Public Library Association Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting Agenda Denver, Colorado Saturday, February 10, 2018 1:00 PM ‐ 5:30 PM Colorado Convention Center, Mile High 4E
Logistics: Boxed lunches and beverages will be available at 12:45 p.m.
NOTE: Items highlighted in yellow below were updated on February 6, 2018.
Revised Agenda 1. Welcome and Introductions 2. Action Item: Adoption of the Agenda Additional items may be added to the agenda prior to the adoption of the agenda. Items also may be moved from the Consent Items to become a discussion item.
Please save the documents to your laptop or tablet as wifi is not always available.
Consent Items Document Number
3. Draft 2017 Fall Board Actions ...... 2018.29 4. Review of Actions from 2017 Fall Board Meeting ...... 2018.30 5. Medical Library Association Partnership ...... 2018.31 a&b 6. ALA Emerging Leaders Update ...... 2018.32 7. PLA 2018 Conference Update ...... 2018.33 8. Continuing Education Report ...... 2018.34 9. DigitalLearn.org Update ...... 2018.35 10. Leadership Academy Update ...... 2018.36 11. Health Initiative Update ...... 2018.37 12. Membership Report ...... 2018.38 13. Project Outcome‐MEAC Update ...... 2018.39 14. EDI Task Force Update ...... 2018.40 15. Publications Report ...... 2018.41 16. Public Libraries and PLOnline Report ...... 2018.42 17. Technology Report ...... 2018.43 a&b 18. PLA Awards Report ...... 2018.44 19. Opioid Crisis and Public Libraries Update ...... 2018.45 20. Legacy Report ...... 2018.46 21. Fundraising Report ...... 2018.47a‐c 22. PLA Statement on ALA Ballot Measure‐ALA ED Requirement ...... 2018.48 23. New Knight Foundation Grant‐Short Story Dispenser ...... 2018.49
1
24. PLA Spring Board Meeting Dates ...... 2018.50 25. PLA Staffing Update ...... 2018.51
Action/Discussion/Decision Items
26. Introductions of ALA Presidential and PLA Board Candidates ...... no document (Invited to be introduced from ALA: Wanda Brown and Peter Hepburn. PLA Presidential Candidates: Nicolle Davies and Ramiro Salazar; Directors‐at‐large: John Spears, Kelvin Watson, Cindy Fesemyer, and Sue Considine) Per PLA practice, candidates are only introduced and are not permitted to make presentations. Any candidates arriving past 1:15 pm will not be introduced.)
27. PLA President’s Report, Pam Smith ...... no document
28. Report from Budget and Finance Cmt. Chair, Clara Bohrer a. FY18 Balance Sheet as of November ...... 2018.52 b. FY17 Programs by Project as of November ...... 2018.53 c. PLA Conference Comparison (even years) ...... 2018.54 d. PLA Grants Y‐T‐D ...... 2018.55
29. ALA Treasurer and ALA Finance Director reports, Susan Hildreth ...... 2018.56 and Mark Leon, via Zoom
30. ALA Executive Board Liaison Report, Julius Jefferson a. ALA Dues Proposal ...... 2018.57 b. ALA Organizational Effectiveness ...... 2018.58 c. ALA Board Talking Points ...... 2018.58a d. ALA Midwinter Planning ...... 2018.58b e. ALA Technology Plan ...... 2018.58c f. LLAMA/ALCTS/LITA Realignment Working Document ...... 2018.58d g. ALA Five‐Year Financial Plan ...... 2018.58e
31. ECRR Status and Next Steps, Pam Smith, Barb Macikas ...... 2018.59
32. Communications Report, PLA board speaker’s bureau, ...... 2018.60 Barb Macikas and Larry Deutsch
33. PLA Strategic Planning Process Update, Pam Smith, Barb Macikas ...... on‐site
34. From Awareness to Funding Survey Update, Larra Clark, Barb Macikas ...... 2018.60a
35. ALA Committee on Legislation Report ...... on‐site
36. ALA Washington Office Update, Kathi Kromer ...... no document
37. IMLS‐Inclusive Internship Initiative ...... 2018.61
38. Review of the ALA Council Agenda. The purpose of this item is to seek input from the Board prior to Council sessions so that the PLA councilor can represent PLA’s point of view at Council Meetings, Stephanie Chase
39. New Business
Reference Documents: PLA Strategic Plan PLA Board of Directors Manual PLA Board Roster PLA Conflict of Interest Policy 2 PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.29 Public Library Association Board of Directors—Fall Meeting September 25, 2017, 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM September 26, 2017, 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM Chicago, IL
