Response Under 4% for ALA-APA

After six months, contributions reach $7,388, but goal is $48,570

By Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 5/15/2004

The American Library Association–Allied Professional Association (ALA-APA), slow to get off the ground last year, still hasn't gained momentum. In FY03, ending September 2003, the group gained $5,992 in donations; after more than six months in FY04, as of mid-April, donations reached $7,388. The latter sum includes 679 donors who gave $2 via the checkoff on ALA membership renewal notices, in addition to 309 donors who gave larger sums.

Given that nearly 30,000 of the approximately 63,000 ALA members have already renewed their membership, that translates into a participation rate of under four percent. ALA-APA was formed to lobby for library worker compensation and to issue certification.

The current yield suggests that ALA-APA will fall short of its $48,570 goal for this fiscal year. "If we get 10,000 members to do the checkoff, that's $20,000," ALA executive director Keith Fiels said at the Midwinter Meeting in January. That would translate into a participation rate of about 16 percent.

"There hasn't been a concerted effort to get donations in," acknowledged Jenifer Grady, ALA-APA executive director, who began her job in December. "It's been three months of getting acclimated and getting Library Worklife [the new ALA-APA newsletter, which launched in January] off the ground." She noted that ALA-APA planned more targeted campaigning over the year, and "we're also expecting a large donation from a vendor."

Last year's checkoff contribution, $15, was seen as a deterrent for some, so it was changed last fall to $2 and placed in prime space on the membership renewal form. Still, that hasn't attracted a plethora of donors.

On the ALA-APA web page (www.ala-apa.org), the donation button appears at the far bottom of the page, and it clicks to a donation form that must be printed out and submitted by mail. "I'm having the web page and donation form redesigned," Grady said, "so people can submit directly from the web site." The changes should be in place by the ALA annual conference in Orlando in late June, if not sooner.

Meanwhile, ALA-APA projects are moving ahead. "The goal is to have the Certified Public Library Administrator [certification process] in place by the next fiscal year," Grady said. National Library Workers Day, April 20, was highlighted on the ALA-APA web site, and many local projects were "jumpstarted by this campaign," she added.