Council Approves Dues Increase

At Midwinter Meeting, author Codrescu slams ALA stance on Cuba; New Orleans concerns remain; LIS, RFID prompt debate

By John Berry, Francine Fialkoff, Bette-Lee Fox, Norman Horrocks, Rebecca Miller, Norman Oder, & Michael Rogers -- Library Journal, 3/1/2006

The American Library Association (ALA), returning to pleasant San Antonio for its Midwinter Meeting for the first time since 2000, approved some important steps to organizational progress, notably a strategic plan with a dues increase. It also found itself in the midst of political arguments, some by design, such as public lobbying for revisions to the USA PATRIOT Act, and others by accident, when author Andrei Codrescu decided to use his platform at the ALA President’s Program to criticize the organization’s stance on the “independent librarians” of Cuba.

The attendance this year was 11,084, down from the 13,232 attendees in Boston in 2005 but a fraction more than the 10,788 who came to San Diego in 2004. After a magnificently warm and brilliant opening day Friday, the weather turned mostly cloudy and threatening the remainder of the weekend—and the crowds came rolling in to the conveniently located convention center. Most exhibitors seemed pleased with the traffic, although an oddly configured room meant some booths were bypassed.

The show floor offered the usual amalgam of tech vendors and publishers. Though Midwinter traditionally is a slower show than the annual conference, there were several noteworthy products. Though the Newbery Award guarantees national attention for ALA, on the floor, authors of books for adults, not children, were the dominant force.

On January 25, ALA Council activities were suspended 15 minutes so all present could call their legislators in Washington, DC, to lobby for a revised Patriot Act with safeguards requested by civil liberties advocates. Maybe that lobbying had some effect, as Patriot Act gridlock continued and Congress passed another five-week reauthorization, to expire on March 10.

Dues increase

Council also passed a resolution increasing dues, over a three-year period, which would raise as much as $927,868 through 2009. Those who have been members for three years or more would see their dues rise from $100 to $130 from 2007 through 2009. Lower-paid members, students, retirees, and support staff would see increases of about $3 a year. If ratified by ALA membership, the increase would go into effect in September.

Some councilors said they supported a graduated dues increase linked to salaries, though others warned that it could lead to unpredictable revenues and might not be fair to those in states with a higher cost of living. ALA executive director Keith Michael Fiels told Council that a different structure would take a couple of years to phase in and “there is some urgency to moving ahead.” Ultimately, Council asked the Budget Analysis and Review Committee to think through the issue of a graduated dues increase.

New Orleans

Though preregistration was on schedule for the annual conference in Katrina-battered New Orleans in June, and a booth manned by Mardi Gras–bead–wearing New Orleans PL staffers was well visited, unease remained. Fiels told the Executive Board that there was no planned reduction yet in New Orleans exhibit hours but said the schedule might be tweaked to allow attendees to work on community projects.

Councilor James Casey, director of Oak Lawn PL, IL, wondered whether the dues increase could cover potential losses from the New Orleans conference. Fiels said, “The revenue is not directly proportional to the number of people who attend. Sometimes a smaller conference is more profitable. We have taken a number of steps to guarantee against a loss.”

It was hard to tell how pleased vendors were with the San Antonio meeting. The Exhibits Round Table (ERT) postshow confab was usurped by Fiels, who stressed how full participation from exhibitors will be crucial to a successful New Orleans meeting. Fiels tried to reassure those in attendance that the tourist infrastructure of New Orleans (convention center, hotels, and restaurants) will be ready. He was seconded by representatives of the city’s tourism bureau and library.

Fiels said the ALA web site would be updated frequently with information on attendance expectations as well as restaurants and venues available for receptions and meetings. Dick Gottlieb of reference publisher Grey House, who had previously expressed doubts about New Orleans, said after the Midwinter Meeting, “At this point we plan to attend, with a smaller booth and reduced/local staff.” Other vendors told LJ they would reduce their booth staff, but SirsiDynix, which counts the New Orleans PL among its clientele and has taken strides to assist affected libraries, will proceed in full force. Unfortunately, the Public Library Association conference in Boston in March, as usual, will take a bite out of New Orleans attendance.

Codrescu enters

The President’s Program, featuring Codrescu, was billed as “The Future of Our Profession: Educating Tomorrow’s Librarians.” It began with Bill Johnson, director of the decimated yet rebuilding New Orleans PL, thanking fellow librarians for their emotional and material support. Codrescu initially offered whimsical and encouraging words about the importance of librarians and libraries. Then he addressed freedom of expression, citing his youth in Communist Romania, where “my good luck was to meet Dr. Martin, a retired professor, who had [books from] all the poets who were blacklisted.”