DRAFT Board Actions
Present: President; Pam Sandlian Smith, President; Felton Thomas, Past President; Monique le Conge Ziesenhenne, President‐elect; Directors at Large: Rhea Brown Lawson, Michelle Jeske, Richard Kong, Carrie Plymire, Tracy Strobel; Stephanie Chase, ALA Division Councilor
Approved Absences: none
PLA Staff: Barb Macikas, Executive Director; Scott Allen, Deputy Director; Nellie Barrett, Program Coordinator; Mary Hirsh, Deputy Director; Emily Plagman, Project Manager
Guests: Amita Lonial, co‐chair, PLA Task Force on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) (by phone)
1. Welcome and Introductions, Pam Sandlian Smith. 2. By consent, approved the 2017 Annual Conference Board Meeting Draft Actions. 3. By consent, approved the consent agenda as presented. Consent Items Document Number a. Draft 2017 Annual Conference Board Actions ...... 2018.1 b. PLA Committee Semi‐Annual Reports ...... 2018.2 c. PLA‐WebJunction collaboration re opioid crisis ...... 2018.3 d. PLA Inclusive Internship Initiative ...... 2018.4 e. Digital Literacy Initiatives ...... 2018.5 f. Project Outcome Status ...... 2018.6 g. Engaging Federal Agencies, National Associations ...... 2018.7 h. PLA Publications Report ...... 2018.8 i. Public Libraries Report ...... 2018.9 j. PLA 2018 Conference ...... 2018.10 a&b k. PLA Continuing Education Report ...... 2018.11 a&b l. Leadership Academy Update ...... 2018.12 m. Membership ...... 2018.13 n. Appointments ...... 2018.14 o. Technology ...... 2018.15 p. Fundraising ...... 2018.16 q. Communications ...... 2018.17 r. EveryLibrary FAQ ...... 2018.18 s. ALA Connect Status…………………………………………………………………………………...... 2018.19
Action/Discussion/Decision Items
4. PLA President Update, Sandlian Smith (no document). Smith reported on her attendance at the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) conference, noting she heard about IFLA priorities from outgoing and incoming IFLA presidents Donna Scheeder and Glòria Pérez‐ PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.29 Salmerón. For her term, Smith is conscientious of the need to continue PLA’s strong work and not add new initiatives but wants to consider how PLA can help public libraries have more influence and become stronger advocates. Smith suggested PLA work on helping libraries interact outside their normal spheres to show new partners the power of libraries. Public libraries need to stress their role as an approachable, accessible arm of government. Reflecting on his term, Thomas noted that one way to support libraries is to visit them and speak to staff, but many small and rural libraries have the misconception that need to support expenses for the PLA president to visit them.
5. PLA Executive Director Update, Macikas (no document). Macikas reported that finalist candidates for the ALA Executive Director position will be interviewed at ALA board meetings in October, and the new Executive Director should start in January 2018. (Subsequently, ALA announced that new candidates will be recruited, and the vacancy will not be filled until July 2018.) During the vacancy, the three largest membership divisions are participating on the senior management group, rather than rotating. Finances are being discussed frequently, because ALA’s three main sources of revenue (publishing, membership, and conferences) are struggling. It was suggested that ALA’s new leader should look at finances, the structure of ALA, and the operating agreement. Board members speculated on how quickly change might occur once the new leader is in place considered how PLA should prepare for the transition. It was recommended that PLA prepare suggestions for the incoming Executive Director rather than wait to be asked. Macikas also briefly mentioned new board member orientation and the publications PLA sends to incoming board members.
