Hello, all,
Posting on behalf of our terrific ALA board liaison,
@Karen Schneider!
Key highlights from the September 2021 EB meeting:
- ALA President Wong reported the outcomes of the closed session during the special Board Meeting on Thursday, September 9, 2021. The Board met to discuss LibLearnX and approved to move the event to a virtual environment due to the pandemic. For more information, click here for the press release.
- Virtual LibLearnX (LLX) January 2022
- The LibLearnX Subcommittee is meeting to review the 172 program submissions. The subcommittee is committed to making selections by end of the month. Sessions should be on the website by early October before registration opening which is set for October 15.
- At this time, the skeleton schedule will remain the same as approved by the Board.
- The work now falls to the Board and others to promote and recruit others to attend LLX.
- Annual Conference June 2022
- The call for presentation closes October 1, 2021; member opportunities for Round Table and committees open late October.
- Pivot Strategy Update
- Spent last year in developing the pivot strategy; and September 1st kicked off the implementation of the strategy.
- Contributed Revenue and Continuing Education are fully launched; Data Research and Design will launch later this fiscal year.
- The Cross Functional Teams will bring staff together at all levels with the goal to increase communication, coordination, and impact.
- Membership Update
- The membership model work is on track to be brought for EB action this October. A pricing survey was sent to lapse and current members.
- Membership growth work strategies were shared.
- Equity Diversity Inclusion Social Justice (EDISJ) Commission and ALA Initiatives and Resources
- Executive Director Hall is inventorying every unit of all the EDI work that is happening across ALA to support the Commission on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion and Social Justice in the LIS workforce.
- We have capacity with individual donations; signed up with Freewill, which is a tool that supports people thinking about how to connect, give and the legacy they want to leave with.
- President Wong will be sharing a charge and concept of the Board's vision to be reviewed and examined at the October meeting. This commission would be member driven to utilize our existing resources in a different way and leverage core values that creates activism.
- Office of Intellectual Freedom (OIF) Update
- The group working on the intersection of intellectual freedom are on draft 7 of a radical empathy statement that will frame changes in ALA policy as we move forward.
- Convening a WG to develop a toolkit for library workers addressing challenges that seeks to remove books on antiracism, black American history and diversity.
- The Fall Legislative Summit is October 16, 2021. The goal is to educate the participants about the legislative attempts to ban diversity, anti-race, and LGBTQ materials from schools and libraries. To register, click here.
- Banned Books Week is Sept 26-Oct 2. For more information, click here.
- October Fall Board Draft Agenda Review and Meeting Logistics were reviewed. Edits should be sent to sreyes@ala.org
There was no formal Board Approved Action taken at this meeting.
The ALA Executive Board adjourned into closed session to discuss social media and board participation. Note: The EB goes into closed session to discuss matters that should not be discussed publicly for legal reasons, may be sensitive in nature, or are not yet ready to be announced.
The next EB meeting is Tuesday, October 19 at 3pm CT via Zoom. The full EB meeting schedule can be found here. Most EB documents are publicly available here.
Karen G. Schneider
ALA Executive Board, 2019-2022
Dean, Sonoma State University Library
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Dani Cook
Associate University Librarian, Learning and User Experience
UC San Diego Library
She/Her/Hers
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