Comments on: Martyrdom and ALA

By: Laura Koltutsky

Laura Koltutsky — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 01:29:09 +0000

I understand the frustration of dealing with ALA and the ensuing bureaucracy. Please understand that if we do not fight to make ALA relevant to its members it will fail. As an ALA committee chair I have spoken to my members about the challenges they face in attending every ALA conference as a committee membership requisite. What ever happened to the idea of holding virtual meetings, why do we have to physically attend every conference? Networking aside how many of us find the conferences relevant? As an academic librarian I have to be involved in association work and I do value the work that I have done as a result. The question if this work can be accomplished outside of conferences (as it usually is) why do we have to physically relocate to meet?

Membership meetings are rarely attended by conference attendees and the fact that the quorum requirement has been recently changed hasn’t resulted in more effective representation. Council members are our representatives and I thank every one of them for taking on that task. If we don’t want our voices heard than we are heading down the wrong road in dismissing their relevance to the process of members having any input into the association. Realistically we need to choose what type of association we need and want. Do we want an association that simply acts as a professional development tool or do we want an association that speaks to our ideals and values. If you don’t support the Library Bill of Rights or believe in the Code of Ethics why did you join ALA?

By: rochelle

rochelle — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 14:22:27 +0000

ALA doesn’t offer much in the way of conference support, and it’s my understanding that there simply isn’t budget for it. One thing I can think of is for students–it’s a Student to Staff Liaison program for which ALA pays for conference registration for one student from each LIS school to work the conference. The other thing is something I benefitted from–people who work on Cognotes, the conference newspaper, get their registration comped. But, you’re asked to commit to attending both Midwinter and Annual. (For anyone with writing/reporting skills, this is an excellent way to immerse yourself in the organization). NMRT offers a conference scholarship every year, and I imagine other units have conference support offered on a competetitve basis.

By: Elsa

Elsa — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 21:31:50 +0000

Mark Rosenzweig’s post brings up another point, which is the often insufficient funds within a library for ALA membership, professional development and travel to conferences. It’s expensive enough that my library discouraged me from joining (I joined as a personal member and paid for it myself) on the grounds that it wasn’t worth it for me, as long as one person in the library was a member. It’s great that conferences are all over the place, I don’t think that paying our own way to out of state conferences is the answer for many of us.

This is a place where ALA could help. Does it offer scholarships to attend conferences? Usually there’s a hotel deal, but would it be possible to get deals at several different local hotels, ranging from youth hostels to the Merriot? If ALA was willing to give and offer need based scholarships or fee reductions, that might bring conferences within reach of many students and libraries who currently can’t attend at all.

By: Meredith

Meredith — Mon, 06 Mar 2006 20:13:07 +0000

Rochelle, I agree with you that the ALA is a great place for networking, especially before all of these online communities were built on the Web. Without a blog, I can’t imagine having met all the cool folks (you included) that I’ve gotten to know over the past year. I would much rather vote “no” on a dues increase than leave the organization altogether, but I have a feeling the dues increase will pass. I just want to see some movement in the right direction over the next year.

By: rochelle

rochelle — Mon, 06 Mar 2006 18:33:59 +0000

Dorthea (and others)–Sorry about being a bit cranky and over-the-top in my previous comment, but I do still stand by my main point that ALA has been and continues to be an invaluable networking source for many. If I thought that there was a chance that a mass pull-out would effect deep, meaningful change, I’d consider participating. At this point, I don’t see it happening. I think the upcoming election may tell us a lot as ALA asks members to approve a dues increase.

By: What I Learned Today… » Blog Archive » To associate or not to associate

Mon, 06 Mar 2006 13:20:22 +0000

[...] Meredith has a post that I just read today titled: Martyrdom and ALA, which in addition to being a good post has some very interesting comments. Dorothea comments What I’ve said is, ALA is inefficient, ineffective, and on a couple of vital issues entirely wrongheaded, and as good people, we have RUN OUT OF WAYS TO CHANGE THAT from within. [...]

By: Dorothea

Dorothea — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 23:46:11 +0000

I guess the question is which “we” we’re talking about, Karen. I hadn’t considered it before, but if a big division (thank you, Lisa; my mistake) were to rear up on its hind legs and say “we’ll do better without ALA than with it!” we might actually get somewhere.

I think my top candidate for said hind-legs-rearing would be LITA. Of course, LITA on its own would face a tough challenge from ASIST (which is where a good many techie ex-ALAers, self included, have gone), but LITA + ASIST has intriguing possibilities.

By: K.G. Schneider

K.G. Schneider — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 17:58:58 +0000

Jessamyn, thank you for your gracious post; it means a lot to me right now. You definitely “get” what my position is.

Even I, a confessed ALA political junky, am often driven mad, mad, mad by ALA. But do we all agree we need an association, to start with? If we do, then do we start a new one or change the one we have?

I’ll blog more on this myself; I’m doing homework today and am not letting myself blog til I’m done!

By: Dorothea

Dorothea — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 02:55:02 +0000

Rochelle, nobody’s said it’s all evil. Not even me, and I’ve probably come closest.

What I’ve said is, ALA is inefficient, ineffective, and on a couple of vital issues entirely wrongheaded, and as good people, we have RUN OUT OF WAYS TO CHANGE THAT from within.

I repeat my call. Leave ALA until ALA comes to the table with a serious plan for reform, a plan that should definitely include kicking Rosenzweig out on his three-letter-word. (Or four-letter, whichever spelling you prefer.)

By: rochelle

rochelle — Sat, 04 Mar 2006 21:42:39 +0000

>Let’s leave ALA to the likes of Councilor Rosenweig, shall we?

Nah! Let’s not. There are some of us willing to be involved with ALA and Council in the hopes of exerting influence and contributing to meaningful organizational change. Frustrating to be sure, but it’s one of the ways I can contribute. I envy those who are able to be independent and/or have the support of their institutions to do really nifty outreach outside of traditional channels. A friend pointed out to me that ALA is sometimes one of the few ways for many in the profession to be actively involved and to connect with others. My early involvement in ALA was invaluable and directly responsible for my considerable network of library friends and colleagues. It’s not all evil.