6. Financial Reports, Macikas (2018.20 a‐e, 2018.21, 2018.22). Members reviewed multiple reports, including the fiscal year 2017 (FY17) status as of July 2017, the fiscal year 2018 (FY18) budget overview, and the FY17 to FY18 budget comparison. Although FY17 continuing education revenue, ad sales, and publication sales have underperformed, PLA will have a lower than anticipated negative net (loss) in FY17 because expenses are also below expectations. Decreased revenue in these areas is typical for many associations. PLA’s efforts to develop new products such as Project Outcome training and personalized DigitalLearn sites have had mixed success. For FY18, PLA is budgeting for a very low net for the conference, although figures are conservative and the event may do better than budgeted. PLA’s fund balance continues to be strong. Whereas PLA is required to have at least $750,000 in its fund balance, PLA typically has well over $2 million. The board revisited the idea of spending down the PLA fund, suggesting PLA use funds to attracted big name speakers. The potential for PLA’s legacy grant to drive improvements throughout ALA was also discussed. Some of the legacy funds have been allocated to support the development audit and evaluation of the Emerging Leaders program. However, supporting more critical improvements is problematic (such as information technology capacity, which is often cited by the PLA board as critical). PLA should not create new systems for itself that aren’t integrated for ALA members, yet PLA cost issues and politics prevent PLA from supporting association‐ wide improvements.
7. Review of actions from Annual Conference meeting, Macikas (2018.23). Updates were provided on intended actions resulting from discussions at the last board meeting. Nearly all actions were completed or included on the Fall 2017 agenda for further discussion. It was noted that PLA moved very quickly, as directed by the board, to deliver something for members related to the opioid crisis. The board revisited the plan to have board members advise PLA about communications by circulating communication examples to their staffs. It was agreed that over the next few months, PLA Communications Manager Larry Deutsch will forward PLA‐enews and other communications to board members with a request that they circulate them, and he will send bulk copies of Public Libraries magazine to board members to distribute. After a period of time to be determined, he will send a survey link to board members to PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.29 collect feedback from their member and non‐member staff about the quality, benefits, and gaps of the communications.
8. EDI Task Force, Kong, Lonial (doc on site). A brief history of the Task Force on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) was provided. The Task Force is framing their work for PLA and public libraries around key concepts such as the impact of oppression (a prejudice towards a particular group plus the power to unjustly distribute resources through the control of institutions, cultural attitudes, economy, and political systems) and the goals of collective liberation, compassion and accountability. They are guiding PLA’s work away from discussions of privilege (which often derail discussions about equity) and focusing instead solidarity across our many human differences.
The Task Force hopes to undertake new communications and educational programming and will help integrate EDI into PLA’s new 2017‐2020 strategic plan. Their approach will help public library staff first explore individual experiences of identity and oppression, then move on to organizational/institutional challenges and community challenges. A meeting for directors is planned for the 2017 Midwinter Meeting, and a day‐long preconference is scheduled for the PLA 2018 Conference in March in Philadelphia, PA. Questions we will help members ask and address include whose labor is overused, undervalued, not or under‐compensated? Whose experiences, perspectives, or bodies are left out? Who doesn’t participate or feel worthy of belonging? What cultures, experiences, or backgrounds are co‐ opted, exoticized, deemed strange/not normal, or erased? Who is being harmed physically, mentally, or spiritually? The Task Force is approaching its work not as a 2‐year special project but as a way to establish an underlying core value in PLA and its members. Board members appreciated this approach and noted how public libraries, collectively and as individual libraries, are in a great position to show solidarity. The Task Force was commended for not simply trying to make things more “diverse” but promoting structural and institutional changes that address inequity.
In terms of EDI programs and products, Task Force members have suggested regional, facilitated programs at the library level. PLA should explore how the planned EDI efforts might coordinate with PLA’s work with the ALA Public Programs Office (PPO) to develop training and tools for community conversations. Board members suggested strategies for rolling out PLA’s EDI products, noting they should involve compassion and accountability (rather than judgment), meet people “where they are,” and align along a continuum so public librarians can grow their skills and knowledge. Like Project Outcome, PLA’s EDI effort should offer both concrete tools and action steps along with more philosophical content to change perceptions and self awareness. Members suggested that library staff can be leaders for other city agencies in this area because of the public library’s mission and other core values, and PLA’s effort might be a model. Partnering with groups like the United Way and YWCA was suggested, given the progress such groups have made in this area. The potential to solicit foundation grants to fund this work was noted.
