American Library Association
Committee Information Update
Please note: ALA and Council committees are required to submit an update of their activities within one-month after each Midwinter Meeting and Annual Conference. This form will be sent to the ALA Council and the ALA Committee on Organization.
Report for Midwinter ___2009_____
Report for Midwinter Conference ______
Name of Committee: ALA Membership Committee
Committee Chair: Dora T. Ho
Committee Members Present: Dora Ho, Toni Bernardi, Nanette Donohue, David Easterbrook, Michael Golrick, Jennifer Kutzik, Ria Newhouse, Sara Bradley Leighton, Jennifer Emanuel, Kelly Janousek, Ann Fabrizio, Peggy Rudd.
Committee Members Absent: Adrienne Turner
Others Present: Roberta Stevens, Executive Board liaison, Cathleen Bourdon and John Chrastka, staff liaisons, Anita Kosinski, LSSIRT (On behalf of Mary Nation), Amanda Ros, NMRT, Catherine Friedman, LLAMA, Dawn Lowe, NMRT, Kawanna Michelle Bright, LRRT
Lisa Romero, RUSA, Ms. Brazil, Library Trustees, Nick Buron, PLA, Tess Tobin, EMIERT, Wade Bishop, VRT, Will Hart, Catherine Friedman, LLAMA, Gwendolyn Welch, ALTA, Kathleen O’Conner, ASCLA, Rebecca Ryder, ALCTS, Shannon Peterson, YALSA
Accomplishments [at this meeting], a concise account:
Membership Committee I, Saturday, January 24, 2009:
I. Memorial Resolution for Mary Elizabeth Nation, LSSIRT Chair
The Membership Committee unanimously passed the Memorial Resolution for Ms. Nation to celebrate her lifetime achievements and extend sympathy to her family, friends, and colleagues as a result of her death on January 18, 2009.
II. Roberta Stevens, Executive Board Liaison, reported:
· The subject of the tough economy appeared in the latest ALA Direct. She recommended that the Advocacy in Tough Times Tool Kit on the ALA site.
· The ALA budget is staying flat which means ALA has, hopefully, prepared well for the tough economy impact.
· The ALA redesigned web site is coming along and the social networking tools will be added soon. ALA Connect will provide more effective electronic participation tools for the membership.
· Cathy Freidman emphasized the importance of using technology to attract and retain new, young members.
III. Membership Statistics – Discussion: A report on the end-of-year (2008) and year-to-date (2009) membership statistics and projections to the end of the fiscal year.
· John Chrastka reported that the renewals are coming in more quickly this year than at the same time last year. This is good news so far, but a potential false positive.
· New members are down compared to last year. This could be a factor of Denver being a harder location than Philadelphia was last year.
· Mr. Chrastka will be working closely with the membership committees of other groups and to update recruitment information and tools.
· The dues increase ends in 2010 that should bring some mental stability to the membership numbers.
· A member suggested that a “gift membership” be offered, so friends and family members can buy your membership for you.
IV. Interns Orientation – Report: A report by the Intern Orientation Committee concerning the Friday program
· Sarah Bradley Leighton reported that twenty-one committee interns and two ALA members who are interested in becoming interns attended the program, so it was a good turnout despite the many non-RSVPs that we had been getting.
· Loriene Roy welcomed the group. Dora Ho and Terri Switzer talked about committee work. Michael Golrick explained the ALA structure. Aaron Dobbs and Sara Albert discussed their internship experiences.
· At Midwinter, the interns gathered for an informal dinner to get to know each other and network.
V. Revise Committee Charge
A referral from the Orientation and Leadership Development Committee (OTLD) concerning updates to this committee’s Charge, transferring responsibility for the Intern Orientation program.
· John Chrastka explained that the internship program began in the 1980’s and the Membership Committee took on the charge of running the Intern Orientation. OTLD has decided that it should take on the running of the orientation in order to couple it with the Committee Chair Orientation that they run. Membership Committee approved the change to its charge and the move will go to COO for approval.
· A member commented that the move made sense as long as intern training still includes information to the interns that part of their charge is to act as a spokesperson for membership.
VI. Organizational Membership Structure – Review and revise the current labels used in Organizational membership (libraries and non-profits)
· The current organizational dues structure is based on the budget of the library. This system was started in the 1980s and it needs to be examined.
