ALCTS Network News v4n02 (August 14, 1992) URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/ann/ann-v4n02 ISSN: 1056-6694 ALCTS NETWORK NEWS An electronic publication of the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services Volume 4, Number 2 August 14, 1992 In this issue ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE TASK FORCE, PROGRESS REPORT #1 ************************************************************************** ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE TASK FORCE PROGRESS REPORT #1 At the recent annual meeting in San Francisco, the Organizational Structure Task Force presented a prototype model for restructuring ALCTS in order to elicit comments from the membership. The model presented in San Francisco is reproduced here in order reach as many people as possible. Your comments and concerns are necessary ingredients for our future work. We received enormously helpful comments from many of you. The task force will be meeting again on October 2-3 to complete our work. A second organizational model will be distributed for review prior to the Midwinter Meeting in Denver. Please review the information presented here and contact one of us with your thoughts. BACKGROUND At the Winter 1991 board meeting, the ALCTS Board of Directors appointed a task force to review the organizational structure of ALCTS. The charge was "To review the current division and section organizational structure of ALCTS, consulting widely within the division,and to recommend a new organizational model that will be appropriate to meet the needs of librarians in library collections and technical services during the late 1990's and after the year 2000..." Before proceeding with our task, we determined that it was important to request input from the membership first. At the 1992 Midwinter meeting, we held an open hearing that nearly 70 ALCTS members attended. While there is not space here to reflect every concern voiced, most issues fell within the following three categories: 1) ALCTS has become too bureaucratic; 2) ALCTS focuses too much on "nitty-gritty" , day-to-day problems and is not looking towards the future; and 3) There has been inconsistent and poor communication between ALCTS leadership and the members. We received comments such as the following: "What concerns me is the sense I have that ALCTS is still addressing issues that largely have been solved." On discussion groups and programs: "Don't kill something that is working. These discussion groups are really dynamic; they are packed, and they are often much more timely than a program... A hot idea two years later isn't very hot." On the functioning of the ALCTS Board: "...I, too, found it a blur of activity with very little chance for reflection on what does this mean? where are we going as an association? what are the intellectual implications of that? I don't hear the kinds of issues that you are raising coming up at the Board.... but it is easy to get a sense that in both executive committee and Board meetings, that if you are trying to raise a sort of philosophical comment, you are really obstructing the progress of the agenda." "Here is one of the questions I want answered: What is technical services going to look like in five years, and how do I prepare for that?" "We don't always take enough time to religiously sit down and put our feet up and talk about things... if we can't do it here, folks, how are we ever going to do it?" "What I think happens is ...the bureaucracy part of ALCTS and the intellectual part of ALCTS get mixed...and that frustrates people." In order to develop proposals related to the organizational structure of ALCTS, the Task Force members felt it essential to develop a vision of ALCTS for the 21st century. An effective organizational structure must necessarily be grounded in a shared vision and mission. Since it was difficult to bring the entire ALCTS Board together to engage in this visioning process, the task force and two Board members participated in a retreat in April. To kick off our meeting, we viewed an inspiring video tape that demonstrated how problem solving and planning actions are determined by our paradigms (or world views). We then engaged in a group problem solving and brainstorming session that resulted in the following assessments: 1. MEMBERSHIP NEEDS: Professional, educational and personal needs were identified: leadership, networking, training, social interaction and support, a place to publish, communication, advocacy of a professional agenda, intellectual stimulation, mentoring, etc. 2. INTERNAL CAPABILITIES AND RESOURCES: Ability to reallocate all resources; smart, creative people; menued programming and pricing; partnerships; ALA as a supporting umbrella organization; and ALCTS staff. 3. EXTERNAL TRENDS: Fiscal crises in libraries; push for more fee-for-service; new partners outside of libraries (e.g., with publishers, computing professionals, etc.); competition with other information providers; user expectations on delivery of information; technology changes; competing organizations (e.g., EDUCOM, CNI, ASIS, NASIG, ACRL, etc.); organizational changes within libraries; etc. 4. STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF ALCTS MEMBERSHIP AND OF THE CURRENT ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE: Dedicated, knowledgeable, well-respected membership, etc. as strengths; and too much bureaucracy, membership overwhelmed with change, too many groups/committees, leadership is too inbred, perception that needs of all types of libraries not met as weaknesses. 5. FUTURE TRENDS: Preservation is now preservation and access; shift to dynamic/interactive formats; more collaborative environment; need to be more responsive to change; entertainment and other entities are involved with information dissemination; increasingly remote membership; multiple information delivery mechanisms; increased sharing of materials, personnel, facilities, computing. 6. STRATEGIC ISSUES FOR ALCTS: financial viability; changing relationship(s) to ALA; meet expectations/needs of new and seasoned members; increased use of technology to communicate with members and others; stimulate participation of various kinds within ALCTS; need to be able to rapidly integrate change; and we need an organizational structure that will allow all of the above to happen. The following vision and mission statements were developed: ALCTS IN THE 21ST CENTURY (Vision Statement) We, in ALCTS, envision a world in which the complete spectrum of information is available to everyone in libraries, at home, and at work. In this world, librarians, creators and users of information will work collaboratively to achieve this vision. The role of ALCTS members in bringing about this vision is to utilize their special skills and training to organize, provide access to, and preserve information in all forms. ALCTS MISSION STATEMENT ALCTS provides its members, other ALA divisions and members, and the library and information community with a forum for discussion, research and development, opportunities for learning, and a program for action on the identification, acquisition, organization, preservation, and dissemination of information in a dynamic, collaborative environment. To achieve this mission, ALCTS has the following organizational goals: * To develop/support/monitor standards to meet library and information needs * To provide continuing education for librarians and library practitioners in a dynamic, technological environment * To provide information exchange opportunities for its members * To provide opportunities for member participation through research and publications and professional growth * To promote the