Questions to focus the discussion about improving ALA

Just fill this in with questions you think need asked; ''Answer as many questions as you feel necessary.''

What would you change about ALA?

Make it nimbler, not just responsive but build in some forcasting ability and keep services and offerings more timely

Lean out the approvals processes - make a CMS that is a wiki on the back-end and syndicatable on the front-side

Set focus on Advocacy and Education needs of Libraries, Library Staff, Librarians, Library Users, and Potential Library Users

Bring the current-and-future-aware staffers and divisions out to the front and encourage the less aware to become more aware

Create a financial reporting structure that makes sense to people who do not have a good accounting or ALA background (how much in, from where; how much out, on what?)

Get rid of bloat--I now this can be taken many ways, but coming back from Annual, let's get rid of a gazillion formats of the conference schedule and the ugly totebags

Revamp marketing programs

Re-examine organizational structure--both at national office and among all the divisions/sections/committees/whatever else

Make up its mind whether it is a business or a non-profit and develop and plan based on that.

Objectively analyze itself--outside consulting?

What should ALA look like in ten years?

ALA should be done with a self-examination and acting on the results.

At the least, more of ALA members' product (presentations, should be available

More efficiency

What is the role of ALA?

Encourage literacy--both in the traditional sense and informational literacy

Show that libraries and librarians are not just about books

What does it take to get elected?

ALA Elections are held each year in the mid-spring. The members elect ~33 Councilors at Large from roughly 70-90 candidates (depending on the number of successful nominations and petition candidates) in a straight popularity count (the top 33 vote-getters are the next batch of Councilors at Large).

How do you run?

There are two ways to get on the ballot. The usual way is to be nominated (or self-nominate) by having your name submitted to the ALA Nominating Committee. The other way is to be a "petition candidate" by garnering the signatures of 100+ 25 ALA members and presenting the signatures to (I'm not sure who receives these forms) the ALA Council Secretariat, currently Lois-Ann Gregory-Wood. After becoming a candidate, you have the opportunity to fill out a profile for the ballot. [Info corrected by Michael Golrick, ALA Councilor-at-Large on May 30, 2008.]

Once you are a candidate, you would do well to encourage your peers to vote in the ALA Election. The more people you personally connect with, the higher your vote count. If you have ideas you want people to consider when they vote you can indicate this in your ballot profile or be the voice crying out in the wilderness or finding a group of like-minded individuals and working up a platform (such as this wiki, perhaps?)

What do you do on Council?

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