ALA Elections - 2018 Edition

It is that time of year again!ALA Elections.

I am asked about choosing candidates for ALA Council. Well, have I got good news for you ... one of my friends (and current LITA President) Andromeda Yelton has put together a tool to sort through the ALA Council candidate list. She has been doing it for a few years now, and it could be that this is the first time I have blogged about it, although I am pretty sure I have posted it on Facebook. Here is what she said:

Hi ALA people! Are you gearing up to vote in the ALA election. (<- answer="" be="" br="" here="" should="" the="" yes="">
This is my yearly candidate sorter. It lets you limit to people in particular divisions, round tables, ethnic caucuses, etc. (in addition to Cmd-F/Ctrl-F keyword search goodness). Hopefully it will make the job of finding people who represent you more manageable.

She also noted that there is a small issue:

(there's a javascript bug whereby if you have checked, then unchecked, a filter you end up with an empty page. you can reload the page to reset it. hopefully I will have time to figure it out and fix it, but if you know how, pull requests welcome)

 Here is the link: https://thatandromeda.github.io/ala_candidate_filter/2018_ala_council.html

More on the election when ballots are released in about 10 days. (I am on the ballot again this year, but not the ballot which Andromeda parsed!)

ALA Elections - Part 4 aka Why no "parties" in Council

Ok, so sue me. I couldn't resist a subtitle on this post, and especially to talk about "parties."

You would think that ALA Council, with 190 or so members would have some sort of organizing mechanism or groups like other legislative bodies. But, there are no "parties" in Council.

Not that it hasn't been tried.

Back in the 1980s or 1990s there were a group of folks who campaigned together. They were all folks who agreed on some basic principles, and agreed to work together if they were elected. I.m not sure what happened. I think some were elected and some not. My memory is fuzzy enough to not even remember who was in that group. I vaguely recall that it included folks like Jim Rettig (former ALA President), the late ... from Georgia, and others who are very thoughtful reasonable people.

There is a group trying to do it again this year, they are theALA Think Tank Caucus for Council (a Facebook account will be needed to follow this link, I think). The members of this group are:

• Erica Findley
• Mel Gooch
• John Jackson
• Lynda Kellam
• Kate Kosturski
• Chris Kyauk
• Coral Sheldon-Hess
• Manya Shorr
• Patrick Sweeney

They are a part of the ALA Think Tank which describes itself a:

facebook's largest active group of info-sharing for librarians. we #makeithappen and #partyhard TOGETHER.

DISCLAIMER: WHILE we love the American Library Association, we are IN NO WAY affiliated with them. ALA, in our case, stands for "Awesome Librarians Associated" because everyone here is awesome. You do NOT need to be an American Library Association member to be here. You don't even need to be American!"

So why are there no parties (well, organized blocks) in ALA Council? I think part of it is the way in which Council is constructed. Like Nebraska, the legislative body is unicameral, but unlike Nebraska, members are chosen by a variety of routes. First, there are 100 Councilors-at-Large. That is the largest single block, and approximately 1/3 are elected each year to serve a 3-year term.

Then there are Chapter Councilors. There are 54 Chapters covering the states and territories. After they pay dues (as a chapter), they are permitted to send a Councilor to represent that chapter. Those Chapters that are multi-state (New England Library Association, Mountain Plains Library Association, etc.) do not have a councilor since each of their constituent territories already does. That is the second largest group.

Then there are the Division and the Round Table Councilors. Each ALA Division has a Councilor (12) and the five largest Round Tables also each have a Councilor with the remaining Round Tables choosing a joint councilor (the "Small Round Table Councilor"). There are a total of 18.

All ALA Executive Board members are members of Council as is the Executive Director (who typically does not vote). The Executive Board consists of 8 members chosen by Council from its membership plus the Association-wide elected officers (4). The latter are the President-Elect, President, Past President, and Treasurer.

In my service on Council, and I started as a Chapter Councilor, the Chapter Councilors and the Division Councilors meet as groups to discuss issues which affect them in their roles. I believe that the Round Table Councilors meet along with the Round Table Coordinating Committee to talk about their issues.

My experience has been that as a Chapter Councilor, I was representing a group which was as diverse as ALA is as a whole. I reported back to the Chapter, at Chapter Board meetings, and received informal input regularly. Also as an Executive Board member, I received informal input from both Councilors and from ALA members.

