“Like most of our libraries, ALA had a rough year in '09,” ALA Treasurer Rodney Hersberger told the governing Council. “However, because management and the board acted early and forcefully, ALA ended the year positively. The staff sacrificed with furloughs, positions were eliminated, vacancies frozen, and overall spending was reduced. All these actions together had a very positive effect on the bottom line.”

He reported that the Association ended FY2009 with positive revenue over expenses of $683,102, and due to cost-cutting, eligible staff received a one‑time incentive payment of $800.

“Most of our libraries aren't in real good shape right now, and certainly we’re not anticipating that it’s going to change in the next year or two as tax revenues lag the economic recovery in the private sector,” Hersberger explained. “And for our libraries to be healthy, I think it will have a big impact on whether ALA is healthy, whether our libraries can buy the books published, travel to conferences, and do other things.

As of the end of December 2009, the ALA Endowment Fund increased by $5.3 million—from $23.4 million to $28.6 million. Senior Trustee Dan Bradbury said that, at its low point last year, the value of the endowment was $21.3 million.

“Predicting the future is unwise and full of risk," Bradbury reported. “However, by looking at available information, the trustees are confident that the portfolio is well positioned to take advantage of the current financial environment and protect the corpus while adding some value.”

The Council defeated a measure asking for a report on the much-debated ALA Event Planner. A resolution, offered by Executive Board members Larry Romans and Charles Kratz, was deferred from one Council session after a vote to initially kill the measure was defeated. Executive Director Keith Michael Fiels said work is underway for a new planner that will work with ALA Connect. Beta testing in scheduled in time for Annual Conference in Washington, D.C.

In other actions, Council:

Elected to the Executive Board Kevin Reynolds, assistant university librarian for Learning and Access Services, Jessie Ball DuPont Library, University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, and J. Linda Williams, coordinator, Library Media Services, Anne Arundel County Public Schools in Annapolis, Maryland.
Passed a resolution declaring and promoting 2010 as the Year of Cataloging Research from ALA’s Association for Library Collections and Technical Services (CD#34).
Approved seven items from the Policy Monitoring Committee (CD#17) dealing with changes in language to the Interpretation to the Library Bill of Rights regarding Importance of Education to Intellectual Freedom (CD#19.6) and Minors and Internet Interactivity (CD#19.8); the deletion of Policy 50.1 regarding support for “Goals for Action” of the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science; replacing section 12.1 reflecting the new rates for organizational membership dues (CD # 44); changing the Policy 50.2 title from Equal Rights Amendment Legislation to Equality for Women; revising the language for Policy 55.2, the Adoption of Standards of ALA Units; and four items changing the terminology regarding gender identity in policies dealing with Affiliation with Other Organizations (Policy 9.2), Equal Employment Opportunity (Policy 54.3), and Threats to Library Materials Related to Sex, Gender Identity, or Sexual Orientation (Policy 53.12).
Approved programmatic priorities in line with the ALA Ahead to 2015 strategic plan (CD#13).
Defeated a resolution in Support of National Health Care (CD#30) after a motion to refer the matter to the Committee on Legislation was also defeated.
Approved affiliate status for the Association of Jewish Libraries from the Constitution and Bylaws Committee contingent upon the receipt by the Executive Board of an affirmation by the group that sexual orientation is explicitly included in its non-discrimination policy (CD#25).
Passed a resolution in honor of the LeRoy C. Merritt Humanitarian Fund’s 40th Anniversary from the Intellectual Freedom Committee (CD#19.1).
Approved three Committee on Legislation resolutions on transparency and openness in the federal government (CD#20.0), to support digital information initiatives at the U.S. Government Printing Office (CD#20.2), and urging government support of universal access to broadband (CD#20.4).
Passed, as amended, a resolution on rebuilding libraries and archives damaged or destroyed by the earthquake in Haiti from the International Relations Committee (CD#18.1).
Referred back to the Training, Orientation, and Leadership Development Committee a Committee on Organization measure dealing with the adoption of revised ALA Leadership Development (Intern) Guidelines (CD#27.1).
Passed a resolution in support of the 2010 Spectrum Presidential Initiative (CD #39).
Passed memorial resolutions for Ken Davenport, Sallie Farrell, John Charles Fox, Eliza Atkins Gleason, Mary Alice Hunt, Effie Lee Morris, Sir John Clifford Mortimer, James Przepasniak, Walter Reandeau, J. Michael Rothacker, and Judith Serebnick, and tribute resolutions honoring Tennessee State Librarian and Archivist Jeanne Sugg and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

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