Policies Evolve

Back in June of 2005, then-President Gretchen Wronka devoted her ALSConnect column to discussing the issue of conflict of interest, as it pertained to ALSC’s book award committees. Now, nearly two years later, it is time to turn to the topic again.

For years, ALSC has had a written conflict of interest policy that must be read and signed by everyone serving on an ALSC award committee. The intent of this policy has always been to protect the integrity of the awards. Unlike some other well-known awards, the Newbery and Caldecott awards have generally been refreshingly free from misdeeds and politicking. We want to keep it that way. And because of the necessary secrecy surrounding the award selection process, we must strive to avoid even an appearance of a conflict of interest, since the process by its nature is not open and transparent. There is always a great deal of interest in what goes on behind those closed doors.

During the past year and a half, we’ve had a half dozen potential conflicts of interest come to our attention concerning current or potential award committee members. The ALSC Executive Committee has had to deal with each one on a case by case basis, and, in some instances, committee members were asked to resign halfway through their year of service, something they did graciously but with a great deal of regret. This is always an unhappy situation for all involved, in addition to being disruptive to the award process overall. It’s definitely something we want to avoid.

The board discussed some of the individual cases in executive session at the 2006 Annual Conference. We all agreed that the existing conflict of interest policy was too vague, and that it needed to be clarified. Ideally, the policy would help potential committee members recognize possible conflicts and encourage full disclosure on their part, so that we could deal with these issues prior to an appointment or nomination.

For the past nine months, the board has been working on drafting a new policy that spells out situations, which pose an obvious conflict. These include: (1) being the author or illustrator of an eligible book; (2) serving in an advisory capacity to an author or illustrator of an eligible book (beyond typical library reference service), or serving as an advisor to a U.S. trade publisher; (3) having a close family or personal relationship with an author or illustrator of an eligible book; (4) working as an employee of a U.S. trade publisher, or having a close family member who is employed by a U.S. trade publisher; and (5) directly owning equity that represents more than a 5 percent stake in a U.S. trade publisher, or having a close family member who directly owns such equity.

All of these were once covered under a single line: “[a]ll candidates for nomination or appointment have an affirmative duty to notify the nominating committee or the appointing officer of any circumstance or event which would disqualify him/her under this policy or which would otherwise affect, or give the appearance of tending to affect, his/her ability to carry out assigned responsibilities fairly and without self-interest of any kind.”

You can see why we needed some clarification!

In addition to the conflict of interest policy, the board also discussed issues related to award committees and confidentiality. Specifically, several ALSC members had expressed concerns about award committee members and blogging, citing instances where they felt confidentiality had been breached. Knowing that the number of committee-member blogs is likely to expand greatly over the next few years, we decided to look at this issue in more depth so we could offer some guidance and clarification.

All award committee members are expected to maintain a high degree of confidentiality regarding the committee’s work, including the titles of books under consideration, specifics about the discussions, and information about balloting. Committee members have always been allowed, and even encouraged, to express their own opinions about books.

After a lengthy discussion about blogging, and other types of social networking Web sites and software, the board decided that electronic discussion of eligible books by individual committee members was comparable to any other type of oral or written communication, so long as there was no discussion about ALSC award committee work, or about the status of eligible books in relationship to these awards. This is a reiteration of a confidentiality policy that has long been in place. We just needed to apply the existing policy to emerging forms of technology.

I’m sure that when Frederic Melcher created the Newbery Medal in the 1920s, he never imagined a world in which people everywhere would be able to read and respond within minutes to the comments of a solitary librarian writing about a great new book. But I think he would have enjoyed living in such a world, where people were so eager to learn about and promote outstanding books for children that they’d use all the latest technology to do so. He was wise to entrust librarians with figuring out all the details and overseeing the process of conferring the awards.

ALSC and the awards continue to evolve with changing times. These revised policies may not cover every possible situation that is likely to arise in the next decade, but we hope they will clarify the issues for ALSC members and uphold the integrity of our awards.

You can read the full Policy for Service on Awards Committees at www.ala.org/ala/alsc/boardcomm/ALSC_Policy_Award_Service_Feb1_07.pdf—Kathleen T. Horning, ALSC President

Council News

The following resolutions and reports were discussed during the 2007 ALA Midwinter Council meetings. For the complete list of council actions, visit www.ala.org/ala/ourassociation/governanceb/council/councilactions/councilactions.htm.

