ALA Marginalia

This morning we held our annual Service Awards program, with President Loriene Roy and Executive Director Keith Michael Fiels presenting 33 staff members with certificates and token gifts for service of 5, 10, … up to 40 years of service. Even though the largest number of people have 5 or 10 years of service, the average for this group is just about 15 years. But that’s because there are three with 40 years. Think about it: when they started “The Graduate” was a first-run movie, The Beatles were still recording, with “Hey Jude” the top song of the year, the Detroit Tigers beat out St. Louis in the World Series, and there was much unrest in the world, from riots in Chicago to student demonstrations in Prague. When they started, balloting was on punch cards, carbon sets (or mimeograph) and typewriters were the technologies to make multiple copies, and ALA had just over 35,000 members.

If you’re at all involved with ALA, you’ve probably met or talked with the 40-year folks at least once. Neida de la Torre is in our Member and Customer Service unit, and very easily could be the person who helped you join ALA, or helped to untangle a conference registration glitch, or maybe corrected your membership record the last time you moved. Lois Ann Gregory-Wood receives boisterous applause from the ALA Council members she serves. Bob Hershman, publishing operations manager, oversees the ALA Store at both Midwinter and Annual–and is often at the checkout desk, selling you a serious professional book … or maybe just a conference souvenir for your kids.

Going back through the years, there’s Jimmie Bowens who runs the mailroom (35); Doris McKelvin in accounting (30); Cathleen Bourdon, Communications and Members Relations (but formerly ASCLA/RUSA, and even before then, ACRL) and Betty Morrissey in Reprographics (both 25); Darlena Davis, currently in HRDR, but formerly in LAMA and ACRL, Leonard Kniffel, American Libraries editor, and Pat May in the Washington Office (all 20); and Evelyn Butts-Elam in the CHOICE office in Connecticut (15).

After the service awards, two special Staff Achievement Awards for specific exemplary service were presented: to John Chrastka, Director of Membership, for his work on the Membership Pavilion at last year’s conference, and to George Eberhart, for his work on the weekly AL Direct. And finally, the Betty Obey Award, which enables a staff member with more than five years of service, but who has not attended a conference, to attend the Annual Conference; watch for Angela Smith when you’re in Anaheim!

Its my pleasure to work with these and all the other ALA staff! Their dedication, knowledge, good humor, and corporate memory contribute to our workday “quality of life.” Thanks, all.

Are you clicking through a reference to an ALA web document, but getting that dreaded “404″ message? Despite what the error message says, it’s not our “new” website–look for that this summer. It’s still our old website, but on a different content management system (CMS). During the week of March 17th, we finished moving the last 10-15,000 pages from the old CMS to a new one, leaving behind just a few functions that are heavily programmed to work with other systems.

As with any large scale conversion, there remain a few problems … and probably with just the page you were looking for, right?

Here are a few tips for self-help:

1. Check the URL you are using, especially if it’s a bookmark. If it ends in .htm rather than .cfm, you may be pointing to the old page. The old pages are supposed to be redirected to the new ones, but the paths are not always perfect.

2. Try going to www.ala.org, refreshing your page a couple of times, then navigating to the page you’re looking for. For example, if you want the ALCTS Duplicates Exchange Union, go to “Our Association”, then “Divisions” then “ALCTS” where you’ll find the link under “Resources” in the right navigation column. Or, use the shortcuts to the units found at the page created by ALA’s Reference Specialist, Val Hawkins.

3. Try using the search within the ALA website (the search box at the right end of the blue bars, or the search box on the error page). Pick the result with the .cfm in it … or try the cached version of the .htm page if you just need to check some information. If you want to cite the page, don’t use the .htm page, but wait until you locate the .cfm version so as not to pass on the obsolete reference.

4. Try an Internet search limiting results to the ALA website, e.g., < “FBI in your library” site:ala.org > and, again, pick the result that matches and also has the .cfm in it.

If all else fails, e-mail the ALA Library. We’ll find the page, or connect you to the unit responsible for the page.

