The Council of the American Library Association (ALA), meeting virtually at the Annual Conference, chose to take more time to consider several key proposals. Most notably, while the resolution to review the core values and one to require round tables to have at least 150 members both passed, the more ambitious of the Forward Together Resolutions Working Group’s outputs, which would restructure the committees and Council itself, were not voted on. Instead, a new group was convened to further examine their fiscal impact, with the goal of delivering a report at LibLearnX, the new January conference which will replace the Midwinter Meeting.

Similarly, the Operating Agreement Working Group, which is examining the relationship between the division and the organization as a whole, has been extended for another year to further consider options, including the radical departure of abandoning the financial structure through which divisions contribute to ALA’s costs.

ALA membership is down 11–13 percent. Although this is a lower drop than predicted, ALA Executive Director Tracie Hall still referred to it as “a 911 not a 411 situation” requiring major focus on recruitment and retention. Hall wants to grow the size of the association to about 100,000 members, in part by recruiting not only more of the library workforce but from adjacent professions like social work and education. As part of that work, ALA has hired a new grant-funded staff member to focus on “the membership journey.” Searches are still underway for a CFO and CIO.

Similarly, the fiscal situation is both better than it had been but not out of the woods yet. The organization is projecting total revenues of $46.6 million and expenses of $47.9 million. To bridge that gap without relying on further staff furloughs, while providing a 2 percent increase in staff pay, ALA expects to reduce travel and office expenses and to apply a $1 million Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan, which it expects to have forgiven. The endowment, though at an all-time high, is still too small to support the organization for two to three years in an emergency,

Themes of equity, diversity, and inclusion ran through the conversation, including a recommendation to replace neutrality framing with radical empathy by the Intellectual Freedom and Social Justice group. Patty Wong, incoming ALA President and the first Asian American librarian to hold that role, called on ALA leadership to institute systems change through an equity lens. She challenged library directors to consider inclusion in their succession plans to and bring in a colleague outside “our normal networks.” Council voted unanimously to add a ninth value to its professional ethics, in support of dismantling systemic bias and advancing racial and social justice.

The Council also set a goal of carbon neutral conferences by 2025, passed a resolution supporting Open Educational Resources, and passed another urging United States–based businesses to resist government pressure to censor democracy activists while continuing to fight harassment, hate speech, and disinformation. However, a resolution urging the Library of Congress (LC) to adopt greater transparency in its subject headings revision process was defeated, and one urging LC to replace the “illegal aliens” subject heading without further delay was referred to the committee on legislation.