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  • 1.  Response to the FTRWG Report From Betty Turock

    Posted Jun 21, 2021 08:29 AM
      |   view attached
    Good morning, I have been asked to share the attached comments on ALA's reorganization with Council.  The comments are from former ALA President and Honorary Member Betty Turock.   Betty has followed this process closely and I appreciate both her analysis and her life long commitment to ALA service.

    Eileen

    ------------------------------
    Eileen M. Palmer
    Executive Director
    LMxAC Libraries of Middlesex
    NJLA Chapter Councilor
    empalmer@lmxac.org
    ------------------------------

    Attachment(s)



  • 2.  RE: Response to the FTRWG Report From Betty Turock

    Posted Jun 21, 2021 09:57 AM
    Greetings Colleagues, 
    First, *many thanks* for all the tremendous efforts to improve our Association, and to make it more viable and influential for the future! I think we are moving in the right direction, but I also believe we need to iron out a lot of details and fiscal implications before I feel comfortable voting next week.

    After reading Betty's memorandum, and realizing that we are one week from Council I and have fewer details about reorg proposals than needed, and even less information about the fiscal implications of the various models being proposed, I am very concerned about our ability to vote on many of the intertwined resolutions. 

    For me, the questions I am asking myself include:

     1. Does the proposed new governance structure make governance more understandable and less opaque for the average member (or for members currently involved in governance)? Betty's point about not understanding the unique purposes for the Assemblies, Board of Directors and Council really resonates for me, especially around the idea of policy-making.

    2. Does the proposed new structure make it easier or more likely that members have an opportunity to serve if they wish to do so? 
    •    We have collapsed ALA/Council committee opportunities to serve, as well as council opportunities to serve, but we have expanded opportunities via the assemblies and an expanded board of directors. What is the net gain or loss in opportunities to participate in governance?
    •    Have we democratized or de-democratized policy-making and fiscal decision-making as a result of proposed new structures? 
    3. Do the proposed new structures save ALA fiscal resources in a meaningful way? What percentage of the overall operating budget do other orgs spend on governance? Are we in alignment with that now? Will we be in alignment with that with the proposed new structures? How much will these new structures cost the Association?

    4. Does the proposed new structure adequately address the Association's growing need for diversity, equity and inclusion within governance? Our Diversity Councilors Caucus has made significant gains in this area in the last five years--how do we insure the proposed new structures will nurture a similar sense of community and support for EDI within ALA governance?  I know many have similar concerns for school librarian participation. (Might we propose assembly [or more generic governance] caucuses like we have council caucuses now?)

    Thanks again to all who have contributed to this very important work,
    --Karen
    -----------------------------------------------------
    Karen E. Downing, Ph.D., M.I.L.S.
    Education Librarian
    209 Hatcher Graduate Library
    University of Michigan
    Ann Arbor, MI  48109-1190
    001.734.615.8610 (please email during COVID-19)
    Pronouns: she/her

    "Libraries are about truth, evidence and memory." --Elaine Westbrooks, 2019








  • 3.  RE: Response to the FTRWG Report From Betty Turock

    Posted Jun 21, 2021 12:26 PM
    Greetings all,
    I am forwarding a response from Honorary ALA Member, Past President and Past Treasurer, Patricia Glass Schuman, about the proposed reorg/resolutions:
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Why  does the Association want to consolidate power in an EB Board that no longer reports to either Council or Membership?

    Essentially the Council  resolution takes away major powers from the Council and vests them in all powerful, seemingly unaccountable, Board. 

     

    -Council no longer elects 2/3 Executive Board Members

    -Exec Board no longer reports to Council

    - Council no longer approves the budget

    - Council no longer oversees units of the Association or delegates responsibility

    - Council no longer makes committee appointments

    Council Committees - IFC, Legislation etc no longer exist

    Council no longer creates/ dissolves/ oversees committees

     

    The EXecutive Board  becomes  extremely powerful, but also cumbersome- and likely  very expensive


    What are financial implications of these recommendations?

    How much money is actually saved?  ( I questioned Maggie Farrell some time ago about costs attributed to Council and she agreed they needed to be revised. For example travel costs were enormous, but ALA does not pay Council travel )

    -How does operating Agreement relate to all this?

    - Who pays Exec Board ( now double in size) expenses for meeting? . ALA has until now paid these expenses.  

    Some other questions:

    How do we define affiliates? Is there a minimum number of members? Will reps have to be members of ALA?

    Who will approve affiliates ( currently Council does)?

    How is Spectrum " cohort" determined?

    How will thèse new proposed -   seemingly «  squished «  together - Committees possibly deal with their extensive agendas?


    I prefer a larger, more representative Council than an all- powerful Board-but the real question is - what will Council become and why?



    Patricia Glass Schuman
    Past President
    Past Treasurer
    Honorary Member
    Sent from my iPad


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    --Karen
    -----------------------------------------------------
    Karen E. Downing, Ph.D., M.I.L.S.
    Education Librarian
    209 Hatcher Graduate Library
    University of Michigan
    Ann Arbor, MI  48109-1190
    001.734.615.8610 (please email during COVID-19)
    Pronouns: she/her

    "Libraries are about truth, evidence and memory." --Elaine Westbrooks, 2019







  • 4.  RE: Response to the FTRWG Report From Betty Turock

    Posted Jun 21, 2021 10:18 PM
    I appreciate the continued engagement around the necessary major changes our association needs to make in order to be more nimble, inclusive, and approachable, and while I don't agree with everything brought up in this string (and also would prefer to see this discussion happen in the information sessions, at Forum, and, notably, on the Council floor rather than via this email list), I am in full agreement that it is mind-boggling that we would undertake voting on the Forward Together Resolutions Working Group resolutions before full fiscal analysis has been done. I cannot understand why we would vote on resolutions so major while not following current Council practice, where BARC reviews the fiscal impacts.

    I would be happy to put together a resolution requiring this fiscal review to happen, so the Forward Together Fiscal Analysis Working Group to have the chance to undertake their work -- is anyone working on it already? If so, count me in as your co-sponsor (I'll help!) or your second. And, if not, I'll pull something together tomorrow!

    Stephanie Chase
    PLA Division Councilor





  • 5.  RE: Response to the FTRWG Report From Betty Turock

    Posted Jun 23, 2021 09:33 AM

    As a member of the Forward Together Fiscal Analysis Working Group, I would like to address a common misconception about the work of FTFAWG. Betty Turock wrote:


    "Because the current financial exigencies of our Association were recognized as an existential threat to its  continued viability, a Forward Together Fiscal Analysis Working Group was established... tasked with producing a report directed at generating recommendations or resolutions for the future." 

    The Forward Together Fiscal Analysis Working Group has a narrow charge: "The Forward Together Fiscal Analysis Working Group will conduct a comprehensive fiscal analysis of the amended Forward Together recommendations."

    The FTFAWG does not make recommendations or resolutions. Its sole job, as its reports will demonstrate, is to provide fiscal analysis of the resolutions generated by the Forward Together resolutions group. While its members may have opinions about the content of the resolutions, we have worked hard to stay in our fiscal analysis lane (and it's a pretty busy lane at that). I have seen other documents that appear to misrepresent our charge, but that's it: fiscal analysis of Forward Together resolutions. Big thanks for our chair John Lehner for keeping us on task. 

    Karen G. Schneider
    Member, ALA Executive Board, 2019 - 2022
    Member, Forward Together Fiscal Analysis Working Group