The frequency of problems is already dropping off as the new pages are picked up with the various search engines, as we fix the reported problems, and as we run various diagnostics to find the others. With a site with well over 50,000 pages, though, there is bound to be one page, somewhere–and just the one someone needs, of course–that isn’t right.

Are you interested in joining one of ALA’s electronic mailing (or discussion) lists (more popularly referred to by the brand name LISTSERV®), but don’t know where to start? 

There are upwards of 150 such lists, some open to any subscriber and general in scope, others limited to a small group for the purposes of accomplishing a specific task.  Most ALA lists are run on the ALA servers and are listed on the ALA e-lists homepage.   For instructions about joining one of the lists, please visit the “lists” page of the ReadWriteConnect wiki at http://wikis.ala.org/readwriteconnect/index.php/Main_Page

The ReadWriteConnect wiki also has information on the other tools you can use for getting involved in ALA’s work electronically–blogs, RSS feeds, wikis, podcasts–and Second Life!

Note: there are a few lists that are not run from ALA servers; these will be referenced on the web pages published by the sponsoring groups or noted in their publications.

Karen

I use it daily, searching it, clicking through the links, as I have for over a decade. And each day 45,000 others do, too. We go to www.ala.org because it is a rich site, with the collective work of the Association represented. We sometimes complain that you need to know where to look to find anything, that it grows with neither structure nor direction. And that is what has been happening with the ALA website since its inception almost 13 years ago–but our current usability work is an effort to change our ways. Some background.

The American Library Association has participated in electronic dissemination of information since the mid-1980s when the Association introduced an e-mail service, ALANET, to its members. Beginning in 1985, the ALA Washington Office has published its e-newsletter, ALAWON, migrating the service from ALANET to other e-mail services over the decades.

ALA began its “new” electronic era in the 1988-89 fiscal year, when several staff were provided “bitnet” accounts, courtesy of the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). On May 13, 1991, the first subscription-based electronic list–ALCTS Network News (AN2)–was launched. More accounts and many more e-lists followed.

ALA launched its Gopher, using the server at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) in July 1994 (the March 1995 American Libraries has a review of the Gopher). In April 1995, ALA moved to the web, also through UIC, and its own domain name, www.ala.org.

The basis for the home page was a fact sheet from our Public Information Office about ALA, with links out to (mostly) gopher directories. That first “homely page” was scrawny and text heavy, but it worked.

On March 21, 1996, ALA moved to its own server, and began the process of migrating the material on the Gopher to the web site, www.ala.org. All units were provided “space” on the Gopher … and the web. Thus, the first representation of the Association on the web was as a reflection of our organization, with its central policy body Council, an array of committees, eleven divisions, round tables, affiliates, and chapters.

From the start, each of the units has been responsible for its own space, resulting different ways of presenting parallel information (such as the committee volunteer process), different types of material, etc. The spaces have become increasingly sophisticated as units have gained expertise in web presentation of material of interest to our members, prospective members, and others who have an interest in the mission of the ALA.

The ALA web server, software, and support is funded by the general ALA budget, with much of the developmental support coming from individual unit funds (for the staff involved in preparing the web pages or for outside contractors hired). In some cases, members directly support the web development as part of their volunteer work for the Association when they prepare pages–or even maintain whole linked websites. The ALA website–with its 60,000+ pages–is continuously updated by the 100+ content developers.

The ALA Website Advisory Committee has general oversight responsibility for ALA’s web presence, there is an internal staff team to do major developmental work and technical maintenance, and a staff Website Editorial Board to work with units on some overarching content issues. In general, though, content maintenance is the responsibility of all those diverse web developers, many on staff, others volunteers from among our membership.

Over the past year or so, we’ve been migrating from one content management system to another, unit by unit. Beginning March 10, there will be the final push to complete the conversion–and resolve broken links, missing files, etc. Some of the pages in this final push are the top level pages–contact the ALA Library (library@ala.org) if you need help with something during this transition.