· The committee discussed the proposed restructuring based on more commonly understood structuring that is often used in vendor subscription contracts. The committee approved the new structure with the change of “Schools by Library District” to “Student Services.”
VII. Division and Round Table Open Forum, Representative from divisions and round tables are invited to bring concerns or comments to the committee.
LRRT: Membership is down, but the division isn’t too worried. The membership committee is getting reinvigorated and they working on a new brochure.
LITA: The Emerging Leader leadership training went well and they had a successful happy hour. The happy hours are good because you can make good connections in a non-stressful environment. They are looking at why they are losing members. They are going to expand mentorship programs. 8 members are on the membership committee, but only 3 are at Midwinter as a result of budget cuts.
EMIERT: One member is active on membership committee because people aren’t able to attend meetings due to budget cuts. They seem to be doing well with their round table membership so far.
NMRT: Membership is down. They are proposing that their resume review service be made available on ALA Connect to offer this service to a broader audience. NMRT lost its 3M sponsorship for its social.
LLAMA: They are trying to be more proactive about membership as they look at the potential economic impact. They are focusing more on new members and less on retention. LLAMA 101 is going well. They are hoping to use ALA Connect to do better outreach and get outside the bureaucracy.
PLA: No formal report.
ALTA: They are concerned about trustees. They are looking to recruit new trustees and younger trustees. They hope to retain more trustees through membership and training and attract a younger audience.
John Chrastka announced that the ALA Pavilion will be part of Annual in the Exhibits Hall in Chicago. Every division and round table will have space to present and host information. The advantage to the Pavilion is that it reaches ‘Exhibit Only’ attendees. He also mentioned that the 101 branding concept is going well and recommends that divisions consider reworking those 101 programs rather than canceling them. Also, think about labeling membership programs with “101” so ALA can market those programs to new members and first time conference attendees. The Ambassador Program will also be run at Annual this year.
Membership Committee Meeting II, Sunday January 25, 2009:
I. Dues Rates in Bylaws – A review of discussions with the Constitution and Bylaws Committee on moving specific dues rates from ALA Bylaws to Policy
· The change in personal dues still has to be approved by the Membership Committee, Executive Board, Council, and then a general membership mail vote.
· The measure basically cleans up the language in the bylaws and all dues rates for all memberships will be in the policy manual.
II. Type of Library Codes – Review the labels used to track personal member type of work and level of responsibility to align membership statistics with other surveys of the profession like the APA Salary Survey.
· John Chrastka asked that the committee break into small groups to discuss the Type of Library Codes and the Type-of-Work and Level of Responsibility Codes.
· The Committee broke into small groups for 15 minutes to review proposed codes. The group then reconvened and shared their ideas.
III. Organizational Membership Dues - Review a request by the Executive Director to revise the current dues levels for Organizational membership (libraries and non-profits) to make a referral to Council at the 2009 Annual Conference
· John Chrastka presented the proposal to increase organizational membership dues.
· The new structure will include discounts to organizational members to send staff to Annual. This would bring value back to the organizational membership. This will be a pilot project in Chicago.
· The change in dues should bring in another $600K by the end of 2012.
· The last organizational increase was in 1996 or 2000.
· Categories L5 and L6 collapsed into Very Large Organizational Membership.
· Category L3 has the biggest jump on dues from $250 to $500. Members asked if this was too much of an increase. Could we transition this over a period of years?
· A member commented that it would be more dangerous to lose organizational memberships than personal memberships.
· It was agreed that we will discuss this matter again at Annual. John Chrastka will examine a less extreme increase for L3 level.
Note: The committee agreed to extend the meeting past 5:30 p.m.
IV. Meeting Schedule for Annual 2009 in Chicago:
The committee approved to Membership Committee Meeting I on Sunday, July 12, 2009, 1:30 – 3:00 p.m. and Membership Committee Meeting II on Monday, July 13, 2009, 3:30 – 5:00 p.m.
Meeting adjourned at 5:30 pm.
Planned activities for upcoming year, a concise account:
The ALA Membership Committee will:
· Continue discussions of membership issues of retired members.
Other comments/information you believe will help the Association in its work:
The chair thanks Jennifer Kutzik and Brenda Mitchell-Powell for taking excellent notes during the meetings.
Submitted by: __Dora T. Ho, Chair______
Date Submitted: __February 13, 2009______
Please return the completed form to Lois Ann Gregory-Wood, ALA Council Secretariat, Governance Office, American Library Association, 50 E. Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60611, .