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This past month, I finished my first full term as Wisconsin’s Chapter Councilor on the ALA Council. It has been a great adventure and I can hardly wait for the next two years of services as I continue my term. I have spent decades as an ALSC leader – serving on committees and as committee chair on process committees and even a time or two on an award committee. I have also spent decades as a leader in my own state association. Combining these two streams of process junkie-hood and leadership makes for a perfect preparation for Council.
When I first talked to my library colleagues both in state and nationally about my new Council service, the biggest surprise I had was how many sympathized for me and thanked me for serving in such a difficult assignment. What?!?! Were they nuts? I was looking forward to a new level of service and leadership. Was I missing something?
Happily, no. The Council of the past and the monster nightmare of people’s imaginations is not the ALA Council I serve on. There is certainly debate but the rancor is missing. People have been welcoming, have provided support and insight for me and I can say that after one year I am feeling like I am home. I am getting to know some smart, savvy caring people from all types of libraries and all library positions. I am making contacts across divisions as well and talking about the issues I care about and becoming more knowledgable about issues that matter to others. I am becoming stronger and smarter (I think!).
Just one little teeny tiny thing is missing for me. Youth colleagues and leaders from ALSC are very few and far between. I have plenty of youth peeps from YALSA and AASL but ALSC is sadly underrepresented. Where are you, my friends?
I know in the past we have had many more folks representing ALSC as at-large members. Would you like to consider joining our small but merry (and meaningful) band? It’s easy. You can submit your name to the nominations committee. You can petition for a spot on the ballot with a mere 25 signatures of ALA members which you can garner online.
It is amazing feeling to effect change on a divisional level and to work on behalf of youth librarianship and kids on that stage. It is an extraordinary feeling to do the same thing on the ALA Council level. Won’t you consider joining me there? I promise you, the water is fine….and fun!
Our guest blogger today is Marge Loch-Wouters, the Youth Services Coordinator at La Crosse (WI) Public Library. Marge is active in ALSC and blogs regularly about youth library services issues at Tiny Tips for Library Fun
If you’d like to write a guest post for the ALSC Blog, please contact Mary Voors, ALSC Blog manager, at [email protected].
This past conference in New Orleans, ALA Council passed several resolutions. One of them you might be interested in is the Youth Council Caucus’ resolution, Out of School Time Library Programs. (For more information on what the YCC is, view this previous post made back in January).
The Out of School time Library Programs resolution;
(1) encourages our members to tell their legislators, as well as local and national organizations and associations, about the value of their library to Out of School library programs and
(2) urges Library Directors, Trustees, School Board member and supervising government bodies to insure that libraries, of all types, dedicate the proper funding to insure that comprehensive Out of School library programs for all children and teens are maintained.
The resolution was moved by ALSC Division Councilor, Rhonda Puntney and seconded by Nick Buron, YALSA Division Councilor, and Sylvia Norton, AASL Divison Councilor.
The full Out of School Time resolution is available here but some points are:
- “The Dominican Study: Public Library Summer Reading Programs Close the Gap” shows that students who participate in a public library summer reading program score higher on reading achievement tests at the beginning of the next school year than those students who do not participate
- research has also connected participation in high-quality Out of School library programs with multiple benefits for young people, including gains in standardized test scores
- according to a study by the Rose Institute at Claremont McKenna College every $1 invested in Out of School library programs will save taxpayers approximately $3
Follow this link to ALA’s Legislative Action Center to find your officials and share the value of Out of School Library programs! You might also consider the following links (Thanks to Lori Special, NC State Youth Services Consultant): National Afterschool Association, YALSA wiki, for information on libraries and afterschool programs, YALS July issue article on afterschool programs and YALSA staff for handouts to afterschool providers.
You’ve probably heard about YALSA’s 2010 election slate, but did you know a whopping 14 YALSA members are running for ALA offices? It’s true!
Sarah Kelly Johns, Past President of the AASL and school library media specialist for grades 6-12 at Lake Placid (N.Y.) Middle/High School, is a candidate for ALA President. (For more information on the candidates for 2011-2012 ALA President, please see the ALA press release. ALA will be holding a forum for candidates running for the Executive Board on Monday, January 18, from 12:30 to 1:30 at the Midwinter Meeting.)