9. Nominations and board composition, Macikas (2018.24 a&b). PLA has had difficulty getting the needs and interests of library staff from public libraries of all sizes represented on the board. This is primarily due to the financial barrier serving on the board presents for small and rural libraries. The Nominating Committee requested board action that would make it easier to run and support representatives from such libraries. It was moved and approved that the PLA board shall include two candidates from small/rural libraries on future ballots who will run opposite each other to insure one PLA board member represents that constituency, and it was moved and approved that PLA will, upon request, support travel and housing expenses for the board member elected from a small and/or rural library for all PLA board meetings for the three years of his or her term. PLA will evaluate the results of this change and PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.29 determine whether to continue the practice for the 2021 slate and beyond. The board also reviewed the new nomination acceptance form that will be used going forward.
10. Board speaking engagements, Sandlian Smith (2018.25). Board members expressed their support for plans to develop standard and flexible presentations and employ board members and other PLA leaders to present them at state and regional meetings. This approach will expose PLA’s work to members and potential members, while also soliciting feedback from the grassroots as a “listening tour.” It was noted that Project Outcome has presented at many state conferences, so there’s potential to build on those relationships and PLA’s presence with these new talks. It was agreed that PLA will support the travel expenses for volunteers to make these presentations, when those expenses are not covered by the event’s host.
11. Legacy Update, Macikas (2018.26). The comprehensive update on the legacy grant work developed in the summer of 2017 was briefly reviewed.
12. Professional Development Theory of Change, All, (2018.27b). New legacy funding and increased staff capacity has encouraged PLA to be more strategic about continuing education/professional development (CE/PD). The theory of change document developed by PLA with consultant ORS Impact was reviewed. The process included visualizing the results PLA’s CE/PD should achieve for the public library field, then identifying public library staff competencies necessary to reach those results. Although topic ideas are present in the theory of change, the intent was not to dictate future program content. The theory of change will help PLA shift from a reactive approach to CE/PD to a proactive approach. PLA should educate members about the theory of change so they understand how specific CE/PD content fits into the larger approach and high level goals. Another future challenge will be getting partner library organizations to understand and embrace the theory of change and competencies, so consumers of CE/PD see alignment.
13. New Business, All, (no document). Lawson‐Brown described the situation in Houston, Texas following Hurricane Harvey. Only seven of the Houston Public Library’s 43 locations were heavily damaged, but many library staff were personally impacted. The library assisted other agencies by housing other city departments and helping take care of the children of first responders. City services and agencies will likely face a deceleration of spending to accommodate for the increased costs of the hurricane, such as trash pickup. In addition, le Conge Ziesenhenne reported that after the success of the 2017 event, a second ALA/vendor golf tournament will be held prior to the ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana.
14. PLA Strategic Plan, All, (doc on site). Kelly Carey of consulting firm GMMB facilitated a strategic planning session with attendees on Tuesday, September 26.
15. Date of Next Meeting, All (no document). The next meeting will be held on Saturday, February 10, 2018 at the ALA 2018 Midwinter Meeting in Denver, Colorado.
16. Adjournment. There being no new business, it was moved and approved to adjourn the meeting at 4:00pm.
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.30
PLA Board of Directors 2017 Fall Meeting September 25‐26, 2017, Chicago, IL
Action Items/Discussions Requiring Follow Up The following actions were drafted based on discussion at the 2017 Annual Conference board meeting.
ACTION: In anticipation of the new ALA Executive Director’s hiring, Macikas and Smith will prepare a statement from PLA regarding areas of the association that should be reviewed, discussed and potentially changed. STATUS: NOT ACCOMPLISHED. Immediately after the PLA Fall 2017 board meeting, it was announced that no candidates were advancing in ALA’s Executive Director search. This eliminated the need to prepare the statement in the near future; instead, PLA reiterated its position on the MLIS required/preferred issue.
ACTION: Macikas will send new PLA board members copies of Race for Relevance: 5 Radical Changes for Associations and The End of Membership as We Know It. STATUS: ACCOMPLISHED.