Because of ALA’s record in opposing excesses in the Patriot Act, Codrescu said he felt “great dismay” that the organization “has taken no action to condemn the imprisonment of librarians,” the banning of books, and repression in Cuba. ALA president Michael Gorman, who later commented that he “was mugged” and that Codrescu did not deliver the speech he had promised, did not immediately respond, first offering his prepared remarks on how ALA might have a greater impact on LIS curricula. He said he thought that Cuba’s policies “are reprehensible” but contrasted that posture with “getting involved in a political to-and-fro about the status of people who claim to be librarians.” He added that the imprisoned Cubans “should never have been in prison.”

Codrescu said he doesn’t see why the Cubans should be termed “so-called librarians.” Gorman said there was a dispute about whether the activity of lending books “is being a librarian” and that “there is some dispute about the funding of these people who claim to set up libraries.” Gorman also added that ALA’s stance had been misrepresented by columnist Nat Hentoff and Robert Kent of Friends of Cuban Libraries (whom Codrescu later cited as his sources). Codrescu intoned, “The man who lent us books was a librarian, and he was our librarian. I think ALA should make a stronger point in solidarity with these disseminators of books.”

Forum on LIS education

On the day the conference opened, Gorman led a forum on library education. Though ostensibly designed to foster open dialog among librarians and library staff, LIS educators, and students, most of the perspective came from LIS educators, who comprised the majority of the several hundred people in attendance. Among the issues raised were the quality and potential of distance education, which one attendee described as “like walking through water” owing to the loss of “teachable moments.”

Others disagreed, arguing that online programs bring access to new potential professionals, that problems related to the differing skills students get from the online environment can be addressed, and that work is underway to develop metrics to evaluate students from these programs.

Practitioners called for more courses geared toward users such as seniors and teens. Also, however, the programs must “instill passion, that commitment to the social values of the profession, the values of librarianship,” said Leslie Burger, ALA president-elect and director of Princeton PL, NJ. Others stressed the need for more practicums, research and analysis skills, community development skills, and a global worldview. Respondent Jenna Freedman, coordinator of reference services and zine librarian at Barnard College Library, New York, said libraries must remain tech-savvy “or else the machines will take over and no one will be there advocating for the end user.”

IF issues

A proposal regarding guidelines for implementing RFID in libraries, from ALA’s Intellectual Freedom Committee (IFC), was criticized by several representatives of the Public Library Association (PLA) who called the draft too prescriptive. “PLA is well aware of and extremely supportive of the privacy rights of library users,” said PLA president Dan Walters, director of the Las Vegas–Clark County Library District, NV. “But we believe the guidelines prematurely prohibit specific applications.” For example, the draft stated that libraries should use hardwire connections, not wireless, for all communications between RFID systems and the ILS involving personally identifiable information.

“We could never do what we’re doing without that technology,” said Louise Schaper, director of Fayetteville PL, AR, who cited a doubling of circulation without a similar increase in staff.

Another issue on the IF agenda: an emerging set of guidelines for graphic novels, under development with the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and the National Coalition Against Censorship. While there were no specific incidents to cite, said Judith Krug, director of the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom, “we are getting a lot of inquiries, many a result of what happened in Denver.” Last year, Denver PL, under fire from anti-immigration groups who complained about nudity, sexual content, and violence against women in fotonovelas, Spanish-language adult comics, the Denver Public Library canceled subscriptions to four of 14 series.

Other ALA business

ALA addressed several other issues during the conference. Despite fears that a resolution opposing the Supreme Court confirmation of Judge Samuel Alito might hamper the effectiveness of ALA’s Washington Office and warnings that the nomination was a done deal, Council, spurred by the Committee on the Status of Women in Librarianship, passed the resolution by a significant margin.

Council, with three councilors in opposition, voted to oppose the “Academic Bill of Rights” (ABOR) by the Center for the Study of Popular Culture, led by conservative activist David Horowitz. ABOR has been introduced in legislatures and academic institutions and opposed by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) because it “proposes government oversight of teaching and learning.”

Council also passed a motion changing the formula to elect round table councilors. Currently, the five largest round tables each elect their own councilor and the 12 smaller round tables elect one councilor. If members approve the change, each round table that achieves one percent of ALA’s personal membership will get its own councilor—a net increase of four councilors based on current membership.

Some councilors expressed concern about the ALA-APA (Allied Professional Association), formed to offer certification and to lobby for compensation issues. ALA-APA executive director Jenifer Grady said that a new salary survey—one that also includes paraprofessionals—“is a form of advocacy.”

New E-Board

Three seats were filled on the ALA Executive Board. Terri Kirk, a librarian at Reidland High School, Paducah, KY, who was filling out Gorman’s expiring term, was elected for another three years. Both she and Roberta Stevens of the Library of Congress got 76 votes from Council. Mario Gonzalez, director of Greenwich Library, CT, and Em Claire Knowles, assistant dean at Simmons College GSLIS, Boston, each got 57 votes; Gonzalez won the seat after the tellers committee drew lots.