Should we meet online?
Free Range Librarian brought my attention to the blog A Wandering Eyre. Both are discussing ALA with it’s too many meetings and overbooked people double and triple booked to meet. I understand that. I have experienced that, but I disagree with their premise that people are meeting to meet. I agree that much of the content of the meetings they describe could be occurring outside the physical meeting rooms at ALA, but I see the work of the profession getting done every day via email, listserv, wiki, ning, phone calls, and much more. I see people trying out new tools to stay connected. Yes, I have even moderated an ALA Online Communities group - great concept, but I will be diplomatic and state there may be better venues.
Perhaps the difference lies in the divisions we choose. I am in the AASL division. School librarians multi-task, set goals, get things done, and collaborate via electronic tools because we are in our individual locations. The committees I were on did most work virtually and via email. The group I led met for one hour exactly during the 2 hour AASL All-Committee meeting. Perhaps every division should try this one: obtain one large room, many many tables, signs indicating which committee you are part of, and rotate as needed through your committees to get the work done. Most of this is work that needs the cooperation of the other committees in the same room. For example, I was on the legislation committee. I needed to know information from the taskforce on NCLB so sent a member to get it and report back.
The AASL Affiliate Assembly struggles each year to accomplish a great deal of things within a relatively short time to meet. Each region is encouraged to meet between midwinter and annual to develop concerns and commendations. Each year more and more of the work is being down between meetings by the directors-elect and the affiliate representatives so we can spend our meeting time caucusing and finding out what’s happening throughout the country. We value our face-to-face time and our organizations pay to send us there.
Don’t forget the joint meetings across divisions. I attended the joint youth legislative committee meeting so we could coordinate our efforts to benefit all youth. I attended the Legislative Assembly and Committee on Legislation (guest) so I could represent AASL and our needs while fact-finding the needs of all over divisions, roundtables, etc. Much of what we dealt with arose the week of conference and needed our attention, our taking information back to our divisions, and the decisions made during conference brought back to LA and COL.
On to ALA Council. I know that I am newly elected and wasn’t able to attend all the sessions as a visitor before (because of legislative responsibilities), but I was able to see hard working people attempting to get things done. Yes, I did witness some people who feel they must personally address every issue. I believe someone should keep a tally sheet of how many times certain people speak. Some of the comments might not have been necessary if they had all been reading their council emails on the listserv. I’ve been getting something daily even when there isn’t much going on.
ALA’s meetings have become monsters because they limit us as to the locations of conferences. We do have too many meetings. But we are prevented from meeting when divisions hold their national conferences. For example, when AASL meets in Reno this fall, they can have programs, but no meetings of the AASL organization. Why? It’s in the rules. Why is it in the rules? Somebody else should explain that one to me. Was there worry that we would do the work of the entire organization (ALA) at our national conference and feel that we didn’t have to attend ALA? If it weren’t for the meetings to attend, I can bet you that most school librarians wouldn’t be there. The national conferences are focused on education and programming specifically to our needs. The annual and midwinter conferences are focused on running the organization.
When it comes down to it, as much as I love the exhibits, we go to conference to further the profession and that involves some meetings.
