IFRT Councilor’s Report Midwinter 2006

Carolyn Caywood

I thought that I would describe Council business in the order it occurred to give a better picture of what the IFRT Councilor does, since we'll be voting on a new Councilor this spring. I would be very glad to talk further with anyone considering running for IFRT Councilor. Contact me at ccaywood@vbgov.com.

10:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m. Council I - Sunday January 22

Council I is usually devoted to internal Association business and thus kind of boring, but not this time. There were two floor nominations for Executive Board: Ling Hwey Jing and Joann Pinder, though neither was elected. A resolution on the Instructional Classification of School Librarians passed unanimously after some amending. This was in response to the 65% solution proposals in state legislatures that than percentage of school funding be spent on classroom instruction. School librarians are seeking to be included as classroom instructors.

10:15-11:15 a.m. ALA-APA Council - Monday January 23

Councilors of ALA also serve as Councilors of the Allied Professional Association (APA), the 501(c)6 organization that ALA set up for advocacy and continuing education. This was very much internal business and about the only item of note was passage of a provision that any Division/Round Table/Chapter Councilor whose job forbids serving as an officer of a 501(c)6 can be replaced by an observer who can speak but not vote.

8:00 p.m.-9:30 p.m. Council Forum - Monday January 23

This is an informal meeting of those Councilors who choose to come. Melora, as chair of the Committee On Organization, told us that COO had been asked to create two additional members of the Budget Analysis and Review Committee to be chosen by Division presidents. BARC looks at the financial implications of Council actions, the budget of ALA, and the Operating Agreement between ALA and its units, e.g. Divisions and Round Tables. The Divisions felt that they needed more communication with BARC and indeed the committee is so small that its members may not fulfill their liaison obligations. There seemed to be more to the story but that's all that we heard. This raised a lot of concern among the Councilors present and we ran past 10pm.

9:15 a.m.-12:45 p.m. Council II - Tuesday, January 24

Council rejected an amendment that would have earmarked new funds and passed the dues increase proposed by the Membership Committee, which sends it to the spring ballot. COSWL, the Committee on the Status of Women in Librarianship, came with a surprise resolution opposing appointment of Judge Alito to the Supreme Court because his track record on women's employment issues does not look promising. This passed. Robert E. Stueart was made an Honorary Member of ALA. The Budget Programatic Priorities passed - they are unchanged from previous years. The Freedom to Read Foundation reported as is customary at Council II. And the resolution to add four Round Table Councilors, so that all Round Tables having at least 1% of ALA members have Councilors, passed after considerable discussion. It too will be on the spring ballot. This resolution, which IFRT endorsed, was prompted by one Round Table (IRRT) growing larger than another (GODORT) which had had a Councilor. If ALA's members agree on the ballot, there will be Councilors for GLBTRT, GODORT, IFRT, IRRT, LIRT, LRRT, LSSIRT, NMRT, & SRRT. The remaining Round Tables will still share a Councilor. The resolution in support of Academic Freedom was held over to Council III.

4:30 p.m.-6:00 p.m. Council Forum - Tuesday, January 24

We resumed discussion of the BARC proposal with background from YALSA. A little time was also spent on the Academic Freedom resolution.

8:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Council III - Wednesday January 25

Council elected Terri Kirk, Mario Gonzalez, and Roberta Stevens to the Executive Board. IFC reported but had no action items. The Committee on Legislation made up for this with six, all endorsed by IFC. Most relevant to us was a resolution seeking changes to the USAPATRIOT Act to require constitutional protections in sections 215 and 505. All six passed. The International Relations Committee brought back from Annual a modified resolution urging that library workers be permitted to travel in and out of the US on library business. This passed. COO brought the BARC proposal which was amended to add two members to BARC without making them Division members. The resolution on Academic Freedom passed and a resolution to study a graduated dues structure was postponed to Annual. And, we finished an hour early!