Also, beginning in the summer of 2006, we’ve been conducting a usability analysis with numerous surveys, focus groups, and other forms of data gathering. During the Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia, we gathered input on the graphic design, and right now there’s a survey sent to a random sample of the ALA membership to gather data on the information architecture for the site . We’re hoping the next generation of the ALA web site will be in place before we meet in Anaheim!

Karen

The housing office for the Annual Conference at the end of June opened three days ago, at 10 a.m. on January 2, and already well over 3,500 housing reservations have been processed. There are also reports of “sold out” hotels. So, what gives?

Mary Ghikas, ALA Associate Executive Director, has prepared a conference Q & A, with housing just one of the sections (we’ll present the other portions in future posts). Here is the (slightly edited) information on conference housing:

How many rooms do we “block”? To accommodate “peak night” (Saturday-Sunday) demand, ALA typically requires 4,500 rooms for the ALA Midwinter Meeting and 8,500 rooms for the ALA Annual Conference. ALA requires fewer rooms on “shoulder” nights – Thursday, Friday, Monday, Tuesday. Based on recent experience and hotel data, however, ALA Conference Services is currently re-evaluating (and likely increasing) the block on shoulder nights, particularly Thursday. This shift in pattern applies to both Annual Conference and the Midwinter Meeting.

10 years ago, the room block “curve” looked like this:

W    Th    F    SA    SU    M    T    W

10%    30%    90%    100%    100%    70%    30%    10%

The room block “curve” now looks like this:

W    Th    F    SA    SU    M    T    W

10%    65%    95%    100%    100%    65%    25%    8%

Is the block big enough? ALA, as with any organization planning a large conference, seeks to “block” or set aside only the number of rooms it believes will be reserved by conference participants through the official “housing bureau” or association-designated travel agent. This can be a complex decision because (a) members may share rooms, (b) groups of members sharing rooms may make individual reservations – then consolidate, and (c) exhibitors may need to reserve blocks of hotel rooms before they make booth staffing decisions.

Hotels – particularly the national chains – also maintain statistics on an association’s past volume of hotel room use (“pick up” in conference-speak). Hotels are generally unwilling to set aside a block of rooms for an association that is significantly larger than past “pick up.” Further, hotel contracts increasingly include “attrition” clauses – clauses that impose substantial financial penalties on associations for blocking rooms that are not subsequently used by its members and exhibitors. Attrition represents a serious potential liability, so we try hard to get it right–enough rooms for all–but not too many left over.

As demand meets the pre-set block, ALA Conference Services negotiates with the hotel for additional rooms, at the same negotiated rate as the original “block.” This is – and has been for many years – a standard practice, but it is more visible now that registration takes place on the web–with real time response, not through the mail, where the adjustments could be made before confirmation. It is made more complex when you consider that the “block” is a different size on different nights, based on past attendance patterns, as noted above. So, for instance, a member may want to get into Hotel X starting Friday and leaving on Tuesday. There may be space in the block Friday through Monday, but Tuesday may be sold out. ALA will go back to the hotel and try to secure additional space on Tuesday night. In many – but not all – cases, that will be possible. In the meantime, that registration will be “waitlisted,” since the housing bureau cannot confirm all nights requested.

This common “block and keep negotiating” pattern is complicated when an association – like ALA – tends to have a “rush” at the opening of housing. For that reason, many associations – including some of our sister library associations – have begun requiring members and other attendees to register for the conference before reserving hotel rooms. ===>>>Note: ALA will begin that practice with the 2009 Midwinter Meeting.

There are some things you can do. First, be patient. As noted, most waitlisted reservations are resolved. Second, if you’re sharing a room, make only one reservation. In ALA’s case, up to 20% of the rooms reserved are canceled before the conference opens. For instance, two people may both send in reservations, then one person cancels and they share the room in the “preferred” hotel; in the meantime, another member may have been “waitlisted” – causing that member unnecessary anxiety. So, if you have roommates, be kind to your fellow members and make just one single reservation.

