March 1999 Newsletter Highlights
(from vol. 17, no. 1,
March 1999)
SARAH LONG TO
KEYNOTE 1999 CONFERENCE
BOARD MEETING
HIGHLIGHTS
SLATE OF
CANDIDATES FOR THE 1999 ELECTIONS
STANLEY
PLANTON WINS LEGISLATIVE ADVOCATE TRAVEL
AWARD
ACRL
CHAPTERS COUNCIL REPORT
ALA MIDWINTER
REPORT FROM THE OHIO ALA COUNCILOR
SARAH
LONG TO
KEYNOTE 1999 CONFERENCE
Join us for ALAO's Silver
Jubilee Celebration!
Theme: Celebrating our Past,
Claiming our Future
Speaker: Sarah Long, ALA
Vice-President/President-elect
Date: Friday, November 12,
1999
Location: Ohio State Fawcett
Center for Tomorrow, Columbus
The Silver Jubilee Program Committee is
pleased to announce that Sarah
Long, ALA
Vice-President/President-elect, has agreed
to serve as the keynote speaker for this
very special conference. Sarah was elected
President of the American Library
Association in April 1998. She became
President-elect in July of 1998 and
assumes the office of President for the
new millennium in July of 1999. Sarah has
been very active in state and national
library organizations for many years.
Currently she is Chair of the Awards
Committee of the American Library
Association (ALA). Sarah has also served a
term on ALA's Council.
Currently, Sarah is the Director of the
North Suburban Library System, an
organization consisting of 680 academic,
public, school and special libraries north
of Chicago. Sarah has served as a
consultant at the State Library of Ohio
and was an academic librarian in
England.
Ms. Long is a native of Georgia. She
graduated from Oglethorpe University in
Atlanta, where she majored in education
and Emory University, also in Atlanta,
with a master's degree in librarianship.
Sarah is married and lives with her
husband, Donald Sager, in Deerfield,
Illinois. They have two grown
children.
Look for more information about the
1999 Conference in the June
newsletter!
Jerome Conley -- President Elect and
Program Committee Chair (Miami Univ.)
BOARD
MEETING HIGHLIGHTS
The December 8th meeting of the ALAO
Board was graciously hosted by our friends
at OhioLINK. Highlights of the meeting
include the following:
Conference planning
-A report on the 1998 Conference:
Today's Actions, Tomorrow's
Adventures To Infinity and Beyond!
was shared. There were 305 participants,
including vendors, speakers, and program
committee members. Again my sincere thanks
to all involved-- attendees, speakers,
presenters, vendors, Planning Committee
and Board. The conference generated a net
income of $3,100. Of the 205 evaluations
received, most attendees rated the
conference and the Fawcett Center
facilities as excellent or good.
Individual evaluations are being mailed to
presenters. Due to the holidays and
unexpected family obligations, conference
reports were delayed, but your President
promises to remedy the situation stat.
ALAO memorabilia sought
- We heard you! Next year's conference
will be held at the Fawcett on November
12, 1999 and Jerome Conley and the 1999
Planning Committee have been busy planning
for ALAO's 25th silver jubilee conference.
You can help. If you have photos, program,
anecdotes, and other information about
ALAO between 1974-1999 that you would be
willing to share, please contact Lisa
Santucci by e-mail at: santucle@muohio.edu
or at: 513/529-1747.
Membership Survey underway
-The Board reviewed the final draft of the
1999 ALAO survey and offered comments and
additional suggestions. The responses to
this survey will greatly assist the Board
in preparing the upcoming 1999/2002 ALAO
Strategic Plan. Surveys were mailed or
sent via OhioLINK courier the week of
February 14th. Please help us shape your
organization's future by taking a few
minutes from your busy schedule to
complete this survey. The deadline is
March 15th. Please contact Mary Konkel at:
marykonkel@uakron.edu
if you have any questions concerning the
survey.
Advertisements in the
Newsletter
-The Newsletter Editor has received
requests to place ads in the newsletter. A
number of issues/problems were discussed
including fees, publicity, policies, and
"unrelated income taxes" which ALAO would
be obligated to pay. After careful
deliberation, the Board voted not to
accept advertising in the Newsletter or on
its Webpage. ALAO can continue to accept
donations to offset costs of its
publications or programs, with the
sponsoring company duly recognized in the
publication or program.
