ALA's Graduated Dues Study Hits a Snag

Norman Horrocks & Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 1/22/2008

• $625,000 price tag for full study
• ALA will instead do member survey
• Some Councilors disappointed

There may be a need for a graduated dues structure within the American Library Association (ALA), but ALA leaders are not ready to shell out big money to get it, instead approving one step along the way. In November 2006, then-ALA President Leslie Burger established a Task Force to examine a graduated dues structure as well as other possible dues structures. At the recent ALA Midwinter Meeting, Task Force co-chair Marcia Boosinger presented its final report, which called for a six-part study plan, costing nearly $625,000, including a $210,000 study of trends in the profession.

Council’s Budget Analysis and Review Committee (BARC) cautioned against adopting any graduated dues structure "unless there is strong evidence that [it] will increase revenue." Instead, ALA will spend $45,000 to do a membership survey and, rather than pay for a trend study, will wait to see what emerges from The Future of Librarians in the Workforce-What will it look like?, a study funded by the Institute for Museum and Library Services and led by José-Marie Griffiths, Dean of the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Several members of the ALA Council were disappointed that the proposal would slow any adoption of a graduated dues structure. Mary Biblo, for example, suggested that Council “asked for a Chevy” but instead saw “a Lamborghini” proposed. Councilor Michael Golrick pointed out that any structure would have to take into account the cost of living and that salaries paid vary across the country.