Managers at ALA have just received budget instructions for preparing their piece of the draft ALA budget which will go through channels to become the budget approved for the fiscal year beginning September 1, 2008. For the most part these budget requests will be “no growth”—as they have been for the past few years.But ALA has continued to grow, with the new initiatives that will help us meet the challenges in the strategic plan, Ahead to 2010, being met through reallocation of existing budgets, but also two relatively small strategic funds, the Growth Fund and the 2010 funds. The Growth Fund is a small piece of the ALA General Fund designated as “start up” support for projects that are intended to provide a return on the initial investment in a 2-3 year time-frame. The 2010 funds come from a variety of net asset balance and budget lines and provide the one-time funding to accomplish a project that will enable ALA to meet the strategic goals of the Ahead to 2010 plan. (See the Treasurer’s blog for more information.)We’re taking this space to list all of these here so you can see the scope of these initiatives. Some of them will just be part of the ALA fabric; others, such as the website redesign or the Big Game, will affect you much more directly.

Growth Fund projects:

Magazine for the public to be distributed through libraries. The goal is to have a magazine, to be distributed directly to the public, and to be supported by advertising, that will answer the question “What is in the library for me?” It will be supported by an interactive website and an e-newsletter. A portal is under development to present the concept to potential advertisers, presenting the extensive focus group and other research that indicates that the magazine is needed. The hoped for launch is in about a year (late 2008, early 2009).

Strategic Marketing Collaboration. ALA will examine ways in which the general fund units of the Association can work together better to stop duplicating effort, especially with regard to promoting conferences and membership, approaching vendors for advertising/exhibits/donations, and creating and marketing publications and services. A practical set of goals will be developed by the consultant in cooperation with the Marketing Group, and these goals will be designed to improve value of membership and ALA’s organizational excellence, in accordance with ALA2010.

Member Development. Cross-unit focus on member retention, specifically student retention with targeted outreach.

Expanding Planned Giving for ALA. Promotion of opportunities for members and friends to make legacy and other forms of planned giving arrangements to ALA. The first phase was to create a new and expanded brochure which highlights the benefits of giving a planned gift to ALA. The next phase is to work to discover individuals who might be interested in learning more about how making a planned gift at ALA, a gift that will make an impact no matter what the size. This new brochure will have a soft launch at the Midwinter meeting, with a bigger launch for planned giving opportunities at the Annual Conference in Anaheim.

2010 projects

ALA Web Site Awards Database. Support development of a database to address usability issues with finding information on ALA’s 200+ awards on our website. The database would improve ALA’s ability to meet the specialized information needs of members and others seeking information on ALA’s awards: description of the award, sponsoring unit, past winners, application/nominations process and criteria. It would be searchable by unit, type of award (recognition, media, etc.), name of award, year. Output from the database would be displayable on ILoveLibraries.org, unit pages as appropriate, the ALA Awards page, ALDirect.

School Libraries/Youth Services Advocacy Statistics Project. Making the reports containing relevant statistics to help make the case for school libraries easier for an advocate or member in need to access quickly. The Advocacy Statistics for Youth initiative will allow partners to hire a researcher to pull statistics from these lengthy reports and create a web-based tool for members and advocates to use. It will be categorized under headings such as early literacy, closing the learning gap, relationships between school libraries and academic success, and relevancy of 2.0 tools. This will be positioned on the Advocacy University resource, but can be multipurposed as needed. It will serve as a template for similar projects through ORS and for Advocacy University. The goal is for it to launch in time for ALA’s 2008 National Library Legislative Day.

Enhancing Grassroots Advocacy. The Capwiz XC Affiliate Program allows ALA and Chapters to work together to mobilize grassroots support. It allows a coordinated effort between ALA and Chapters and other allied organizations to reach beyond the profession to tap into thousands of library users to advocate for libraries and library funding. Capwiz XC expands the universe of contacts for everyone, and allows for us to finally transform individuals who believe in libraries and library issues into advocates through easy to use technology that allows them to contribute to local, state and national efforts. In the first year, 25 Chapters joined in. These funds will allow ALA to offer all of the Chapters to join from June 2008 to June 2009.