ACTION: Deutsch will send PLA board members all PLA communications including Public Libraries magazine for the next 2‐4 months; board members will circulate them to their full staffs; after which Deutsch will develop and circulate a survey to provide feedback from those staff members. STATUS: ACCOMPLISHED/IN PROCESS. The additional materials are being sent out, and follow up to get library staff input will take place later in 2018.
ACTION: Macikas and Stewart will begin using the new Nomination Acceptance form. STATUS: ACCOMPLISHED.
ACTION: PLA staff to be determined will find out and circulate the list of state library associations that have public library sections or interest groups. STATUS: ACCOMPLISHED. The ALA Chapter Relations Office confirmed “all ALA State Chapters (and probably the 4 regional chapters) have public library sections” and in most instances they are the dominant group in the chapter. The Chapter Relations Office, however doesn’t maintain contacts for these groups due to frequent turnover. They recommend simply connecting with chapter leadership, maintained online here: http://www.ala.org/aboutala/affiliates/chapters/state/stateregional. They also offered the Chapter Relations leadership listserv for communications.
ACTION: PLA staff (Macikas, Allen, Deutsch, O’Keefe) will continue to develop the speaking/listening tour concept by expanding presentation content, identifying potential speakers and speaking opportunities, and facilitating presentations. STATUS: IN PROCESS. This project will continue to be discussed and fleshed out throughout 2018.
1
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.31a
TO: PLA Board of Directors RE: PLA Partnership with MLA DATE: December 28, 2017
ACTION REQUESTED/INFORMATION/REPORT: ACTION ACTION REQUESTED BY: Scott Allen, Deputy Director
DRAFT OF MOTION: The PLA Board approves a one‐year partnership with the Medical Library Association to support PLA’s National Network of Libraries of Medicine consumer health information grant. The partnership will conclude at the end of 2018 unless renewed in writing by PLA.
BACKGROUND Through a grant PLA has from the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NNLM) to promote consumer health information and health reference, we’ve established a relationship with the Medical Library Association (MLA), which provides librarians with the Consumer Health Information Specialization (CHIS) certification we are promoting. MLA also sought and received funding from the NNLM, for a related project: NNLM funded MLA to add a 1.5‐day symposium for public librarians to its May 2018 annual conference. The symposium will be held May 22‐23, 2018 in Atlanta, GA. PLA was invited to serve as a partner, helping to shape the agenda and promote the event. The event will feature papers, posters and presentations that appeal to both medical/hospital librarians and public librarians and will encourage community‐level partnerships between public and medical libraries. MLA and the GMR office are able to offer free registration and travel funds, which should reach their 150 goal for attendees.
We are recommending we participate and partner with MLA because the event will offer quality education that doesn’t duplicate PLA’s work, and it will be a free or low cost activity that benefits public libraries, and will also continue to advance PLA’s interest in improving health literacy/health reference. Our participation is also desired by NLM/NNLM and this may help PLA secure more resources later. There’s also value to PLA to be seen as active in this area – we can add another fairly significant event to our 2018 activity without a lot of effort.
Per PLA policy, this constitutes a Partnership (rather than a collaboration) since it involves an exchange of resources and therefore needs approval. The PLA policy is here. It is not long term nor does it require an significant direct funding. It does require involvement of staff and members, use of the PLA name, an ongoing relationship with MLA, and “significant recognition.” A written agreement with MLA specifying the details of the partnership will be executed.
Specifically, PLA will support the event as follows. Two of the Advisory Group members for PLA’s project (Francisca Goldsmith, Acton, MA and Julie Robinson, Kansas City, MO) along with Scott Allen are serving on the planning committee. PLA will offer its name and logo as a presenter/partner/sponsor (language TBD) and will use its communications and social media to promote the event from January‐May 2018. We will also be involved in developing the process for people to apply and be approved to attend. We will participate in the event (we are determining now if MLA has funds for our 3 reps to participate; if PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.31a not, PLA may need to use modest funds to support their participation). Finally, we will report on the event and, likely, discuss the potential to replicate it or do other joint work with MLA and NNLM. In terms of downsides, we have some concern that attendance will suffer due to lack of interest (although PLA’s health project so far has generated strong interest) and because it happens during a busy six months, with ALA Midwinter, PLA 2018, and the ALA Annual Conference.
