Pre-LibLearnX Meetings: Budgets, Reports and One Jaw-Dropping Listserv Post

It's conference time. This weekend will be ALA's LibLearnX conference, taking place in hybrid format both online and in New Orleans. However, before the conference can take place, preparation must be done, which means...more meetings.

Yes, because 3-4 hours a day for an entire weekend isn't enough, we're going to do pre-conference meetings. Granted these are optional but I'm on Council, where optional translates into "Strongly Recommended."

Joint BARC/F&A Pre-LLX Meeting

Don't you love acronyms? Nothing like a bunch of letters and jargon to make things more confusing. Anyway, the Budget Analysis Review Committee and Finance and Audit Committee decided to get together and go over the association's budget, operating agreement and basically all the money stuff. In full disclosure, I was in a staff meeting when this started and so the first 30-ish minutes has passed until I was able to get onto that Zoom call, but here's what I did catch.

• The budget for the 2023 Fiscal Year was reviewed, which is earlier than they planned. Since it's only January though, it only shows the actions of the last 2 months.

• The 2024 Fiscal Year budget objectives and programmatic priorities were presented. The budget objectives included tactical goals based on ALA's Pivot Strategy (positive revenue and expense budget, rebuilding the membership base, monitor new sources of revenue and develop a budget surplus).

  • ALA's current revenue streams are

    1. Continuing Education

    2. Contributed Revenue (fundraising/donations)

    3. Conferences

    4. Membership Dues

    5. Publishing & Media

    6. Data Design & Research

  • Committee members (which to be clear I'm not a voting member, just an observer on this one) approved the document

• An update on the operating agreement implementation was given. At this point they have their goals and are working on creating subgroups and developing a timeline.

  • All this is in the Treasurer's Report ALA Council Document 13

• ALA President-Elect Emily Drabinski discussed her programming budget. And I'm sure I'm not the only one that was like "that's a separate thing?" It was a good layout of what she is about as an ALA leader as she stated her focus in developing the budget was on providing more concentrated support to library workers.

  • She also stated (with cheers from the RRT rep) that she is "proud to be the Gayest ALA President" and that her inauguration at Annual will feature the Chicago Gay Men's Chorus. So if you can, make it over to Chicago in June and register for that event since it sounds like it'll be a really good time.

  • Oh, yeah, and the committees approved her budget.

As I was started to wonder if I even needed to be here and thankful that I chose to defy my parents in getting an MLS instead of an MBA, the meeting turned to a discussion of membership dues came up. Since this is something that affects us all, especially these days, I'm glad it was on the agenda.

• The ALA Executive Board has been given the power to adjust the cost of ALA membership. Inflation is obviously a factor, but what is being considered is a flat fee to make things a little less complicated, so all divisions would have one fee and same for roundtables. The idea is that it's easier to say a member/division combo or member/division/rt then go page by page and cherry pick while considering cost (which I've had to do more than once, so I get it). This is a major change and requires both council approval and a membership vote. It will be discussed further at the LLX Council Meetings this weekend.

And of course bylaws revision talk but I honestly tuned out there because it's literally the only thing we'll be talking about at our first Council session this weekend. So stay tuned for that post.

The LibLearnX Virtual Information Session

At the last conference, this took place immediately before Council, so my guess is that since there was so much questioning about making this more accessible rather than just for people that registered, they decided to take this approach of a Zoom before the actual conference. If only all council meetings were like this so I wouldn't have been forced to register to ensure I got to vote. (Yes, even hybrid conferences have mandatory registration to get the link to vote online).

• ALA President Lessa Kananiʻopua Pelayo-Lozada gave her report in which she discussed librarians resilience, stating "we're not okay," talking about book challenges and the ongoing fight against censorship.

• President-Elect Emily Drabinski spoke of the work she's been doing prepping for when she takes on her presidential role, discussing her continued prioritization of climate change and its impact on libraries. And her report has a link to schedule a time to have a private 1-on-1 conversation where she can listen to and address members' concerns.

It amazes me how available they have made themselves. In DC, when Lessa spoke at the Spectrum Leadership Institute, she gave a room full of people she had just met her personal phone number. I'm not so open. The best you'll get out of me is my email and an accepted friend request.

• ALA Executive Director Tracy Hall promoted the President's Program "Library Workers: Organize and Activate" this Sunday in her report. The program is a panel featuring quite a few Spectrum Scholars, which I personally am excited about. Check it out on the main stage if you can, or online through the digital experience. She also addressed the concerningly low adult literacy trends, with two in five adults in some communities unable to read beyond a fifth grade level. She stated ALA's efforts to combat this in a joint effort with various other national organizations to increase access to literacy instruction across the country and working in creating a model for libraries to be hubs of adult literacy instruction.

  • I'm really glad she didn't read the entire report because it's 78 pages long.

• New ALA Treasurer Peter Hepburn also gave a report very similar to the BARC meeting listed earlier, so I won't rehash it, but I will give a sidenote. ALA officials and councilors at these meetings can be such a fun thing to observe. Hepburn in his bowtie, people getting dressed up no matter if they're on Zoom or in person. I could do a whole other blog just on ALA Conference Fashions, but that's not why you guys send me to these things.

• BARC (if you don't remember them, scroll up), basically gave a report as a reminder to why they exist (spoilers, it's to look at the financial impact of decisions made in ALA).

  • This meeting is like the lightning talk of reports where they're all given 5 minutes and start talking faster and faster as time goes on.

• Unite Against Book Bans provided an update that they are providing support to libraries facing attacks and challenges. If you haven't done so, take a moment to check out their website.

Now for the email that almost makes me wish I had whipped out my credit card to attend in person

There is a lot that happens behind the scenes at ALA. Some things I've noticed, some I wondered, and things I've seen or experienced firsthand. It doesn't go beyond a conversation or two, until this week.

ALA Executive Board member Libre Booker (Which is like the most librarian name ever, right?) is saying the quiet part out loud as she posted a long and very candid message on ALA Connect in the Councilor's listserv stating how ALA is in more trouble than they let on and provides insights into meetings she has been to, questionable conversations and addresses the high turnover of association staff and reasons why she thinks that if nothing changes, ALA won't be around much longer.

• Even though it's listed as an ALA Council Discussion, all ALA members can access it and read the email, which you should definitely do.

  • Also, you gotta love librarians because they are always like "and here's my evidence." Way to represent by citing your sources.

That's it for now. I'll be reporting back this weekend events from the meeting, so stay tuned.