Federal Legislative Advocacy Brochure. Development of a promotional brochure for ALA’s legislative and advocacy efforts. The brochure’s purpose would also be to encourage new members join the advocacy network, to inform members about Federal advocacy efforts, to increase National Library Legislative Day attendance, and to show outside groups and coalitions how ALA’s efforts have helped the library community, including a tie-in to “I Love Libraries” and the activities of the Office of Advocacy and Chapter Relations.

Electronic Manuscript Management System. An Electronic Manuscript (Editorial, by another name) Management System enables member editors and reviewers to manage their workload more efficiently by having one document flow through the process from submission to publication. Authors and copy editors have one document to revise and re-submit. This document handling process greatly increases the efficiency and timeliness of the journal article review process and the production process, as just one document is handled through the entire process. Since the systems can deliver files in many formats, it also means that Production Services can utilize the file format they need.

YA Diversity Campaign. The results of ALA’s Diversity Counts study show that recruitment of persons of diverse backgrounds (including race, ethnicity, language background, sexual orientation, education, age, disability and economic status) to our profession is critical. Studies show that diverse youth want—and benefit from–interaction with mentors and adults from diverse backgrounds. The goals of the YA Diversity Campaign is to increase the number of librarians with diverse backgrounds who serve adolescents through both retention and recruitment. Although just one year is funded, there is a 3-year timeline. For FY08, the projects are to support an official Young Adult Services Spectrum Scholar; establish a new conference scholarship to a member from a diverse background (possibly with an ALA Affiliate); send member leaders and staff to REFORMA, BCALA and other conferences to recruit individuals to serve young adults; and collaborate with HRDR to create a Teen section of the LibraryCareers.org web site.

Website redesign. This represents additional funding needed to complete the redesign of the ALA Website. Some of the redesign activities to be completed are graphic design, completion of the content inventory begun last year, development and validation of the information architecture, and the implementation of the redesigned site. Two clickable graphic designs will be shown to members and non-members at ALA Midwinter and over the Web with a survey to collect their feedback. The survey results will be analyzed and a final design will be chosen in February. Implementation of the new design will begin in February/March.

Conference “Big Game.” The Great ALA Anaheim (ALAneheim) Mystery (prototype) A big game is a large-scale game that takes place in the real world. In essence, the environment around you becomes your gameboard, and things in it become props in the games. At the ALA 2008 Annual Conference, the game will be more of an information quest and clues will be hidden all over the conference campus - in meeting rooms, on the exhibit floor, in CogNotes, etc. Attendees will be able to sign up for a team on the conference wiki to play the game. Prizes will be awarded to the winners. The big game is a great way for our attendees to play and to create socializing opportunities at conference.

ALA’s newest office, the Office for Library Advocacy (OLA), became official at the start of ALA’s fiscal year, September 1, 2007. Its existence is a direct response to ALA member needs identified through a number of surveys over the last several years. Advocacy is one of six goal areas in the ALA Ahead to 2010 strategic plan.

The purpose of OLA is to support the efforts of library advocates at the local, state and national level. The office works to create resources, training and peer-to-peer networks to help local advocates fulfill their local advocacy goals for the improvement of libraries of all types. It provides tools to help local advocates make the case for increased library funding, new and expanded buildings, getting bonds and referenda passed, and fighting library budget reductions and closures. Working with the Chapter Relations Office, the new office will help support statewide advocacy efforts, and will work with the Washington Office to strengthen grass roots advocacy at the national level. The office will also work closely with the Association for Library Trustees and Advocates (ALTA), Friends of Libraries USA (FOLUSA), and with other ALA groups advocating for specific types of libraries and/or library issues. The Office has grown out of the advocacy function within the Public Information Office will continue many initiatives begun there.

Under the direction of interim director Marci Merola, the office has hit the ground running!

• ilovelibraries.org, an advocacy website launched in June 2007, continues to develop. On average, the site receives over 60,000 page views monthly–and in September, ilovelibraries drove more traffic to Booklist Online than Google™ searches!

