One of the main reasons I attend Midwinter is that I am an ALA Councilor-at-Large, elected to a 3-year term, 2012-2015. My first event of today is "Orientation" which is basically a refresher all Councilors are encouraged to go to so that they can be reminded about Parliamentary Procedure (We use Sturgis), writing a resolution, what we do/don't need to go to as Councilors, etc. Instead of boring you with the rules of parliamentary procedure, I thought I'd give you a little background on what being an ALA Councilor entails. Continue on if you're curious!
ALA Council is the governing body of ALA and helps guide the organization, as well as create and comment on policy. Fun stuff, right?! I think so! A lot of really interesting issues and discussions come forward during council which affect libraries around the nation and I feel that it's my job to add to the discussion as a young(ish), West Coast, Public, Children's Programming Loving, Librarian of Color. The more diversity and variety of voices on Council, the better. It's only then that we can have the important discussions that will impact change in our day to day lives as librarians whether it be in regards to the Freedom of Information Act, the Library Bill of Rights, or Intellectual Freedom and Censorship (to name a few key issues).
As a Councilor-at-Large, I represent the interests of the larger membership body on the National Level, which would include my colleagues in various associations, as well as you guys. California has it's own dedicated ALA Chapter Councilor, Patty Wong, who will serve California through 2017. As ALA Chapter Councilor, it's Patty's job to bring the concerns of the state and CLA to the National Forefront and also to keep CLA informed of what's happening at the National Level. On occasion, I may ask you guys for your POV on various topics or why you do/don't join ALA and other professional associations, etc. I ask because I want to make sure I'm representing everyone and getting a well-rounded POV.
For more information on ALA Council, you can click here or just ask me. It's an opportunity I am very fortunate to have and something I care a lot about and think is important to libraries at large.
As with the meetings, I'll try not to bore you guys with the uninteresting aspects of Council Meetings such as Treasurer's Reports, but I will provide highlights from each of our 3 sessions. In addition to our regular/mandatory meetings, we also meet every evening after our Council meetings to discuss agenda issues the next day, giving people the opportunity to re-write their resolutions, hear second, third, and twentieth opinions, and get to know one another a little better since the composition of Council is quite large and encompasses libraries and library professionals of all types, at all levels, and varied interests.
Upcoming blogs about each session:
Sunday: Council I/Council Forum I
Monday: Council II/Council Forum II
Tuesday: Council III
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