Thirteen YALSA members are running for Councilor-at-Large:
Paula Brehm-Heeger
Thomas Brogan
Ann Crewdson
Candidate for Councilor-at-Large
Naphtali Lanette Faris – Candidate for Councilor-at-Large
Janice Greenberg – Candidate for Councilor-at-Large
Carla Land
Jessica Moyer
Robbie Leah Nickel
Elsworth Rockefeller
Doc Roth
Kevin Scanlon
Sylvia Vardell
These members have agreed to run and have had their names put forward by the ALA Nominating Committee. If you’re interested in running for Council you can still run as a petition candidate. Submit your petition by January 29th!
YALSA does not officially endorse any candidates for ALA office, but we do encourage you to get to know the candidates and vote. Your ALA membership must be current as of January 31st to vote in the election.
This week I tried to go to Washington D.C. in order to attend ALA, and especially, the Council to which I was elected three years ago.
Upon arriving at the airport I discovered that my flight was cancelled. Not delayed, not postponed, just flat-out sent to the aviation morgue. I went to a line to wait for some help, along with a few hundred other victims of what turned out to be a computer crash. The irony of ironies: directly behind me in line stood Michael Gorman. Who, it must be recorded, did not once mention computers, technology or anything of the sort. We spent quite a long time waiting in that line together. After a couple of millennia we discovered that nothing much could be done: we were to be given food vouchers and hotel scrip and assigned flights the next day.
So we had ourselves a drink and some lunch at a sports bar. Tuna melts, if you must know. Gorman told me a little bit about himself. I found him gracious and very interesting. Why he would waste time with a whelp like me I’ll never know, but he treated me as though I were something more than a former library student who can’t get a job. He is settling into retirement now, though I don’t think he will (nor should he) quit working in the library world.
After this we went to the hotel that the airline promised would put us up for the night. And learned that they were booked to the rafters. Gorman went back to the airport to get a flight back to Fresno—he wanted to get to D.C. and was going to try again the next day. My story was different. That evening, back at home in Pasadena, I discovered that things had botched themselves up pretty badly. Where once I had expected to fly for free on points and stay gratis as well at the headquarters hotel, all bets were now off and I’d have to pay for everything in cold cash. And lots of it, too. Not to mention not really knowing where or whether I’d have a place to stay. Last word from the airline was that they would attempt to send me in an eastward direction when the computers quit misbehaving. I gave some thought to jumping in the air until the earth’s rotation would put Washington in a position beneath my feet but decided that I would ruin my shoes before the nation’s capital should hove into view. And so decided to save my money.
Thus, here I sit, not able to attend Council or anything else at ALA in what would have been my final session.
All of this fits in a rather strange way: this seems to be the latest in a series of pointed communiqués from the library world, more or less to the same effect. At least this keeps me from having to make lengthy explanations to friends and others at the big meeting. If you missed me, I very likely missed you too, and hope to cross paths in the future.
Michael McGrorty
Okay. After receiving about two dozen kindly emails of condolence regarding my failure to be re-elected to ALA Council, I have a suggestion for all you nice folks out there: if you want me to run again, nominate me. Then, this time, see if you can muster up enough votes to put me into office again. I wasn't endorsed by any round tables and neither Hillary nor Obama saw fit to stand on the podium for pictures, so there you have it. Meanwhile, I will be occupied with library issues; I'm working on a couple of things right now and will post here when I've made enough progress to show them. And if you make up any tee shirts with my picture, get the good side this time.
Michael McGrorty (material follows)
------------------------
The ALA 2008 Nominating Committee is soliciting nominees to run on the 2008 spring ballot for the offices of ALA President-elect and
Councilor-at-large.
The Nominating Committee will select two candidates to run for President-elect and no fewer than 51 candidates for the 34 at-large
Council seats to be filled in the 2008 spring election.
The President-elect will serve a three-year term: as President-elect in 2008-2009, as President in 2009-2010, and as Immediate Past President in 2010-2011.
The Councilors-at-large will serve three-year terms, beginning after the 2008 ALA Annual Conference and ending at the adjournment of the 2011 Annual Conference.
