Report of the Library and Information Technology Association to ALA Council
2003-2004
 
Thomas C. Wilson, LITA President
May 24, 2004
 
LITA's Mission

The Library and Information Technology Association continues to educate, serve, and reach out to its members, other ALA members and divisions, and the entire library and information community.  This three-part mission is bolstered by a wide variety of efforts and activities of the membership.  Indeed, the membership is the core value of the organization. 

As a direct result of the sending the Presidents-Elect and Executive Director to the American Society for Association Executives leadership workshops, the LITA Board has engaged in several visioning exercises in the past year and a half.  The outcome of these activities has been the creation of a bold new statement of LITA's purpose reflecting our heritage and responding to the future to be presented at the LITA President's Program. 

The Year in Review

As is common for LITA, 2003-2004 was filled with excellent educational opportunities.  LITA's programming comes in the form of conference programs and discussions, preconferences and workshops, regional institutes, and the National Forum.  The topics are timely, the quality is high, and attendance is growing. 

In the 2003-2004 year, eight Regional Institutes were offered on the following topics: eBooks: After Hype and Death, What Really Works?; Proxy Web Servers & Authentication, XML and Libraries; Open Source Software in Libraries; and Wireless Networks in Libraries.  These regional educational opportunities continue to be in demand and constitute an important component of LITA's educational offerings. 

The 2003 National Forum, Putting Technology into Practice, was held in Norfolk, Virginia, October 2-5, 2003.  Attendees were treated to three preconferences (The Library as a Place in the Digital Age, Handhelds for Library Programs: Providing New Levels of Service, and Creating, Maintaining, and Using Open Source Software in Libraries), three keynotes (R. David Lankes, Digital Reference: The First Mature Digital Library Service; Liz Bishoff, Digital Dreaming, Digital Promise -- Getting Ready, Getting There, and David Seaman, From Isolation to Integration: Major Trends in Digital Libraries), followed by two full days of networking opportunities and educational programming which included poster sessions for the first time at a Forum. 

Once again, LITA hosted a highly successful Town Meeting at the 2004 Midwinter Meeting. This interactive session provides one significant way for LITA to receive feedback from the membership in attendance.  This year the following questions were posed:  What do you like about LITA; its organizational structure and programs?  What current services and/or products do you value?  What new products and/or services would increase LITA's value to you?  This discussion repeated two themes from previous years:  enhanced communications and more information available through technology.  Some additional great ideas surfaced this year:  establishing liaisons at the state level to report to LITA on state level programming, sending semiannual email messages and announcements to the membership, developing practice guidelines and overviews, and being more vocal on technology policy.  The ideas generated from these sessions provide a context for the work of the LITA leadership over the course of the next year. 

The 2004 Annual Conference will include three preconferences (Portals in Libraries: A Symposium, CIPA: Internet Filtering Using Open Source, and Usability Issues in Metasearch Interface Design), 16 conference programs, and the President's Program, IT's a Small World After All (Monday, June 28, 2-4 p.m.).  This is also LITA's year to present the Hugh Atkinson Award, and the first year LITA will present the Brett Butler Entrepreneurial Award.

The President's Program this year, IT's a Small World After All, will feature the International Children's Digital Library, an online collection of children's literature that will grow to over 10,000 books available in 100 languages.  Dr. Benjamin Bederson, Dr. Allison Druin, and Dr. Ann Weeks from the University of Maryland Computer Science Department and College of Information Studies will present issues related to the content, interface, and use of this resource. 

The 2004 National Forum will occur in St. Louis, Missouri, October 7-10, 2004, at the Sheraton West Port Lakeside Chalet.  This year marks the 200 year anniversary of the Louis and Clark expedition and the 100 year anniversary of the World's Fair in St. Louis.  The Forum theme is 10 Years of Connectivity: Libraries, the World Wide Web, and the Next Decade as 2004 marks the 10 year anniversary of the commodity World Wide Web.  The agenda includes three preconferences (Developing a Culture of Assessment in Library Information Technology Services, What's in It for Me? Evaluating and Reporting the Effectiveness of Electronic Information Services in a Multi-Library Environment, and Dancing Cheek to Cheek: A Library's Tale of Content Management Systems and Collaborations with "Outside" IT), three general sessions, and approximately 36 concurrent sessions.  LITA hopes this year to sponsor an international guest to the Forum. 

