In Responses to Task Force on Electronic Member Participation, Dismay About Midwinter

Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 1/9/2009

• Cost and environmental impact of Midwinter Meeting raised
• Council Meetings might go online
• Virtual participation encouraged

The American Library Association’s Task Force on Electronic Member Participation (TFOEMP), which has issued a draft final report ahead of the Midwinter Meeting January 23-28, concludes that “members believe the gains greatly outweigh the losses” and recommends a broad set of steps, including allowing committee members to participate virtually, putting Council Meetings online, and creating an expanded task force to prioritize efforts. 

Midwinter questioned
But the most dramatic result of the member survey was clearly the concern raised about the annual Midwinter Meeting, driven by worries over cost and even the environmental impact of travel. 

The report states that if opportunities for electronic participation are expanded and widely adopted, some governance bodies may not need to hold formal meetings twice a year. Moreover, some members may be able to participate virtually  in continuing education opportunities and observe programs to meet many of their goals. One blunt response served as a summary: “Having two live meetings a year is ridiculous.”

 In fact, while ALA members a few digital generations ago argued that “face-to-face” meetings were more democratic, given that relatively few people had e-tools, now “attitudes have reversed for many ALA members.”

Still, the task force notes that Midwinter, which began as a strictly business meeting, has evolved into a “little Annual,” and its elimination or reduction couldn’t be done “without serious examination and extensive planning, and addressing a wide array of issues, including some less obvious issues such as the impact on vendors, and changes in workload and in the type of work to be performed by ALA staff.” 

So, while the TFOEMP declines to offer a recommendation on the issue, it urges ALA to examine the future of Midwinter “without delay.”

Survey highlights
A 16-question survey of ALA members drew nearly 1300 responses, including a surprising 369 sets of comments in the open-ended final section. An increase in e-participation, the report states, “has not resulted in a corresponding drop in ‘f2f’ activity at conferences.”

The report notes that many members are already casually ignoring ALA policy that limits electronic participation and proscribes online voting within committees, adding, “Several respondents noted that online work is more incremental, evolving, and collaborative, precluding the need to vote.”

While many members said they’d use technologies such as Voice over IP (VOIP) if ALA provided support—a topic the task force said deserved more discussion— currently email and phone are most common. “[T]he vast majority of ALA members have accepted electronic engagement as a given of modern business practice (for newer members, e-participation is simply a welcome fact of life),” the report states, noting that very few respondents were concerned that some members would shy away from such tools. (Several noted that accessibility remains an issue “to the differently-abled and to low-bandwidth users.).

The task force notes that new software for online communities, called ALA Connect, should be implemented in early 2009 and “could provide a central place to seek or create online communities that would be of interest to ALA members, with the added benefit that Headquarters staff would be responsible for maintenance of the site." 

Having an “official blogger” might help ALA committees communicate with current and potential members and convey “the essence of programs and pre-conferences” to those not present, according to the report.

Selected recommendations
Encourage all units of the Association to engage in active experimentation with providing electronic access to non-governance activities. Non-governance activities include such things as conferences, pre-conferences, programs, major addresses, awards ceremonies, and other sessions during which official Association business is not conducted.

Eliminate Policy 6.16 (Virtual Members). In its place, enable appointment of full committee members who may attend meetings virtually only.

Revise Policy 4.5 (Requirements for Committee Service) as follows…  Participation includes both attendance at synchronous meetings scheduled in conjunction with the Midwinter Meeting or Annual Conference or at other times during the year, as well as contributions through asynchronous communication methods that may be utilized by the group outside of formal meetings. Attendance at meetings may be in person, or through other means that enable synchronous communication….

Request that the Executive Director evaluate the ease, expense, and serviceability of various options to enable electronic participation in meetings that are at least partly face-to-face, and to provide guidance and instructions for committee chairs and members so that e-participation is made possible.

Implement on an experimental basis some means of providing electronic access to Council activities in a timely manner.

Once the Open Meetings Policy has been newly interpreted [to recognize electronic meetings and electronic access to Council activities] has been implemented, encourage all units of the Association to engage in active experimentation with providing electronic access to other governance activities where such access would not violate existing policy.

] and has been implemented, encourage all units of the Association to engage in active experimentation with providing electronic access to other governance activities where such access would not violate existing policy.

Request that the ALA Executive Director investigate possible means by which Council Members who are unable to attend Council meetings in person might participate in live discussions and vote electronically.

Request that the ALA Executive Director investigate the feasibility of enabling votes of Council between Midwinter and Annual meetings.

Membership
The task force is chaired by Janet Swan Hill. Members are Vibiana Bowman, Courtney L. Young, Dawn Vaughn, Gina Persichini, James Casey, Judy Nelson, Joe Sanchez, Keri Cascio, Karen Schneider, Charles Kratz, Michael J. Miller, Peter Hepburn, Stephanie Sarnoff, and Sue MacTavish.

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