  As a result of efforts by the Chapter Relations Office and the Chapter Relations Committee, 25 state chapters are now using Capwiz advocacy software, which allows viewers (members and the general public) to contact state and national legislators via Ilovelibraries.org. Special 2010 funding will allow the remaining chapters to use this software. Further discussion among Chapter Relations, Washington Office and OLA will address incorporating more library issues into the site and seamless use of Capwiz for both state and national issues.

  Ilovelibraries.org has begun promoting the Youth Media Awards, which will be presented during the Midwinter Meeting (Monday morning, January 14). (Use www.ilovelibraries.org/youthmediaawards as your bookmark!). YALSA partnered with Ilovelibraries.org to promote Teen Read Week.

• Three Advocacy Institutes took place, with a fourth planned for January 11, just prior to the Midwinter Meeting. There are still a few places left!

  A bit of history: In May of 2005, the Ford Foundation awarded ALA $80,000 to be used towards advocacy efforts. Counting the hree Advocacy Institutes presented during the fall of 2007, a total of 17 were presented under the grant. Although the Ford Foundation grant ends December 31, 2007, the Advocacy Institutes will continue using funds budgeted to the Office for Library Advocacy, both at the national and regional level.The Advocacy Institute Task Force (AITF) of the Public Awareness Committee (PAC) was created to oversee the Ford Foundation Grant and to help institutionalize the Advocacy Institutes into the work of the Library Advocacy Now! (LAN!) Subcommittee of PAC. This Task Force will continue to oversee the Advocacy Institute, looking for ways to increase collaboration and looking for new funding streams. Three Final Advocacy Institutes took place under the Ford Foundation grant in fall of 2007.

• Work has begun on Advocacy University (Advocacy U), an online resource to help advocates at the local level. The ultimate goal of this project is two-fold: to have a variety of resources and tools available on each topic and to provide increased trainings at the local level throughout the country. Content for Advocacy U will most likely be divided into these sections: a bibliography of articles, websites, case studies; a tutorial on how to use outcome measurement; a syllabus for teaching others about advocacy; and a network of experts in this area that can be called upon for help, or to come and speak in local libraries or communities.

• The Office for Library Advocacy worked with the Office for Research and Statistics (ORS), the Washington Office (WO), and three divisions, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), and the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) to create the Advocacy Statistics for Youth Project. The impetus for this project is that there many reports “out there” containing relevant statistics to help make the case for school libraries, but they are often difficult for an advocate or member in need to access quickly. The Advocacy Statistics for Youth initiative, funded by special 2010 funds, will allow partners to hire a researcher to pull statistics from these lengthy reports and create a web-based tool for members and advocates to use. It will be categorized under headings such as early literacy, closing the learning gap, relationships between school libraries and academic success, and relevancy of 2.0 tools. This will be positioned on the Advocacy University resource, but can be multipurposed as needed. It will serve as a template for similar projects through ORS and for Advocacy University. The goal is for it to launch in time for ALA’s 2008 National Library Legislative Day.

• Finally, the Office coordinated ALA’s participation in the National Book Festival on September 29, 2007, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The booth was located in the Pavilion of the States, along with state libraries from around the country, D.C. and U.S. Territories. With a focus on the general public audience, the ALA booth featured ilovelibraries.org, Book and Media Awards, Banned Books Week and Teen Read Week. Volunteers for the event included Pat May and Mark Bard of the ALA Washington Office, as well as YALSA members Pam Spencer Holley, Priscille Dando, Debbie Clifford and Kathy Fitch. OLA was grateful to the ALA Washington Office, PIO, OIF, YALSA, ALSC, and ALA Publishing for their assistance and donation of materials.

Whew!

The Office for Intellectual Freedom is 40 years old today!

The mission of the Office is to implement “ALA policies concerning the concept of intellectual freedom as embodied in the Library Bill of Rights, the Association’s basic policy on free access to libraries and library materials … [and to] … educate librarians and the general public about the nature and importance of intellectual freedom in libraries.” 

