Homedefault.xml Annual Report 2006-2007 Year in Review

2006–2007 Year in Review

President Leslie Burger focuses on transformation of America’s libraries

2006–2007 ALA President Leslie Burger created a "Libraries Transform Communities" tip sheet.

ALA President Loriene Roy and two former students, Sara Albert and Tim Bullard, lead a procession of indigenous librarians from North America and New Zealand into the inaugural banquet.

She developed a series of programs on Transforming Libraries, presented in a specially created Transformation program track at the 2007 Annual Conference, held June 21–27 in Washington, and she created a “Libraries Transform Communities” tip sheet designed to provide ideas and inspiration to libraries around the country.

Burger also spearheaded the creation of ilovelibraries.org, which was launched at the 2007 Annual Conference. The Web site offers visitors a chance to learn about today’s libraries and provides them with opportunities to get involved in promoting and preserving the vitality and health of America’s libraries. Users are invited to share their experiences, join chat rooms, and communicate their support to members of Congress.

Burger also led the Association in the development of the ALA’s first Agenda for 21st Century Libraries, which was presented to legislators during Library Day on the Hill on June 26 during the 2007 Annual Conference.

Finally, Burger identified 120 of the profession’s “emerging leaders” and brought them together in a year-long program that included full-day workshops at the 2007 Midwinter Meeting and at the Annual Conference. The emerging leaders worked virtually between conferences on a series of 23 projects that culminated in a poster session in Washington on June 22. The first group of emerging leaders have accepted appointments on ALA and division committees for 2007–2009, and a “class of 2008 emerging leaders” was formed as the project moved into its second year.

More than $230,000 raised for Cultural Communities Fund

The ALA raised more than $230,000 in 2007 for the Cultural Communities Fund, an endowment established to support diverse and excellent cultural programming in all types of libraries. These funds will be matched under terms of a $350,000 challenge grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Fundraising efforts were led by the Public and Cultural Programs Advisory Committee, with support from the Public Programs Office and the Development Office.

The fund has received more than $1 million in contributions from individuals and other organizations, including Benefactors ($50,000 or more): the H.W. Wilson Foundation, Ms. Sara Jaffarian, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Public Library Association, and the Wallace Foundation; Patrons ($25,000 to $49,999): Nextbook and Random House, Inc.; and Sponsors ($10,000 to $24,999); Association of College and Research Libraries, Barnes & Noble; the Reference and User Services Association, and Severn House Publishers. To fulfill the requirements of the NEH challenge grant, the ALA must raise another $310,000 by July 31, 2008.

FOLUSA, ALTA may form an expanded division

Under an agreement reached with the ALA in September, Friends of Libraries USA (FOLUSA) is providing executive management for the Association of Library Trustees and Advocates (ALTA) through Aug. 31, 2008, with the expectation that FOLUSA and ALTA will seek to combine into an expanded division of the ALA on that date. In the interim, Sally Reed, executive director of FOLUSA, is providing administrative services for ALTA and a team representing ALTA, FOLUSA and ALA leadership is discussing the increased scope and services that would be provided by an expanded and more visible division.

In a message to the FOLUSA Board of Directors, 2007–2008 FOLUSA President John Carson (Brodart Inc.) said, “The combination would bring the premier trustee organization and the premier friends organization together, so that the united voices of trustees, friends and other library supporters would be exponentially more powerful for libraries.” Don Roalkvam (Allstate Insurance Company), 2007-2008 ALTA president, also noted that an expanded array of products and services would help the enlarged division “move our combined vision of library advocacy forward with new membership and resources.”

ALA forms Office for Library Advocacy

The ALA has formed an Office for Library Advocacy (OLA) to support the efforts of advocates seeking to improve libraries of all types by developing resources, a peer-to-peer advocacy network, and training for advocates at the local, state and national level. In order to achieve this goal, the OLA works closely with the Public Information Office, the Chapter Relations Office, the Office for Government Relations, and other ALA units involved in advocacy on behalf of particular types of libraries or particular issues, in order to help better integrate these efforts into the overall advocacy planning and strategies of the Association. The OLA also works to cultivate future leadership in order to sustain the advocacy efforts of the Association.

Total ALA membership holds steady

Total ALA membership as of August 2007 was 64,729, including 60,983 individuals, 3,480 organizations (libraries and nonprofits), and 266 corporate members. This total held steady from 64,689 in fiscal 2006, despite the fact that fiscal 2007 was the first year of the three-year phased-in personal-membership dues increase in support of the goals of the ALA Ahead to 2010 Strategic Plan.

The number of new ALA members in 2006–2007 increased 3 percent from the previous year—more than 8,800 librarians, library workers, students, and trustees joined the Association for the first time in fiscal 2007, vs. 8,500 in fiscal 2006. Also, some 6,800 former members rejoined the Association in fiscal 2007, almost 1,000 more than in fiscal 2006; and the number of membership renewals decreased by only 2 percent during the fiscal year—forecasts had run as high as 6 percent because of the dues increase.

An active year in The Campaign for America’s Libraries

The Public Information Office and The Campaign for America’s Libraries continued to work with partners in 2006–2007 to generate public awareness of the value of libraries and librarians, to reach new audiences, and to amplify library messages.

Dollar General, a Fortune 500® discount retailer, came on board as the newest Founding Partner in the Campaign to develop The American Dream Starts @ your library,a two-year program that focuses on adult literacy services. (The @ your library® brand is the centerpiece of The Campaign for America’s Libraries.) As part of the program, libraries will receive grants to expand their literacy collections, services, and programs for adult immigrants and English language learners and to provide examples of best practices to inspire and inform other libraries. In year two, the ALA will develop an American Dream Starts @ your library training module that will focus on assessing and expanding libraries’ literacy and English as a second language programs, services, and resources. The program is administered by the Office for Literacy and Outreach Services.

Continuing a six-year partnership with The Campaign for America’s Libraries, Woman’s Day magazine featured the four winners of the “how the library changed my life” initiative in its March issue. The magazine had received almost 2,000 essays in response to its call for entries, including stories about a mother who turned to the library during a bout of post-partum depression, an Indonesian immigrant who used books from her childhood public library to learn English, a mother who used the library to help find her place in a new community, and a blind writer and teacher who uses the free books-on-tape service from the Library of Congress as an everyday escape. The magazine also announced its next initiative, asking its readers to submit stories of how they used the library to start businesses. Four of the submissions will be featured the March 2008 issue of Woman’s Day.

The second season of the Step Up to the Plate @ your library program, developed by the ALA and the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, kicked off in April in Peoria, Ill., with Hall of Famers and former rivals Ryne Sandberg and Ozzie Smith serving as program spokespeople. Both appeared on field with the Peoria Chiefs, the minor league team Sandberg now manages. Year two encouraged children and young adults to visit their library, check out a baseball book and write about how their favorite character inspired them. The grand prize was a trip to the Hall of Fame, in Cooperstown, N.Y., a pilgrimage made at the end of the first season by online baseball trivia competition winner Joseph Kuykendall, 12, of Andover, Mass.

The Campaign for the World’s Libraries

South Africa and Trinidad and Tobago joined the Campaign for the World’s Libraries at the conference of the International Federation of International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) in Durban, South Africa, in August. The ALA and IFLA developed the Campaign for the World’s Libraries to showcase the unique and vital roles played by public, school, academic, and special libraries worldwide. Thirty-three countries have joined the campaign, and the @ your library brand has been translated into each country’s language.