In my service and memory, there has never been an issue facing ALA and ALA Council around which there would be polarizing and competing views to the extent that a "party" would form. There are often alliances. When I first joined Council there were a group of folks who generally agreed and sat together. (They sat in the back row or rows, in the middle.) It was more noticeable then because if it were not clear from a voice vote, we voted by standing rather than raising a hand. That group fairly uniformly voted as a block on some issues, the one I remember is that they would never vote in favor of closing debate.

That is my perspective. For what it is worth.

ALA Elections - Part 3

I was handed an unexpected gift this morning. I was actually going to make ALA Elections - Part 3 a different topic (now it will be Part 4), and will do a list of endorsements for Council once I review the final list of candidates. Here is some info about the process.

• Elections open on Tuesday, March 19.  Between March 19 and March 21 all eligible members will be sent an email with voting instructions.  
• This year ALA is offering members the option to access the ballot by using their individual credentials and URL that will be contained in the email, or by going to the ALA website and using their ALA member ID.  
• When you have finished voting you will be able to download an “I Voted in the ALA Election” web badge that can then be affixed to your Facebook page, Twitter, email, or what have you!
• The election closes on Friday, April 26 with the results being announced on Friday, May 3.

There is an election guide on the ALA web site. That page includes links to all the Association-wide candidate pages, plus a link to a document with the bios of Council candidates.

Among other gems on that page is a list of the 2014 Nominating Committee (on which you can serve only once in your life). If you want to run for something, they are the folks to ask!

ALA Elections - Part 2 - President

I am enthusiastically supporting Courtney Young for ALA President in this election. I am excited about her candidacy. If elected she would become ALA's youngest President. Yet at the same time, she has built an incredible track record in the Association already.

Let me pause for a moment to talk about my history of public endorsements. For my first seven years of service on ALA Council I was the Connecticut Chapter Library Association. In that role, I worked to connect the state association with the national one, and worked to help the chapter members to become more active in their national association. In that role, I did not think it was appropriate to campaign for any candidate for ALA office (well, except when I was running). I then served three years on the ALA Executive Board. As one of those chosen from ALA Council to help govern the Association, it was not appropriate for me to choose one candidate over the other since I would be working with the winner, no matter who it was. Since then, I have actively worked for some ALA candidates.

As in many past years, there are two very good candidates for ALA President. My endorsement of Courtney does not diminish my respect (personal and professional) for her opponent.

Here are some of the reasons why I am supporting Courtney:

1. Courtney has vision and an understanding of where the Association needs to go.
2. Courtney has had leadership experience, particularly through the New Members Round Table which is an important source of engaging new librarians.
3. She has a great deal of background in the financial issues which will continue to be important in setting ALA's direction. (She has served on many of the same committees on which I have served.)
4. She is very articulate. As ALA President you never know what external event will shape your ALA President, and I am sure that Courtney will handle whatever comes her way with complete confidence and aplomb.

Here is a link to the debate held at ALA Midwinter. (Fair warning that it automatically plays...) Courtney is the first of the two ALA Presidential candidates to speak.

Finally, for Facebook fans (yes, I am powerless over Facebook, and my life there has become unmanageable), Courtney's campaign has a Facebook page. That is in addition to the traditional web page.

I have one final observation about ALA Presidential candidates. Usually the candidates are chosen to give some choice. Rarely is it male versus female (although that does happen). More often it is an ALA insider versus an outsider. In this case the insider is Courtney. I am supporting her because of this. An ALA President realistically has only a little more than 2 years to accomplish any specific goals. The winner of the election has the two months (or so) between the results being announced and Conference to get up and running. There is one year as President-Elect to set the stage, and one year as President to get something done. I have seen enough to realize that once the spotlight is off (as immediate Past President), not much new is accomplished on any specific goals. Some ALA leaders have effectively worked with their predecessors and successors to accomplish more than would be expected. And Courtney is one of those who will be able to do this because she understands both how important it is, and how to actually do it. With a short window, the insider has a much better chance of achieving results.

Please vote for Courtney.

ALA Elections - Part 1

ALA Midwinter is almost upon us. I will not be attending it this year. However, it is where a lot of the campaigning for ALA and Division offices takes place.

I'll be blogging about the candidates for ALA President in a separate post, as I have in past years. I'll also take a look at the Council candidates list.

I belong to several divisions, and recently received the issue of the newsletter listing the candidates. And, what a great crop of candidates! In this case the Division is the newest named division: United for Libraries.

First a bit of history. United for Libraries was formed by the merger of the ALA division ALTA -- Association for Library Trustees and Advocates which then became ALTAFF, Association for Library Trustees Advocates, Friends, and Foundations -- with the independent FOLUSA -- Friends of Libraries USA. Over the years I have belonged to one, the other, and occasionally both. The merger makes sense, but that is not the topic.