Membership Dues Discussion
-Preliminary discussion of a raise in
ALAO dues from $12 to $15 was held. The
Board will need to communicate its
justification for the increase and advise
its members of the value of ALAO dues
compared to other professional
organizations. The discussion will
continue at the next Board meeting.
CHANGES ON THE BOARD
Please join me in welcoming Doug
Morrison, University of Akron's Wayne
College, who has volunteered to
Co-Chair the Support Staff Interest Group.
Welcome aboard Doug! As noted in the
membership update elsewhere in this issue,
Martha Fleming, our ALAO membership chair
has resigned her position on the ALAO
Board, as she has accepted a new post
outside of acadmeic libraries. In this
interim, membership concerns may be
directed to the ALAO President.
COMMUNICATE WITH ALAO BOARD AND
MEMBERSHIP
Are we having fun yet!!?? I have been
having a full and exciting year as
President of ALAO and hope I will get the
opportunity to meet many more of you in
person throughout the rest of the year.
Please feel free to contact me directly at
marykonkel@uakron.edu
with ideas or concerns. There are numerous
opportunities to become involved in your
organization and I welcome your
participation. Be sure to bookmark the
ALAO Web site at:
.. and subscribe
to the ALAO Listserv by sending a message
to: listserver@devrycols.edu
and in the body of the message, type,
subscribe alao first name last
name. List members should keep the
list in mind as quick way of communicating
with the ALAO Board and membership at
large. Send your messages to alao@devrycols.edu.
In addition to the ALAO Newsletter, the
Webpage and Listserv are great sources of
communication to keep abreast of ALAO's
latest activities, announce your own
library's news or job openings or to query
your colleagues about topics of
concern.
Mary S. Konkel - President (University
of Akron)
ELECTIONS
ARE UNDERWAY! COMPLETE AND MAIL YOUR
BALLOT BY MARCH 19!
Ballots for the 1999-2000 ALAO
elections were mailed first class to all
current members during the third week of
February. Ballots were also sent to 1998
members who had not yet renewed for 1999,
with special instructions for renewing
their membership in order to vote. Efforts
will be taken to ensure anonymity. Thanks
to all those who are willing to run as
candidates for officers and Executive
Board members. They represent a wide
spectrum of our membership and deserve
your consideration.
The order of the candidates on the
ballot was determined by lot and repeated
here:
VICE-PRESIDENT/PRESIDENT
ELECT (THREE-YEAR
TERM)
Gail Richmond, Bowling Green State
University
Carolyn J. Radcliff, Kent State
University
MEMBERSHIP CHAIR/TREASURER
ELECT (TWO-YEAR
TERM)
Jan Bosma, Cedarville College
Lisa Santucci, Miami University
BOARD MEMBER AT
LARGE (TWO-YEAR
TERM)
Elna L. Saxton, University of
Cincinnati
Susan D. Scott, Denison
University
Cindy Kristof, Kent State
University
David A. Lincove, Ohio State
University
Patricia Smith-Hunt, Ohio
University
Ximena Chrisagis, Wright State
University
Candidate statements were mailed with
the ballots and are also available on the
ALAO web site at
../../. Ballots must
be postmarked by March 19, 1999. Election
results will be announced at the April
Board meeting and in the next newsletter.
Add your voice to determine who will lead
ALAO in the years ahead by completing your
ballot as soon as possible. For more
Information, contact Sherri Edwards at
sedward@uakron.edu
or 330-972-8196.
Sherri Edwards -- Past President and
Chair, 1999 Nominating Committee
(University of Akron)
STANLAY
PLANTON WINS LEGISLATIVE ADVOCATE TRAVEL
AWARD
The ALAO Government Relations
Team announces that Stanley Planton, Head
Librarian at Ohio University-Chillicothe,
is this year's recipient of the ALAO
Legislative Advocate Travel Award. This
$500 travel award is to be used to
participate in ALA's Legislative Day in
Washington, D.C., May 3-4. ALAO
Legislative Team member Pat Walker will
also participate. The ALAO Executive Board
created this award to increase the number
of academic librarians attending
Legislative Day from Ohio, to reward
current involvement of ALAO Legislative
Advocate Network members, and to promote
future interest in legislative
matters.