In response to membership concerns, the LITA leadership continues to expand and improve communication from the organization to its members and among members.  More follow up posting of reports to LITA-L has occurred, and Board liaisons, LITA representatives, and Committee and IG chairs have been reminded of their responsibilities to report activities.  A revised report form on the Web site will facilitate reporting with much of the content being automatically posted to LITA-L.  The form will be active for Annual Conference 2004 reporting.  The LITA Office also is now sending out periodic email messages to the membership. 

Much discussion has ensued in response to the continuing call from the membership for more organizational news and interaction.  A variety of efforts are underway, including some by individual LITA members, as well as some much-needed technology improvement and expansion for the ALA Web site.  The implementation of a member's only section on the LITA Web site will permit the posting of additional organizational information and services.  The pursuit of community/social networking software holds the hope to facilitate more interactive member communication. 

The Bylaws Committee has continued to review committee charges and guidelines to clarify responsibilities and to keep things running efficiently.  This multi-year project has demanded persistence and responsiveness from the Committee.  In addition the Web Policy Task Force has continued its charge to establish content policies, management responsibilities, and approval processes for the LITA Web site.  This year the LITA Board created the Engaging Public Libraries Task Force to facilitate more active involvement of public library staff in LITA and to ensure that LITA offerings are relevant for the public library community. 

Publications for 2003 included XML: A Guide for Librarians  by Ron Gilmour and E-Book Functionalities: What Libraries and Their Patrons Want and Expect from Electronic Book Technologies by Susan Gibbons, Thomas A. Peters, and Robin Bryan.  Publications remain a high priority for LITA as they represent part of the organization's commitment to educating and reaching out. 

LITA's financial situation is sound.  In accordance with ALA recommendations the LITA Executive Committee has established a policy to maintain a six-month financial reserve for operational expenses.  This approach will assist in keeping LITA financially strong.  Over the past year publications revenue is up slightly, education related revenue is holding steady, but dues revenue is down.  In FY05 ALA will discontinue coverage of some divisional expenses, thus the operating costs of LITA are expected to rise.  Given this situation, LITA must continue to seek regular sources of additional revenue in order to meet its mission and the desires of its membership. 

LITA remains especially grateful for the active support of many vendor sponsors.  This financial backing for awards and scholarships, the Forum, and various receptions and meals ensures that LITA can focus on its mission of educating, serving, and reaching out. 

Challenges Ahead

While several improvements in communication have been accomplished this year, this challenge will continue to require attention.  Keeping members aware of what is happening in the organization and providing an avenue for them to conduct organizational business and share ideas with colleagues is a core requirement of LITA. 

Increasingly members are demanding to experience involvement with the organization, even when they are unable to attend conferences and forums.  Providing the technical infrastructure to support these activities will require a strong stance supporting ALA's movement forward in the technologies it makes available to the divisions.  Succeeding in this endeavor will facilitate organizational work between Midwinter Meetings and Annual Conferences. 

LITA's members are its key asset.  Engaging current members and recruiting new members will be the life-blood of the organization.  Significant resources will be required to reach members and non-members through innovative, yet efficient and effective means.  This task will also be global in nature. 

Funding for key technology endeavors, staffing needs in response to membership demands, and the elimination of deficit spending in the annual budget, all point to a growing requirement for additional funding.  LITA must evaluate all sources of revenue with an eye toward increasing the value. 

In the midst of all of these challenges, LITA must also continue to keep the organizational focus on both the technical and the human sides of libraries and the information marketplace. 

LITA Board of Directors
 
Thomas Wilson, President
Colby M. Riggs, Vice President/President-Elect
Pat Ensor, Past President
Barbra Buckner Higginbotham, Councilor
Kristin A. Antelman, Director at Large
Mark Beatty, Director at Large
Karen Cook, Director at Large
James Kennedy, Director at Large
Jennie McKee, Director at Large
Patrick Mullin, Director at Large
Bonnie Postlethwaite, Director at Large
Colleen Cuddy, Parliamentarian (Ex Officio)
Mary Taylor, Executive Director (Ex Officio)
 
LITA Staff
 
Mary Taylor, Executive Director
Rob Carlson, Deputy Executive Director
Valerie Edmonds, Program Coordinator
Tel Aviv Barbee, Administrative Secretary