The ALA Nominating Committee reported that only 20 percent of all members approached agreed to run for Council. There is concern about the lack of diverse and front-line staff representation on Council. Few ALSC members will appear on the spring ballot. We need ALSC voices and votes on Council.

Figures from ALA’s Allied Professional Association (APA) show that nationally librarian salaries range from $22,000–$253,500 annually. The ALA-APA Council unanimously passed a resolution endorsing “a minimum salary for professional librarians of not less than $40,000 per year.”

Council voted honorary memberships for David Cohen, Alice Hagemeyer, Anita Schiller, and Alphonse Trezza for their outstanding contributions to librarianship.

At Council II, three resolutions were introduced and debated. Two were defeated by a large majority vote: “Resolution to Advocate Ending Funding for the Iraq War” and “Resolution on Impeachment of President George W. Bush.”

A third resolution called for ALA to “suspend all affiliation with the Boy Scouts of America National Council until such time as the Boy Scouts of America ends its exclusionary policy on the basis of a person’s religious beliefs or sexual orientation . . . ” Admitting that the problem might be cosmetic, some Councilors were concerned that the BSA was listed on an ALSC Web page maintained by the Liaison with National Organizations Serving Children and Youth Committee. As ALSC Councilor, I explained that ALSC has an informal relationship with the BSA. Questions were raised about the meaning of the word “affiliation” in this resolution and about ALSC’s use of the term “liaison.” The resolution was deferred until Annual Conference.

Council passed a resolution from the ALA Legislation Committee encouraging Congress to “amend the Copyright Act to facilitate the use of ‘orphan works’ if the user has made a reasonably diligent, good faith search to locate the owner of the work, but was unable to find the owner.”—Linda A. Perkins, ALSC Councilor

Legislation News

Coming up next month is National Library Legislative Day, May 1–2, in Washington, D.C. In the halls of Congress, librarians, trustees, students, and other advocates will tell their local representatives about the difference that libraries make in communities across the country. To find out if a delegation from your state is participating, contact your state library. More information about the event is at www.ala.org/ala/washoff/washevents/nlld/nlld2007.htm.

The AASL, ALSC, and YALSA Legislation Committees are sponsoring “Libraries + Lobbying = Success” on Saturday, June 23, 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., at Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. Speakers include Kathleen Reif, director of St. Mary’s County Library, Leonardtown, Maryland; Maria Salvadore, consultant, Washington, D.C; and Emily Sheketoff, executive director, ALA Washington Office (ALA-WO). This panel of experts will share their diverse perspectives on the value of lobbying.

Another exciting Annual Conference event is “Library Day on the Hill,” on Tuesday, June 26, from noon to 6 p.m. Conference attendees will have the opportunity to show the value of libraries to the members of Congress. The day will include a hearing on the importance of all types of libraries, and displays around the halls of Congress, organized by ALA-WO, informing passers-by about each type of library and the services they provide. For more information, visit www.ala.org/annual and click on “Special Events.”

As children’s services specialists, we recognize that working with and on behalf of children and families is the foundation upon which public library service is built. If you’d like to do even more to make a difference and you are interested in broadening your role in the political arena, consider volunteering to serve on the Legislation Committee. It’s fun—you’ll really like it!—Bessie Condos, Legislation Committee Chair

ALSC Supporters

Thank-you to all our latest contributors to the Friends of ALSC. To learn how you can contribute, see the invitation packet enclosed with this newsletter or visit www.ala.org/alsc and click on “Support ALSC” at the top right of the page.

Silver Circle

Thom Barthelmess
Elizabeth P. Gordon
Leslie Molnar
Kathleen Odean

Notables’ Circle

Joan L. Atkinson
Therese Bigelow
Floyd C. Dickman
Adele Fasick
Carole Fiore
Barbara Genco
Marilyn Hollinshead
Paula Holmes
Ron Jobe
Linda Kapusta
Susan Veltfort

Friends’ Circle

Marilyn Ackerman
Rita Auerbach
Kathleen Behrendt
Nancy Bujold
Margaret A. Chang
Suzanne E. Gibbs
Sharon McQueen
Sue McCleaf Nespeca
Lynne R. Pickens
Rhonda K. Puntney
Elizabeth Sahagian
Janet Stone