Planton, who was also last year's
recipient, says, "I believe that the trip
last year with Connie Salyers Stoner was
very successful--we spent much of the day
with Representative Ted Strickland and his
staff and the ALA staff in Washington
seemed to be very pleased by our approach
to legislative liaison."
He is deeply involved in local politics
and in local economic development and has
almost daily contact with legislators and
their staffs. Planton firmly believes that
libraries and librarians have to take an
active role in political and legislative
decision making and that we have something
to bring legislators -- information and
information access. A small example of
this is from last year's Legislative Day
when the ALAO team was able to provide
Representative Strickland's staff with
relevant URLs for primary election
returns.
Planton also currently provides one of
Strickland's staffers with limited SDI
services, routinely e-mailing news items
of potential interest from a daily sweep
of the regional news. This has resulted in
a number of phone calls and e-mail
requests from Strickland's office in the
nature of "we're giving a speech in an
hour--can you tell us what's new in...."
Planton suggests that "the informal
partnerships that can result from this
sort of activity can only result in the
librarian being taken more seriously in
legislative decision making."
The ALAO Legislative Advocate Network
is a grass-roots effort in which members
contact legislators as private citizens
primarily in response to legislative
alerts from ALA and ACRL. If you would
like to join the network, contact Susan
Phillips: phillis1@ohio.edu
Susan Phillips - Government Relations
Team (Ohio University - Lancaster)
ACRL
CHAPTERS COUNCIL REPORT
Increased Visibility for
Chapters
Lois Cherepone, Chair of the ACRL
Chapters Council, welcomed the attendees
and reported that Chapters Council
visibility received a big boost during the
past year thanks to the ACRL webpage. Not
only has information about chapters and
Chapter Council been included on the
national site but links to individual
chapter webpages are at last active.
Furthermore, Barbara Jenkins, immediate
past chair of Council, was elected to the
ACRL Board of Directors and that
development also increases awareness of
chapter concerns at the national
level.
Report from Althea Jenkins
Althea Jenkins, Executive Director of
ACRL, emphasized the importance of
grassroots feedback from chapters to ACRL
and encouraged chapters to invite ACRL
officers to chapter meetings and programs.
She also encouraged chapters to apply for
initiative funds and to remember to help
with ACRL recruitment at the chapter
level. Jenkins reported that a major
emphasis for ACRL during the coming year
was information literacy. ACRL has
organized an information literacy
institute to be offered in July and is
collaborating with other higher education
partners in developing information
literacy standards.
ACRL National Conference
Jenkins reported that registration for
the conference (April 8-11 in Detroit) was
going very well with 89% of exhibits
booked and most downtown hotels as well.
She emphasized that plenty of good rooms
were still available in Dearborn, and
there would be shuttle service. ACRL
awarded 47 scholarships for conference
attendance. Jenkins reported that the
schedule for the conference was full of
opportunities for attendees to network and
that the call for program proposals was
strong. The result promises to be an
excellent and varied program
ACRL President and
President-Elect
Cherepon introduced ACRL
President-Elect Larry Hardesty who talked
briefly about some ideas he would like to
pursue during his term: an award for
excellence in academic libraries and a
plan to strengthen the recruitment of
academic librarians. Hardesty welcomes
ideas from chapters about these
initiatives.
Current ACRL President, Maureen
Sullivan, reported that she will propose
the establishment of a seat on the board
for a liaison from Chapters Council so
that chapter participation at this level
would be assured. She hopes to meet with
Council members in Detroit to discuss this
further. She encouraged everyone to attend
the President's programs at midwinter and
also in New Orleans. Sullivan then
introduced the two candidates for ACRL
President-Elect, Pat Wand and Betsy Wilson
and urged everyone to be sure to vote.
ACRL Legislative Network
Lee Marie Wisel reported that the ACRL
Legislative Network has been very active.
The ALA Washington Office has noted that
academic librarians have been very helpful
in communicating with legislators about
critical legislation. Wisel also noted
that the 25th anniversary of ALA
Legislative Day is approaching and
encouraged chapters to participate by
sending members to Washington DC, May 3-4,
1999, for face-to-face advocacy.
