05.20.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 10:59 am by Leonard Kniffel
ALA Executive Director Keith Michael Fiels made two announcments to staff this morning regarding the availablility of WiFi during the ALA Annual Conference here in Chicago, July 9-15.
First the good news: Free WiFi will be available in meeting rooms throughout the convention center, and funds have been made available to prototype a recommendation of the electronic participation task force. Wireless access will also be provided for committee and board meeting rooms selected conference hotels and/or meeting rooms and the convention center, enabling members to utilize laptop computer applications to provide for remote participation by board and committee members not able to attend.
Now the bad news: The cost of providing wireless in the meeting rooms at the four major conference hotels would be $270,000, which ALA simply cannot afford.
Many ALA members have been pressing for WiFi to enable people who are unable to attend ALA conference to participate virtually, but Fiels said providing internet access at hotel prices “is not sustainable as a model.” ALA will continue to investigate and negotiate for future conferences.
Fiels clarifies (5/21): “Since our Midwinter Meeting, we have been actively working on getting wireless into all conference meeting rooms as part of our effort to move ahead on the recommendations of the Task Force on Electronic Member Participation approved by Council.” There’s more good news, he notes: “We have allocated $40,000 in Strategic Plan Initiative Funds, which will be used to provide wireless on a pilot basis to committees and boards that are interested in providing for e-participation for members that will not be at conference. Under this experimental arrangement, boards, committees and discussion groups could provide access via laptop and their choice of internet-based teleconferencing options.”
“More good news,” says Fiels, “is that a group of LITALibrary2.0 members has organized an eParticipation Implementation Task Force that will be providing information and support for those groups seeking to involve members in governance and discussion group activities at the upcoming Annual Conference. A tool kit is available. Please note that this pilot does not include conference programs; we are already providing a ‘virtual conference’ option for those who want to participate virtually in conference programs but cannot come to conference. More information on the wireless pilot will be following shortly.”
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05.18.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 1:12 pm by Greg Landgraf
Just a quick note to alert Annual Conference attendees that American Libraries’ Annual Conference Dining Guide is now on our website (and on the Conference Wiki). This year’s edition (also coming in print in the June/July issue) is written by Rob Christopher, an administrative assistant for ALA Publishing and a restaurant reviewer for the Chicago Reader.
This year we’ve also got “Highlights on Roads Less Taken,” a collection of some of Chicago’s lesser-known attractions by former ALA President Peggy Sullivan.
Enjoy!
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05.10.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 2:41 pm by Leonard Kniffel
A very angry Lexington (Ky.) Public Library Chief Executive Officer Kathleen Imhoff called ALA Friday, May 1, upset that American Libraries Direct two days before had carried a link to an article in the Herald-Leader newspaper that characterized charges to her library credit card over the past five years as, at the very least, lousy stewardship of public money. Imhoff was responding to what she felt was an attack on her reputation as an effective and innovative library director, as well as a leader in the profession. I suggested that American Libraries Online publish a story in which she could tell her side of things, to balance out what she said was an unfair and “inaccurate” story in the Herald-Leader. You can read these stories for yourself, and decide what’s fair and what’s accurate.
I spoke with Lexington library board chair Burgess Carey about the AL piece, and I must say that he seemed the voice of reason when I spoke with him, never questioning the newspaper’s right and responsibility to scritinize public expenditures and, indeed, stating that there was nothing technically “inaccurate” about the newspaper article. But he also praised Imhoff as having fulfilled her mandate “to be more public than our previous director” while bringing the fiscal year to a close “under budget every year.” He also told me that he thought the public had been given an unfair perspective by the newspaper article, and that he could understand how “without explanation,” any number of the expenses charged to Imhoff’s credit card “would raise eyebrows.”
Following my conversation with Carey, I received a testy e-mail from John Cheves, the reporter who wrote the article, defending its accuracy. Then I got a call from another editor saying the newspaper was preparing a follow-up story, prompted by the fact that Imhoff had told AL the board was considering “taking action” of some kind in her defense. To Sharon Walsh at the Herald-Leader, that meant legal action, and their defense against any legal action the board or Imhoff might take would be the accuracy of the article. Imhoff has since called me and told me that her statement about the board possibily “taking action” was her own speculation and did not come from the board, a board that has, remember, backed her all the way.
In the follow-up story Cheves reported that “Imhoff, an ALA member, said she told American Libraries editor Leonard Kniffel that she wanted him to write her version of events.” Can I call that statement inaccurate? What I told the Herald-Leader (and I spoke to Walsh, not Cheves) was that I offered Imhoff “an opportunity to tell her side of the story.”
For my part, there are a couple lessons all of us can learn from Imhoff’s experience this month in Lexington. One is not to fly off the handle because a newspaper reporter does his job. If there are corrections to be made, the newspaper will make them; otherwise, all the accusations of inaccuracy you can hurl won’t help your cause. And secondly, look at your records, policies, and expense forms now, before the you-know-what hits the fan. If you are attending a professional conference in Honolulu, or wherever, your records should justify every dime you spend.
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05.01.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 1:36 pm by Leonard Kniffel
It’s official, Roberta Stevens of the Library of Congress is ALA’s new president-elect. With 6,786 or 55.7% of the votes cast, she was selected over Kenton L. Oliver who garnered 5,416 or 44.3% of the votes cast.
As soon as the divisions have notified their candidates, all of the ALA Council election results will be posted on the ALA Website this afternoon.
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