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.31b Megan Stewart
From: Barb Macikas Sent: Thursday, January 11, 2018 9:20 AM To: '[email protected]' Subject: RE: Electronic vote by Jan. 4 needed related to PLA partnership with Medical Library Association
Good morning, Just letting you know that the short‐term partnership with the Medical Library Association passed via electronic vote of the board with 9 votes in favor. Thanks for taking the time during the holidays to vote! Best wishes, Barb
Barbara A. Macikas Executive Director Public Library Association 50 East Huron St. Chicago, IL 606011 T: 312.280.5028 F: 312.280.5029 E: [email protected] PLA is people shaping possibility. Help PLA by making a gift today.
From: Barb Macikas Sent: Thursday, December 28, 2017 2:22 PM To: 'pla‐[email protected]'
Hello PLA Board, Let’s ring in the new year with an electronic vote! We’ve been asked to partner with the Medical Library Association on a project. The details are described in the attached document. PLA has a policy related to partnerships and collaborations here. Although the proposed MLA partnership is relatively short term (one year), it hits enough of the other components of a partnership definition that I wanted to ask you all to review and, if you are ok with it, approve the partnership. MLA needs an answer before Midwinter, thus the opportunity to vote electronically.
Here is the link to the ALA connect poll. http://connect.ala.org/node/271855
The vote will close on Jan. 4. Please let me know if you have any questions.
1 PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 Happy New Year, 2018.31b Barb
Barb Macikas Public Library Association 312.280.5028 PLA is people shaping possibility. Help PLA by making a gift today.
2 PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.32
TO: PLA Board of Directors RE: PLA Participation in 2018 ALA Emerging Leaders Program DATE: January 8, 2018
ACTION REQUESTED/INFORMATION/REPORT: Information ACTION REQUESTED BY: Samantha Lopez, Program Officer DRAFT OF MOTION: N/A
This report provides an update on PLA’s participation in the 2018 Emerging Leaders (EL) program. PLA is sponsoring two Emerging Leaders and one project.
BACKGROUND The ALA EL program is a leadership development program through which up to 50 newer library workers participate in problem‐solving work groups, network, learn about ALA, and serve the profession. Sponsors (ALA units, divisions, etc.) provide $1,000 to sponsor each EL. ALA offices and others also propose projects for groups of ELs to work on. Each project must include a member guide and staff liaison.
PLA SPONSORSHIP As in the past, PLA committed $2,000 to sponsor two ELs. These funds will support the following two ELs to attend the Midwinter Meeting in Denver, CO and the Annual Conference in New Orleans, LA: Tracy Drake, archivist, Chicago Public Library, Chicago, Illinois Aurelia Mandani, digital services librarian, Boulder Labs Library, Boulder, Colorado
PLA PROJECTS Team I: Creating Data‐Driven Professional Development Pathways for Public Library Staff In June 2017, PLA and the Research Institute for Public Libraries (RIPL) held a summit for data leaders in the library profession. One of the outcomes of this summit was to map the current data training landscape and identify gaps. The group identified what they determined to be key data competencies public library staff should have in order to meet library data needs and categorized those competencies into three levels: Data 101, Data Geek, Data Guru. They also mapped which competencies were addressed by existing trainings or organizations, including: Aspen Institute, Edge, Infopeople, Impact Survey, Libraries Transform/Harwood Institute, Measures that Matter, Project Outcome, RIPL, and WebJunction. Realizing that not all competencies were identified and that many are not covered by those trainings and organizations, PLA decided they should expand upon this map by identifying specific pathways for public library staff to gain these important data competencies. Reviewing what other associations provide their members to guide professional development (PD), like the Visitor Studies Association, PLA believes providing data‐specific PD pathways will help enhance the public library field. Evaluation and outcomes‐based assessment have become increasingly important to PLA, and through its performance measurement initiative, Project Outcome, PLA has been able to help move the field toward more data‐driven decision‐making and advocacy. To create more data‐driven public libraries and leaders, PLA needs to provide PD pathways for public library staff to gain broader data competencies they can use to affect change in their organizations, communities, and beyond.