While on the ALA Executive Board, one of my liaison assignments was to what was then ALTA. I always enjoyed working with the wonderful folks who were working so hard to advocate for libraries.

This year, in addition to candidates for President and Secretary/Treasurer, UFL is electing a division councilor and board members. For the board positions, they are putting up only the number of candidates to fill the vacancies.

For what ALA Council does, see my (now old) post on ALA governance.

The candidates for Vice-President/President-Elect are both people I know and respect. It will be a hard choice for me. One candidate is Christine Hage who I know from activity on PUBLIB, ALA Council, and PLA. While it is not mentioned in the UFL write-up, my recollection is that she has served as PLA (Public Library Association) President. That experience would stand her in good stead in this position.The other candidate is someone whose skill I respect greatly. Peter Pearson is the President (i.e., "head honcho" or chief paid employee) for the Friends of the St. Paul (MN) Public Library. He has led the organization to be one of the premier public library support organizations. He was my inspiration when I was in Bridgeport (CT) and worked to help re-start the Friends group there. When I got to Eau Claire, I found that he had been very helpful in setting up and guiding that organization over the years.

The Division Councilor candidates include the incumbent, Susan Schmidt and Nann Blaine Hilyard. I can't claim to know Susan well, but I know that she has done a good job (based on electronic postings) in reporting to UFL. Nann is someone I know very well. She is very active on PUBLIB. That is where I first "met" her, and I think that we actually first met in person at a social event organized on that list. Since then, we both served on ALA Council together. We also served on the ALA Executive Board together.

For me, this will be a tough decision.

The other parts in this series, will include a discussion of ALA Council candidates as well as one posting about the ALA President campaign.

Post #501 - ALA Elections 2011

Wow....I have done 500 posts since July 2005.

ALA Ballots are out. In past years, some colleagues would ask my advice on voting choices. Here are mine for this year.

First, for ALA President, I am voting for Maureen Sullivan.

For ALA Council this is the year we will elect 34 Councilors. There is one vacancy, so the person who is 35th highest in votes will fill out a 2 year term. I commend:

• Diedre (Dee) Conkling
• Martin L. Garnar
• Charles E. Kratz*
• Diane R. Chen*
• Linda Mielke
• Matthew P. Ciszek
• John Carl Sandstrom
• Jenny Emanuel
• JP Porcaro
• J.Douglas (Doug) Archer
• Kate Kosturski
• Shirley Ann Bruursema
• Roberto Carlos Delgadillo
• Pamela C. Sieving
• Andrew K. Pace
• Margaret L. Kirkpatrick
• Em Claire Knowles*
• John DeSantis
• Bobbi L. Newman
• Bill Turner
• Patricia A. Wand
• Eric David Suess
• Mike L. Marlin
• Barbara K. Stripling*
• James K. Teliha
• Toni Negro
• Ed Garcia

*These folks are all former members of the ALA Executive Board, and bring a great deal of experience to the association.

Others on the list are folks who have served on Council, and whose work and opinions I respect. There are yet others who are newer to the profession, have started working their way up, and deserve the opportunity to participate in the governance of ALA. [This latter group includes: Bobbi L. Newman, Jenny Emanuel, Andrew K. Pace, JP Porcaro, and Kate Kosturski.]

I want to specifically note that Shirley Ann Bruursema is a Trustee, a group under-represented on Council, and she has served well as the ALTA/ALTAFF Division Councilor. I also want to note that Mike L. Marlin is a well-spoken advocate for special users of libraries, especially those with vision issues.

So...those are my recommendations.

Electing Judges

I was driving this morning and finished listening to the book I had on CD, so I switched to NPR's Morning Edition. One of the stories was about when a judge should recuse him/herself and a case being argued in the US Supreme Court today.

I was amazed to hear that there are over 35 states where judges are elected. Maybe it is my naivete from having lived so long in states (Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island) where the judges are appointed by the Executive Branch and confirmed by the Legislative, to think about this. However, judicial election signs have sprung up in New Orleans.

But then I remember the election in Wisconsin last April. It was a pretty mean and dirty campaign. In composing this, I found a new web source, "Judgepedia" which has an interesting overview of the upcoming Wisconsin election. There is a long discussion on the Judgepedia page about some of the discussion of the pros and cons of judicial appointment as opposed to electing judges.