Authorization for the new Office had taken place in 1965, but funding for operations and staff was delayed. At the 1967 Midwinter Meeting Ervin J. Gaines, Chairman of the Intellectual Freedom Committee (IFC), noted that the office was needed “so we can have a central clearinghouse for information and assistance as needed around the country.” Getting the office started was the primary focus of the IFC that year, but the IFC also got a revised Library Bill of Rights approved by the ALA Council and presented a two-day pre-conference with the Young Adult Services Division (now YALSA) on “the special problems which influence the librarians in relationships to young people.”

Following that successful preconference, attended by 300 people, Gaines again pled the case: “The preconference also revealed that many more librarians than we ever hear about are under heavy pressure to abandon their standards and to conform to community pressures. We feel that it is time for librarians to stand together instead of huddling together, and for the American Library Association to take active steps to support librarians at the local level when they act in conformity with the principles of the Association.” 

Finally, though, “PEBCO” the Program Evaluation and Budget Committee—the BARC of its time–authorized funding for two staff and legal fees for the first year of operation.  At the November 4, 1967 meeting of the ALA Executive Board, ALA Executive Director David H. Clift announced the appointment of Judith F. Krug as Director of the new office, which officially opened on December 1, 1967. 

In 1969, the Freedom to Read Foundation was established to “promote and defend this right; to foster libraries and institutions wherein every individual’s First Amendment freedoms are fulfilled; and to support the right of libraries to include in their collections and make available any work which they may legally acquire.” In 1970, the LeRoy C. Merritt Humanitarian Fund was established to provide financial assistance for the support, maintenance, medical care, and welfare of librarians who, in the Trustees’ opinion, are denied employment rights or discriminated against on the basis of gender, sexual orientation, race, color, creed, age, disability, or place of national origin, or denied employment rights because of defense of intellectual freedom; that is, threatened with loss of employment or discharged because of their stand for the cause of intellectual freedom.

Besides providing challenge support to librarians across the country, the Office also works with its committees to develop policy statements, plan programs, and prepare publications to assist librarians and library users understand the breadth of issues related to intellectual freedom in today’s world. Since 1982, the Office has worked with several other organizations to focus the public attention on the importance of reading freely with the annual Banned Books Week celebrations.

In the past few days, as I scan e-list messages and blog posts, I’ve noticed numerous reminders about applying for or nominating a colleague for on of ALA’s 211 awards (if I counted correctly). That’s because most deadlines are coming up (many are stated as December 1, or more accurately Monday, December 3, 2007) so that the documentation can be assembled for committee review at the Midwinter Meeting. Alas, some have already passed.

The awards, grants, and scholarships fall into several categories:

Although there is general oversight of the whole process by the ALA Awards Committee, each award has its own procedures for identifying prospective winners, set by the sponsoring committee, office, round table, or division. Newer awards tend to follow the best practices set outlined in the Awards Manual, but like many activities of ALA, there is extensive variation. The best way to find out the procedures? Search the phrase for the award on the ALA site, or contact the sponsoring unit directly.

So, if one of your colleagues deserves one of these awards, now is the time to act!

The ALA Poster Session Review Panel, chaired by Candace Benefiel, is now accepting applications for presenting poster sessions at the 2008 ALA Annual Conference. The 2008 ALA Annual Poster Sessions will be held during the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, CA, on Saturday, June 28, Sunday, June 29, and Monday, June 30, 2008.

The application form or both US and international submissions is available on the poster session website. The deadline for submitting an application is January 31, 2008, so don’t wait until the Midwinter Meeting to be inspired! Applicants will be notified by March 31, 2008 whether their submission has been accepted for presentation at the conference.

Poster sessions are static visual presentations, such as a description of an innovative library program, an analysis of a practical problem-solving effort, or a report on research study. They can be the final product of the work … or just the beginning of a larger presentation or publication. The ALA Poster Session site has more information, including pictures of actual posters, and the ALA Professional Tips wiki links to additional several other discussions of poster sessions.

Contact Candace Benefiel with any questions concerning the review process.

After you have presented your poster session, have someone take a picture of you with your poster and add it to the Group photo pool for Posters on Flickr.

Karen