Council Business and Swap
Shop
Chapters Council attendees met the new
ACRL staff liaison, Melissa Cast
(mcast@ala.org),
heard a report about Chapter Topics
(including a discussion about the idea of
publishing solely online) from the current
editor, Jill Holman, and the need to find
a new editor this summer. Lynne King, the
Chair-Elect, announced that volunteers to
run for Council officers were needed for
the election in New Orleans of a new
chair-elect and secretary. In the Swap
Shop that concluded the meeting, attendees
shared ideas for successful chapter
programs and effective chapter
websites.
Patricia O. Walker -- ACRL Liaison
(Wright State University)
ALA
MIDWINTER REPORT FROM THE OHIO ALA
COUNCILOR
Greetings from Philadelphia!
Some news items from this year's
mid-winter Council sessions include:
Libraries: An American Value" http://www.ala.org/symons/statement.html.
By wide margin Council endorsed this new
ALA intellectual freedom statement
endorsed by OLC and numerous other ALA
units and state associations. This
statement will be featured prominently in
an Intellectual Freedom Tool Kit being
prepared by the ALA Intellectual Freedom
Committee. The Congress will take place in
Washington, DC on April 30 and May 1.
A report was presented by Ken Haycock,
director of the University of British
Columbia School of Library, Archival, and
Information Studies, who is chairing the
steering committee overseeing the Congress
on Professional Education. You may keep up
to date on the progress and learn how to
participate electronically by checking out
the Congress on Professional Education
Website (www.ala.org/congress).
ALA's Conference Committee solicited
reactions and comments on its report,
"Annual Conference: Options for the
Future" at two information sessions and at
various committee meetings. In addition to
other suggestions, the report indicated
interest in offering information "tracks"
for attendees with similar offerings
taking place at the same hotel or
location. Some of the ideas may be put
into place by annual conference in San
Francisco in 2001.
Some of the significant agenda items
passed included:
- President Ann Symon's resolution on
"Libraries: An American Value." OLC was
one of the endorsing state
associations.
- Resolutions from the Committee on
Legislation endorsing the Government
Secrecy Reform Act of 1999 (S.22) and
support of increased funding for the
Government Printing Office.
- A change in Policy 9 clarifying ALA
relations with external organizations
and defining informal
relationships.
- A revised resolution regarding the
Boy Scouts in which ALA "urges the Boy
Scouts of America to reconsider their
policy of discrimination in the areas
of sexual orientation and religious
belief and demonstrate commitment to
human rights, inclusiveness and mutual
respect."
- A resolution directing ALA units to
report what they have done to implement
the 1990 policy on "Library Services to
Poor People."
- A resolution asking ALA to withdraw
its support of National TV Turn-Off
Week. An endorsement that was viewed as
anti-intellectual freedom.
- A resolution supporting the
importance of the e-rate program to
America's libraries.
The Outsourcing Task Force made their
long awaited report and brought six motion
items forward. The first centered on the
essential values of libraries; the second
encouraged ALA units to develop decision
making guidelines for libraries under
their jurisdiction in regards to
outsourcing; and the third asked the
Intellectual Freedom Committee to provide
an interpretation of the Library Bill of
Rights as it relates to outsourcing and
privatization. Motion four asked for a
commission to study the impact of
outsourcing on services and management was
referred to the Budget Analysis and Review
Committee (BARC) for cost implications
related to the study. Motion five flatly
stated ALA opposed shifting library
policy-making by library management from
the public to the private sector, and was
defeated. Motion six was defeated as well.
This motion related to a general, all
encompassing statement regarding
outsourcing of specific tasks. Further
action on Motions three and four will
await reports and recommendations from the
Intellectual Freedom Committee and
BARC.
ALA's Midwinter Conference ended on a
very sad note as news of Councilor Marvin
Scilken's death was shared with Council
members. Marvin, the "unabashed librarian"
himself, was one of Council's most vocal
and dedicated members.
ALA will be held in New Orleans from
June 26-29, 1999 and next mid-winter is in
San Antonio from January 14-19, 2000.
Please remember to vote in the ALA
election later this spring! Please email
(cbrodie@slis.kent.edu)
or call me (330-672-2782) if you have
questions or would like to have more
information.
Carolyn S. Brodie,
Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Kent State University
School of Library and Information
Science
Kent, OH 44242-0001
330-672-2782 (voice)
330-672-7965 (fax)
cbrodie@slis.kent.edu
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updated 9/9/99
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