AASL Chapters Forum

Before I move forward on present concerns and commendations, I need some clarification.  Why were Concern 13 (dealing with a searchable directory) and Concern 14 (dealing with complimentary ALA chapter memberships being extended to AASL Directors of those states during their tenure) not moved forward?  Both were approved by Affiliate Assembly and the Board of Directors.  If the decision to not move these two forward was made by the Executive Committee, please post the minutes of the meeting where these two were discussed - I need the specifics on these two.  This should have been covered in Las Vegas during our last meeting - not just a quick "are not being moved forward - any questions?"  This caught me off guard when both were approved by AA and Board for action.  If these had been properly discussed at that time, could they have been tweaked?  Transparency, please.

Ken:

I thought we did discuss them. In the minutes from AACT this is listed:

"Concern #14—Complimentary membership was not approved as it is impossible to control what other chapters do."

If I recall correctly, Concern #13 was shot down by legal due to privacy issues or something of the sort. I'm sure Jonna can clarify more for us. 

Ken, I apologize.  As I recall,  the explanation at the ACTT meeting before the larger assembly meeting was a little more coherent. but I am to blame for the confusion I created during the report at the Affiliate Assembly at Midwinter.  I wasn't feeling well at that time and my report was jumbled and in my worn out condition I probably didn't seem receptive to questions when my immediate response was a lot of coughing. 

AASL President Terri Grief will respond here about the decisions for specific concerns and commendations.  At the moment I suspect she is caught up in the realities of a building level school librarian (as a former high school librarian I recall a Friday in the springtime demanded all of my attention and energy) so in the meantime let me clarify what may be a mis-perception about the process itself.

Affiliate Assembly has a proud history as the grassroots group to bring forward issues - and the joys - from school librarians at the state level.  Affiliate Assembly considers this state level information in the form of concerns and commendations and presents it to the AASL governance body at the end of conference. The procedure varied in my years as a member who represented my state or later as a director-elect, but the purpose for it hasn't changed. In my brief time as Executive Director, concerns and commendations have been presented by the AA Chair at the Board III meeting of the AASL Board of Directors just as Carrie did at Annual in Las Vegas. 

To clarify, at that time the Board accepted the overall report which is not the same as approving the individual concerns or commendations.  Given the timing, the AASL Executive Committee, with responsibility per the By-Laws to act on issues between the meetings of the Board, reviews and determines the concerns and commendations to move forward for action.  Commendation letters were sent and actions from concerns are put in place or were moved to more Board discussion and action request for approval.   I have not checked to see what communications went back to AA leadership about the concerns and commendations before the discussion at the AACT meeting at Midwinter, but we can review the communications process again as I recognize Annual to Midwinter is a lengthy gap if you are waiting.  (Personal note: In my early member history, AA concerns were often not even reviewed until the Executive Committee met again in October, but efforts in more recent years have commendation letters out in a more timely manner and other ways that reflect the strategic plan goals for more efficient.)

My apologies again for adding to the frustration. As always, anyone can call me 312-280-4388 if you want to talk. 

Sylvia

I will be glad to explain the reasoning behind the EC’s decision not to move forward with Concern #14.

I am recreating the discussion since the minutes only reflect who made the motion, second and the vote.

First I need to give you a little background about ALA. There is an ALA Chapter in each state. Some of them include their school librarians as a section of the state chapter. For example, Kentucky Library Association is the “mother” association of the Kentucky Association of School Librarians just as ALA is the “mother” of AASL. Other states do not include their school librarians in their association and the school association is separate. So the school librarians who are members of KLA  (Kentucky) get the information from ALA through KLA. States who do not have that relationship might miss information from ALA unless their members belong to ALA/AASL. You can see why this is a concern for regions so Ken’s concern is a very valid one.

There are a couple of reasons that the EC felt it could not move forward but the main one is that we didn’t see why a Chapter would agree to this. What would the benefit be to their association to give a free membership to someone who might or might not be a true member (if they had a separate school library association)? We also felt like it was overstepping our bounds as an association to ask this of chapters and felt that it would put them in an awkward position if they felt they had to refuse. We discussed whether we could ask to pay something for dues but, when we calculated the costs, it could possibly be $5000. Finally, we had to look at our strategic plan and goals. We do feel that this fit into Critical Issue #2 under Goal #1 but we feel that this can be accomplished without actual membership in the chapters. Chapter websites provide information if the directors choose to take the initiative.

I hope this helps answer Ken’s question on Concern #14.

I am going to find my notes on the other issues because I can't really remember what the discussion about it was. Thanks for following up, Ken. 

Hey,

On #13 = how can this be a legal issue?  Our ALA directory is already on line - we have access to it in its existing format.  The problem is that we have to look up one name at a time - there are no search parameters available for our use.  This would simply amount to an add-on feature to our already existing software.

If the ALA legal department has ruled on this, please post the notes/comments where this was discussed.

On #14.  So, our AASL executive committee cannot approach each state ALA chapter (individually) and at least request this?  (And, yes, this would require 50 emails...)  Can the exec committee approach Keith Fiels on his take on this at the very least?

Thanks for the info, Sylvia and Terri.  So, now, my question would be why wouldn't they extend the complimentary membership for the AASL Board member of their region if the potential for increased communication for school librarians could be affected?  I wouldn't feel awkward if I received an email from an association's president (committee, etc.) on this - if it's not in their policy to oblige this type of request, it's not in their policy.  Doesn't hurt to try.  And, as we all know, receiving an email from a listserv is a LOT faster than continually checking the chapter website waiting for it to be updated - especially with such things as date changes, etc.

Hi Ken,

I re-read the concern (#14) on complimentary memberships for Regional Directors and Regional Reps and need to clarify a bit as it refers to both AASL affiliates and ALA chapters while your message here is about Chapters.  As you know, some AASL Affiliates are also within designated ALA Chapters, but many are totally separate organizations. AASL as an entity does not have a direct relationship to ALA Chapters.  I want to make sure we are both talking about the same thing when you say "chapter" - are you referring to those state associations (one per state) that are designated by ALA as the official state chapters including a designated representative to ALA Council?

I believe the overall concern is to make sure AASL leadership is well informed so a discussion at Affiliate Assembly about state affiliate membership may have already taken place.  However, if not, and the concern is asking AASL Affiliates to provide complimentary membership, than Affiliate Assembly may be the place to make this request rather than as a concern to the Board. Regions can examine the possibilities among the states within their region  - although I'm all too aware this is not always an easy decision as complimentary memberships impact the services and budget of an association.  Dues revenue is a bit of an illusion and incurs expenses when you consider processing and maintaining communications that are part of membership.  A $50 AASL membership, for example, costs the association $32.06 per member. If this is about Chapters, then it could be that a state affiliate will feel obligated to give a complimentary membership to an ALA Chapter Councilor if the chapter is providing one to an AASL regional director.    

Some affiliates may have decided to offer this automatically, some directors and reps may individually inquire, and it may vary year to year so perhaps you want this standardized?  Or is this about ALA Chapters?

Thanks for clearing my confusion.

Sylvia 

Morning!  Yes, I am talking about those state associations (one per state) that are designated by ALA as the official state chapters.  If we don't have an AASL Affiliate group in the state and the school librarians are members of those chapters, it would be great if we had comp memberships so we could get hold of those people.