library and information science role in an information society * To manage the association effectively and efficiently PROPOSED ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE We then got down to the business of what a new organizational structure might look like. This part of our work is still very much "in process". In order to gather more information before proceeding further, the skeletal model described below was presented at the Annual Meeting in San Francisco. In addition to presenting the model to the Board of Directors, it was presented at the ALCTS Leadership Breakfast, at two hearings and to each section executive committee. This model presents a flat organization chart that minimizes purely bureaucratic committees while increasing opportunities for members to participate in productive and substantive professional activities. The current sections and the bureaucratic committees that facilitate section operations would cease to exist. The substantive work of the sections would be carried out through the structure proposed below. Board of Directors ______________________ ---------------------------------------------------- + + + + + + + + Standing Joint Task Focus Committees Committees Forces Groups 1. Board of Directors or Council Composition: Elected by Association Members Purpose: Manage the association; coordinate activities of committees, joint committees, task forces, editorial boards, focus groups. 2. Standing Committees Composition: Standing Committees are created by the Board of Directors; committee appointments are made at the Board of Directors level. Purpose: Standing Committees primarily involve the "management" of the association and might include such things as: Publications Committee, Budget Committee, Continuing Education Committee, Strategic Visions Committee; Standards Coordinating Committee, Conference Program Coordinating Committee, etc........... 3. Joint Committees: Composition: Joint Committees are appointed by the Board of Directors level and are created through cooperative actions on the part of ALCTS and other associations both within and outside of ALA. Purpose: Joint committees typically are involved with all types of activities from the preparation of programs to the creation or monitoring of standards. These include such groups as: AAP-ALCTS Joint Committee, Atkinson Memorial Award Committee (ACRL/ALCTS/LAMA/LITA), Council of Regional Groups (Elected as before), MARBI, etc.......... 4. Task Forces/Editorial Boards: Composition: Appointed at the Board of Directors level. Purpose: To create a specific product and would include such things as: Editorial Boards, Conference Program Planning, Awards Selection Committees, Standards Review/Preparation Committees, Institute Planning Committees, Publications, Preparation, etc............ 5. Focus/Study Groups: Composition: Anyone who wants to attend. Purpose: Focus/Study Groups are created to provide members with opportunities to discuss and/or focus on issues of concern. Includes all current discussion groups plus a great many of the existing committees that don't fit in any of the above categories and that don't involve the management of current section business. Members could petition the Board to establish such groups or the Board could initiate them. Focus/Study Groups would include:Collection Development and Electronic Media Study Group, Copy Cataloging Focus Group (Now CCS discussion group) Chief Collection Development Officers of..... Focus Group, etc........ As we had intended, this proposal generated significant discussion at the Annual Conference. We received many helpful comments from ALCTS members. While everyone agreed the above model needed more work, some members were encouraged by the direction in which we are headed, while others expressed grave reservations. Comments and questions included the following: The proposed mission statement is too "inner-directed". Within such a flat organizational structure, How will new members know how to become involved? How does a committee get something published? How can equitable representation be addressed in the composition of the Board? How will communities of interest be represented? As proposed, the span of control for the Board is too great. A flat organizational structure reduces leadership opportunities for members. This proposal is headed in the right direction, but more specifics are needed. WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? Task Force members share the following goals for the reorganization of ALCTS: 1) Any new model should position ALCTS and its members to meet the changing face of our profession; 2) Increasing membership participation opportunities is essential; 3) Unnecessary bureaucracy should be eliminated; and 4) Communication among and between all levels of the association should be improved. We are anxious to receive input from all segments of ALCTS. comments can be sent either to Beth Shapiro or to any task force member. We are planning to meet again in the fall to address all of the issues raised and to further revise and develop an organizational model. This further iteration of a model will be made available prior to the ALA Midwinter meeting through AN2 and the ALCTS Newsletter. As requested by the Board of Directors in San Francisco, this draft final report will include recommendations, needs, and other explanatory information. The Board will then consider recommendations. ALCTS ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE TASK FORCE Beth Shapiro, Chair, Rice University-Fondren Library P.O. Box 1892, Houston, TX 77251; shapiro@ricevm1.rice.edu William Gosling, University of Michigan Library, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1205; william.gosling@um.cc.umich.edu Mark Roosa, University of Delaware Library, Newark, DE 19717-5267 mark.roosa@mvs.edel.edu Susan Vita, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 ************************************************************************* ************************************************************************* ALCTS NETWORK NEWS (ISSN 1056-6694) is published irregularly by the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services, a division of the American Library Association. Editorial offices: ALCTS, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611; Liz Bishoff, President; Karen Muller, Executive Director. Editor: Karen Muller (u34261@uicvm); Editorial Advisory Board: Liz Bishoff, Jennifer Younger, Arnold Hirshon. ALCTS NETWORK NEWS is available free of charge and is available only in electronic form. Opinions expressed in the articles are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the division. News items should be sent to the editor at Bitnet address u34261@uicvm. To subscribe, issue the network command "tell listserv@uicvm sub alcts [your account] [your name]." Back issues of AN2 are available through the listserver. To find out what's available, send the following command to LISTSERV@UICVM: send alcts filelist The ALCTS FILELIST contains the list of files with the EXACT filename and filetype. To get a particular file, issue this command to the LISTSERV@UICVM: send filename filetype. Send questions about membership in ALCTS to the ALCTS Office, u34261@uicvm. All materials in the newsletter subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for the noncommercial purpose of scientific or education advancement granted by Sections 107 and 108 of the Copyright Revision Act of 1976. For other reprinting or redistribution or translations, address requests to the ALA Office of Rights and Permissions, 50 E. Street, Chicago, IL 60611. *************************************************************************