Statement on ALCTS decision regarding Midwinter 2021
The ALCTS Board passed a motion that ALCTS will conduct no business or programming at ALA Midwinter 2021.
Rationale:
* ALA's phasing out/revisioning of the Midwinter conference has required that all Divisions evaluate their presence at Midwinter. While ALA's timeline for this is now extended, the ALCTS Board decided to move forward with winding down Midwinter activities, as we began to do at Midwinter 2020. Doing so now will demonstrate and test new ways of conducting our business, new ways of engaging members who would not have attended Midwinter anyway, and will reduce the carbon footprint of the association.
* Other ALA divisions are making similar decisions: LITA committees (other than the LITA Board) did not meet at Midwinter 2020; neither did PLA. They have received largely positive feedback following their decisions.
* In an ALA Midwinter budget document, it is estimated that Midwinter 2020 will have a budget shortfall of $500,000. Many factors contribute to this, and primary among them is an already steady reduction of registration for Midwinter. ALCTS maintaining a presence at Midwinter would only contribute to, further, and deepen what is clearly an unsustainable financial situation for the Association as a whole. Our members' dollars should be invested in programming and services that we know our members need, rather than subsidizing budgetary shortfalls for a meeting many did not attend themselves.
* ALA established its tradition and culture of two meetings per year at a time when technology was not available and it was not an option to conduct our work effectively in virtual settings. With that technology not only now well-developed but also economical to use, we are compelled to change the way we work.
* This Midwinter (2020), we experimented with letting ALCTS committees decide whether to meet in person or virtually; only about a third of committees met in person in Philadelphia. This proved more successful than having mixed in-person and virtual meetings where connectivity can be an issue.
* With fewer committee meetings at Midwinter, it will not be cost effective for ALCTS staff to continue to support in-person interest group meetings and their programming needs. There will also be fewer members present to attend such meetings.
* A growing number of ALCTS members do not attend Midwinter but still want to be actively involved and serve on committees. Moving committee meetings online supports their participation and aligns with the ALCTS Strategic Plan to "develop and promote Association activities in multiple formats to increase opportunities for virtual and year-round participation."
* Instead of supporting programming at Midwinter 2021, we are aligning ALCTS staff's priorities toward our joint programming with LITA and LLAMA. This includes supporting the virtual Exchange conference this spring, and the November 2020 in-person Forum. Going forward, if the membership supports the formation of Core, we would likely alternate between an in-person meeting and a virtual meeting, with programming and activities geared toward our membership. We are hopeful that this will allow and encourage as many members as possible to attend other conferences, including and especially the joint LITA/ALCTS/LLAMA Forum in November 2021.
* If the membership votes in support of the formation of Core, ALCTS won't exist at Midwinter next year. Working groups examining Core activities already recommended that a new Core division not participate in Midwinter.
* We decided to announce this decision one full year in advance in order to allow ALCTS members, ALCTS groups, and ALA to plan accordingly, especially ALCTS standards development committees and groups that collaborate with non-ALA groups, such as the PCC.
* The ALCTS office will support the online infrastructure for committees to meet virtually. Details for scheduling a full slate of online meetings will be worked out in the next year.
Brooke Morris-Chott
Program Officer, Communications
Association for Library Collections & Technical Services (ALCTS)
American Library Association (ALA)
50 E. Huron St.
Chicago, IL 60611
800.545.2433 x5037
312.280.5037
312.280.5033 (fax)
bmorris_at_ala.org<mailto:bmorris_at_ala.org>
www.ala.org/alcts<http://www.ala.org/alcts>
Received on Fri Jan 31 2020 - 12:49:15 EST