1 of 2
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.32
PLA will charge the Emerging Leaders (EL) team with further defining five key data competency areas and mapping specific data skills and knowledge to each competency by using the pre‐work completed by PLA/RIPL. The five key data competency areas include: Knowledge of and practices with data collection planning and resource management; Knowledge of and practices with public library research and evaluation methods; Knowledge of and practices with data analysis; Principles and practices of communicating data and using different types of data for advocacy and storytelling; and Principles and practices of using data to inform decision‐making and assess progress towards goals. They will then create a pathway rubric that identifies existing data resources, tools, and training opportunities for all five competencies, and tag/sub‐categorize these by data skill level (101, Geek, Guru) to make it easier for public library staff to determine a professional development pathway to meet a measurement need. An appendix for all resources, tools, and trainings should be provided, as well as identifying which of them cover multiple competencies and/or skill levels. The EL team should research within the public library field, but also look beyond the field to identify resources and trainings that address generic data development, e.g. advanced excel or web analytics. The EL team will be given examples of similar professional development rubrics they can use as templates for their own work. If time allows, the EL team will complete a rubric for a few specific data applications that demonstrate how a public library staff would fulfill that data challenge need in each of the five competency areas and at the three data skill levels. For example, if the library needed to know if a program is fulfilling a community need in order to gain funding, what specific skills would they need in each competency and at each level? And how would they get those skills?
Member Guide: Stacey Aldrich, State Librarian, Hawaii State Public Library System Team Members: Yun (Crystal) Chen, [email protected] Tracy Drake, [email protected] Aurelia Mandani, [email protected] A.J. Muhammad, [email protected] Claire Nickerson, [email protected]
NEXT STEPS The EL program kicked off with a day‐long session on Friday, February 9, 2018 during the ALA Midwinter Meeting, where ELs convened in teams based on their chosen projects to begin planning. Subsequently, ELs use online learning, networking and member guide input to advance their projects, which culminate in poster presentations at the ALA Annual Conference.
Input and ideas from PLA board members to help the team with their project are welcome.
2 of 2
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.33
Date: January 29, 2018
To: PLA Board
From: Melissa Faubel Johnson, Conference Manager Angela Maycock, Manager, Professional Development
Re: PLA 2018 – March 20-24, 2018 – Philadelphia, PA
Plans for PLA 2018 in Philadelphia, PA, are progressing on schedule.
Exhibits
As of January 29, 2018, 635 booths are sold to 251 companies. This compares to 645 booths sold to 279 companies as of January 2016. We are at 96.1% of the exhibit budget. A prospect blast went out January 4. The blast had an open rate of 23% (industry average is 11%) and helped drive some new reservations.
Registration & Housing
As of January 29, 2018, 4,086 attendees are registered for the full conference. This compares to 4,065 registrants in 2016.
The PLA 2018 housing block is 78% sold, and we have limited availability at our downtown conference hotels. PLA staff are working with our housing company to add new hotels. Attendees can request a room via our hotel pending option, and when a hotel becomes available for their requested dates, they will automatically be confirmed.
Special Events
The following speakers are confirmed for special/meal events:
Opening Session – Sally Yates Big Ideas Thursday – Elizabeth Gilbert Thursday Author Lunch – Daniel Pink Audio Publishers Assoc Dinner – Marley Dias, Kate DiCamillo, Joshilyn Jackson & Atz Kilcher Friday Big Ideas – Steve Pemberton Friday Author Lunch – Matt de la Peña & Jacqueline Woodson Friday Big Ideas – Tim Wu Closing Session – Hasan Minhaj
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.33 Educational Programming @ PLA 2018 conference
PLA plans to offer 104 concurrent program sessions and 9 preconferences at the PLA 2018 Conference in Philadelphia. Preconferences will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday, March 20 and 21. Programs will take place during 8 program slots: 3 on Thursday, 3 on Friday, and 2 on Saturday. There will be 13 concurrent sessions during each program slot at the conference. See attached spreadsheet for concise details on educational programming.