The ALA President and Councilors also serve in corresponding roles in the ALA-Allied Professional Association [ALA-APA]. Individuals
considering ALA-APA office are encouraged to consult with their employer regarding any restrictions regarding lobbying activities or service on the governing body of a 501(c)6 organization.
Members who wish to make nominations should submit the following information: nominee name; present position; institution; address; telephone; fax; and e-mail address. Self-nominations are encouraged. All potential nominees must complete the Potential Candidate Biographical Form available at https://cs.ala.org/potentialcandidates/
Nominations and forms must be received no later than September 1, 2007.
Nominations may be sent to any member of the 2008 Nominating Committee. Committee members are: W. Lee Hisle, Chair, Vice President of Information Services & Librarian of College, Connecticut College. E-mail: [email protected].
· Nancy Bolt, Nancy Bolt & Associates, Golden, CO. E-mail:
[email protected].
· Tyrone Heath Cannon, Library Dean, University of San Francisco.
E-mail: [email protected].
· Jon E. Cawthorne, Associate Dean, San Diego State University. E-mail:
[email protected].
· Alma Dawson, Professor, Louisiana State University.
E-mail: [email protected].
· Karen E. Downing, Foundation and Grants Librarian, University of
Michigan. E-mail: [email protected].
· Loida A. Garcia-Febo, Asst. Coordinator, Special Services, Queens
Library, Jamaica, NY. E-mail: [email protected]
· Dale H. Ross, Trustee, Ames [IA] Public Library. E-mail:
[email protected].
· Jennifer A. Younger, Edward H. Arnold Director of University
Libraries, University of Notre Dame, IN. E-mail:
[email protected]
I've just received the result of the 2007 ALA Council election; I didn't receive enough votes to be re-elected. Many thanks to those who did vote for me. I hope that the salary initiatives begun earlier will be taken up by some other Councilor--this is too important an issue to be left behind. Hope to see all of you around some time.
Michael McGrorty
Today I got an email from the nice folks at ALA, informing me that I’d forgotten to provide them with a profile for the upcoming elections. I am running for re-election to Council, for reasons that I’ll go into a bit down the line. I was supposed to provide a list of professional achievements and all that, but I didn’t—for one thing, I don’t have any, at least not in the library world, and for another I think that, having served one term, that the membership should be able to determine whether they want to see my face again based on what I’ve done rather than who I work for or what position I’m in. What I did send along was a short statement which I suppose will appear somewhere online before the election:
“Hello once again. My name is Michael McGrorty and I am running for a second term as ALA Councilor-at-Large. I began my first term as a library student, have now graduated and am, like many of my friends and colleagues, seeking a first job. This is an interesting position to be in at age fifty, but then life is a series of educational experiences.
While on Council I have written two Resolutions: One on the Salinas Libraries [http://www.ala.org/ala/issues/salinasresolution.htm] and another to establish a minimum salary level for librarians [http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6410645.html]. These Resolutions reflect my prime interests: maintaining library access for all, including and perhaps especially the poor, and raising salaries for library workers.
At present I am working on a Resolution to establish minimum salaries for non-librarians. You can read about this at my website, www.librarydust.com, or go direct to the study at: http://librarydust.typepad.com/library_dust/2007/01/nonlibrarian_mi.html.
I look forward to your support now and in the future. Thanks in advance for your consideration.”
This pretty much sums the matter up. To be honest, I dislike campaigning because it requires me to bother people—not for some significant issue but to be able to bother them about issues in the future. I appreciate your patience in this.
There is much to do in ALA, and especially in APA, over the next few months. I suggest that before you vote, you do some research to ensure that the people you choose will carry forth your conception of what ALA stands for, and do what you feel it needs to do. Remember also that all ALA Councilors are APA Councilors—take a look at them against the background of that organization as well. Thanks for your time.
Michael McGrorty
For the information of ALA-APA Council, APA committee members and other interested persons, the attached file is presented for review. This memo concerns the issue of minimum salaries for non-librarian library workers. Thanks in advance for your consideration.
Download librarysalariesresearch.doc
Michael McGrorty