Maybe this was in my "scope" because yesterday I read the latest issue of "Deliberations Newsletter" from ALA's professional Parliamentarian, Eli Mina. While the newsletter is not archived on his web site (that I could quickly find), let me quote what resonated with me upon hearing the judge story on NPR:

Sometime ago I sat in as an observer at an orientation session for a newly elected municipal council. The guest speaker was a former mayor and an experienced politician. He provided useful advice, but there was something he did that annoyed me: Every few sentences he would insert phrases like: "and this will help you get re-elected" or "this is one thing you definitely cannot afford to do, even if you know it's needed, because it will surely undermine your ability to get re-elected" and, to cap it all: "every decision you make over the next three years must be guided by one key question: will it get you re-elected?"

Apparently I wasn't the only one who was annoyed. I was delighted to hear the newly elected mayor finally interrupt the speaker and make this refreshing statement: "Sir, I can assure you that getting re-elected is the last thing on my mind and I believe on the minds of my colleagues. With all due respect, we ran for office to help make a difference for the community of today and the community of tomorrow. We have a lot of work ahead of us, and we cannot afford to be distracted by the fear of not get re-elected. This whole thing is not about us as individuals, but about what we do collectively to advance the interests of our community." I had to resist the temptation to shout: "Hurrah !!"

Thinking about running for re-election and electiong judges, certainly puts the Supreme Court case in a different light!

ALA Councilor Elections

The first thing I noticed, was the number of people running! There are ninety-four (94!) people on the ballot for ALA Council. We get to vote for 35. The top 34 vote getters will have three year terms and the 35th will have a one year term to serve a vacancy (Rochelle Hartman's?). That means that roughly one out of three on the ballot will have the opportunity to serve.

I make my choices differently each year. This year I have broken the names into categories.

Library 2.0 Friends (Blogs, Facebook [primarily]):

Trevor A. Dawes
Aaron W. Dobbs
Christopher G. Harris
Dale K. McNeill (also PUBLIB)
Linda Shippert
Courtney L. Young

PUBLIB:

Diedre (Dee) Conkling (also Current Councilor)
Christine Lind Hage (also former Councilor)
Sally Decker Smith

Current and former Councilors I would like to continue to work with:

Monika J. Antonelli
Barbara A. Genco
Judith A. Gibbons
Marilyn L. Hinshaw
Ling Hwey Jeng
Carol Ritzen Kem
Margaret L. Kirkpatrick
Bonnie L. Kunzel
Norman L. Maas
Stephen L. Matthews
Linda Mielke
Robert R. Newlen
June A. Pinnell-Stephens
Barbara K. Stripling
Bill Turner

Others:

Arlene C. Bielefield (my board chair in a former life, past chair of
the Library School at Southern Connecticut State University, but
don't hold that against her; she has also been on the Committee on
Legislation's Intellectual Property committees)
Wei Jeng-Chu (cataloger, Worcester)
Michael J. Miller (member of the Resolutions Committee with me)
G. Victor Johnson (Trustee)
Mable W. Robertson (Trustee)

ALA Elections are HERE

This is the first of two posts on the topic.

First, don't forget to vote on the By-Laws amendment, and please vote yes! The language is more general, and more accurately reflects reality.

Second, vote for Camila Alire! I noted earlier some of the reasons I am supporting Camila. (And if you click on the Camila Alire label, you can see all of the posts!)

Later today, or tomorrow, I will be posting about ALA Council Candidates.

ALA Elections are coming!

I received the email last week which said:

In preparation for the 2008 election, ALA is testing all email addresses for assurance that web balloting material will be properly received. All Web voters will receive ballots between March 17 and March 19, 2008, in a 48-hour e-mail blast.

I guess that means that it is time to look at the Council list.

At the end of the month, the Public Library Association will have its biennial national conference in Minneapolis. I expect to see both ALA Presidential Candidates there. Remember I am supporting Camila Alire!

Primary Day in Wisconsin

Today is Primary Day here. It is bright and sunny, but cold. I'm told it is finally above zero.

Eau Claire has seen a bevy of activity. Barak Obama was in town for a rally on Saturday, Mike Huckabee was here on Monday. Hillary Clinton was supposed to be here Saturday, it got pushed to Monday, and then bad weather caused the very last minute cancellation of her last minute stop (which would have been only a few blocks from where I live!).

I voted on the way to work this morning. There are 40 voting wards in the City of Eau Claire. The polling place near my home hosts two different Wards. When I went in at about 8 am, I was the 72nd person to vote in my ward. Pretty impressive for the polls only having been open one hour. It will be interesting to see what the results will be.

At this morning's City Department Directors meeting there was some interesting discussion of the Police Department's working with the Secret Service over the recent visits. The Obama campaign received high marks for its preparation. (And that is all *I* will say!)