At the American Library Association (ALA) virtual Midwinter Meeting, the association continued its ambitious three-pronged strategy of self-reinvention. The Forward Together plan, which for several years has pursued a streamlined and less siloed governance structure, is joined by a revision-in-progress of the 30-year-old Operating Agreement, which defines the relationship of the association to its divisions and roundtables, and the Pivot Strategy, which addresses how association management and staff do the work. These three parallel threads ran through the virtual membership meeting, the executive board, and of course, Council convenings.

Arguably, however, the most crucial governance decision for ALA membership was not announced until after Midwinter: ALA’s Annual Conference, in June, will also be held virtually, rather than in Chicago as originally planned.

INTERNAL CHANGES

Key aspects of the pivot include moving from an expense-based to a revenue-based budget, scheduling in 12 monthly segments rather than locking in at the beginning of the year, and a plan to grow revenue by 10 percent—including via the development of a data research and design unit—and membership by 5 percent by 2025.

“We are in a rocky period,” said ALA Executive Director Tracie Hall. “Sometimes it feels like the night is never going to end, but I believe that we can emerge.”

Revenues, she said, “are not where we want them to be,” but she is confident that ALA is “in a strong structural position to move forward and recover from the pandemic.”

The association has seen a decrease in net assets, now in the $40–$42 million range, and the general fund, which declined by about $2.8 million in expenses, according to Peter Hepburn, chair of the Budget Analysis and Review Committee (BARC). Financial reports for 2020 and 2021 have been delayed, said Hepburn, leaving ALA with only a single month of data to work with, but they are expected to catch up in time for the Annual conference in June. Based on that small amount of preliminary data, the association saw a roughly $400K shortfall from what was originally budgeted, but it has been largely offset by the general fund.

Grants and awards are up, however, including over $1 million in funds from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and another donation to be announced soon. This move toward more “contributed revenue” in the form of donations and grants is part of the plan extending beyond the pandemic, and includes growing a role for ALA as a regranting agency which can pass along grant moneys to libraries, as well as building a culture of philanthropy within the organization.

To ensure that an adequate cash flow continues, the ALA Board approved not transferring any net asset balances into the endowment for FY22. ALA staff is expected not to have to take further unpaid furlough days, and to receive a salary increase of 2 percent.

Not surprisingly, these budget woes have everything to do with the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on both the inability to hold in-person conferences and the decrease in library budgets.

To respond to the latter, said Hall, “We want to and will create a membership dues structure that is reflective of the realities the sector is facing.” To that end, the association has already created a dues-free membership for retired and furloughed members.

To further aid the streamlining and modernization process, ALA has appointed a business advisory group, is encouraging the finance office to move from monthly to quarterly reports, and is beginning a search process for a CFO; both the CFO and a CTO are expected to be in place by January 2022.

FORWARD TOGETHER

The Forward Together working group surfaced its findings, which included consensus on addressing silos, increasing the size of the Executive Board and renaming it the Board of Directors, and ensuring that the added positions should be representative of different groups within the organization, such as regions or assemblies. There is, however, disagreement about whether directors should be elected or appointed. There is consensus that standing committees on Core Values and Intellectual Freedom need to be added to the proposed structure, as well as that committee terms should be limited and longer than two years, but not on precisely how long. There is also consensus that Roundtables should not be based on membership numbers alone, but a mix of factors—they can be merged to make them more viable, but criteria for what makes them viable to merge is not yet determined.

Other areas without clear consensus include what member engagement currently looks like or can look like in the future; whether the proposed Assemblies would have any policy power; and, most crucially, the future of ALA Council. While there is support for reducing the number of at-large Councilors, the fiscal impact of the proposed plan cannot be determined without more specifics. One fiscal impact is already clear, however: virtual meetings are cheaper than face-to-face. While the next step remains a Constitutional Convention–style convening, the Council parliamentarian felt that too much was still up in the air to forecast a date for that event.

PRESIDENTIAL AGENDA

ALA President-elect Patty Wong debuted her presidential focus, Libraries Connect, concentrating on “the vital role that libraries play in connecting information and resources as part of our commitment to equity.” As such, she plans to prioritize digital equity and universal broadband; rural, small, tribal, and prison libraries; school libraries; and sustainability. Wong plans to reinvest in the ALA-APA, the Allied Professional Association, in its focus on worker wellness and employment, and refresh its online presence. She also plans to support the Joint Conference of Librarians of Color, and to take a Libraries Unite Tour, virtually and perhaps—by the end of the year—in person as well. Wong also plans to focus more attention on ALA affiliates.

RESOLUTIONS

Among the important resolutions considered by Council was a resolution to condemn white supremacy and racism as antithetical to library work, passed with 160 yes votes, four no’s, and two abstentions, after some debate. The resolution “acknowledges the role of neutrality rhetoric in emboldening and encouraging white supremacy and fascism…apologizes for past and present harm caused by the profession and within the Association, and the Association's repeated failures to address white supremacy and fascism….[and] charges the Working Group on Intellectual Freedom and Social Justice, with a representative from the Committee on Diversity, to review neutrality rhetoric and identify alternatives, sharing findings by July 1.”

It also requires ALA to provide confidential communication channels for past and current BIPOC members, staff, and others to provide feedback; explicitly incorporate antiracist and antifascist frameworks in internal and external communications, advocacy, events, and organizational design; establish a working group to provide recommendations for restorative and reparative measures; provide a preliminary plan by January 1, 2022, to implement those recommendations; and provide regular implementation updates to the full membership.

A resolution on Broadband as a Human Right passed unanimously with 168 yes votes. A resolution calling for library workers who have direct contact with the public to be classified as 1b essential workers by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was debated, with some arguing that the call should be to the states rather than the CDC, and others that such a resolution would hamper local advocacy to close libraries, while still others contended that this was a top membership concern for safeguarding library employees. Ultimately the original wording was completely replaced by an amendment that passed by 87 votes to 60, with more general language affirming the right of library workers to a safe workplace, calling for them to be vaccinated as soon as possible, encouraging libraries to keep sharing their local and state advocacy efforts for others to use as models, and referring the issue to several committees for a report by March 31. The amended resolution passed with 149 yea votes.

A task force on the intersection of intellectual freedom and social justice has been established, chaired by ALA past presidents Loida Garcia-Febo and Jim Neal. Council also voted to establish a committee on sustainability, to discontinue the Library Education Assembly and the Exhibits Roundtable, and to endorse the formation of an informal exhibitor advisory board in its place. Council also passed a resolution in opposition to facial recognition software in libraries, and one on misuse of behavioral data in libraries. The Executive Board unanimously approved signing on to the American History Association’s statement decrying the Trump administration’s 1776 Report.

MIDWINTER BY THE NUMBERS

Attendance at Midwinter substantially exceeded forecasts; 7,121 people registered, compared to a projected 5,000. As of the final Council report, 5,872 had logged in, but they have up to a year to do so. Student attendees and international attendees, in particular, were dramatically above previous year’s totals. However because much growth was in low- or no-cost registration categories, the event still fell short of its projected revenue by 20 percent. While those funds must be made up, ALA president Julius Jefferson stated that he was confident, based on the positive buzz from Midwinter, that the association’s next virtual conference “will make, and maybe exceed, budget.”