The PLA 2018 Conference Program Subcommittee selected 94 concurrent program sessions, along with 6 half-day and 3 full-day preconferences. Ten programs and three preconferences were subsequently added, for a total of 104 programs and 12 preconferences. Additional programs focus on PLA’s Project Outcome, Family Engagement, and Digital Literacy initiatives; Pew Research Center findings; From Awareness to Funding research; 3 author programs from the Association of American Publishers; the opioid epidemic; and the Free Library of Philadelphia’s culinary literacy work. Additional preconferences focus on health literacy (full-day) and full and half day preconferences from the state chapter (PaLA).
Following the Early Bird registration deadline on January 19, PLA made the decision to cancel 3 preconferences due to low registration:
From A to T: Serving Transgender Customers (half day, 10 attendees) Customer Privacy in a Multi-Vendor World (half day, 15 attendees) Literacy is Power and Libraries Provide the Fuel: The Movement that is PA Forward (full-day sponsored by PaLA, 14 attendees)
Organizers and registered attendees were notified of these cancellations on Tuesday, January 23. Attendees were offered the opportunity to select a different PLA preconference or to request a refund.
PLA Virtual Conference
The PLA Virtual Conference (held in tandem with the PLA 2018 Conference) will consist of live programming on Thursday, March 22, and Friday, March 23, including five hour-long programs each day, plus author interviews and opportunities for networking. Programs are chosen from among the highest rated in PLA’s session preference survey. Registration for the Virtual Conference is available to groups or individuals and is now open.
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.34 January 9, 2018
To: PLA Board of Directors
From: Angela Maycock Manager of Continuing Education
Re: Update on Educational Activities
Online Learning The following three PLA webinars – all free to attendees – were presented since our last update to the Board in September for the 2017 Fall Meeting:
Title Date Registration Making Banned Books Week Work in Your Community 9/13/2017 376 individuals
Putting the Consumer Health Information Specialization 11/1/2017 175 individuals to Work in Public Libraries Understanding Power, Identity, and Oppression in the 12/5/2017 392 individuals Public Library
The following four Project Outcome webinars – all free to attendees – were also presented since our 2017 Fall update to the Board:
Title Date Registration Measuring the Impact of Digital Literacy Services with 9/14/2017 193 individuals Project Outcome & DigitalLearn.org Using Project Outcome Data to Improve & Support 10/19/2017 421 individuals Library Programming Using Data to Understand Your Community & Measure 11/30/2017 670 individuals Impact Integrating Project Outcome into Strategic Planning & 12/7/2017 415 individuals Measuring Priority Areas
On January 30, PLA will offer a free webinar, “Creating Accessible Presentations for PLA 2018 and Beyond,” in collaboration with LITA. This event is targeted for PLA 2018 Conference speakers, who will receive priority registration, after which the event will be opened for broader registration. As part of PLA’s commitment to making its educational events more accessible to all, this webinar will offer practical recommendations on designing accessible presentation materials and on delivering educational content, including facilitating discussion, in a way that reaches all audience members.
PLA 2018 Conference Please see PLA 2018 Conference report for details on educational programming.
1 of 5
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.34 Dynamic Planning Institute The next offering of PLA’s Dynamic Planning Institute will be as a full‐day preconference at PLA 2018. For more information, please visit www.ala.org/pla/education/dynamicplanning.
PLA @ ALA 2018 Annual Conference The PLA Annual Conference Program Subcommittee selected 14 programs to offer at the ALA 2018 Annual Conference in New Orleans, which are listed below. In addition, the Program Subcommittee plans to develop one additional session focused on public libraries’ responses to the opioid epidemic. PLA typically does not sponsor a preconference at ALA Annual Conference in PLA Conference years.
PLA sponsored programs can also be accessed in the online scheduler at https://www.eventscribe.com/2018/ALA‐Annual/agenda.asp?h=Full+Schedule&BCFO=S%7CE&pta=PLA
PROGRAM LIST The PLA Annual Conference Program Subcommittee approved the following 14 programs for presentation in New Orleans:
1. Title: Ensuring the Future of Libraries: Connecting the Academy and the Profession Description: The University of Washington iSchool wants to ensure libraries have a strong and vibrant future in our communities. The Gates‐funded Distinguished Practitioner in Residence (DPIR) program is designed to connect academia and public libraries, enhancing the education of future librarians. Susan Hildreth, inaugural DPIR, will be joined by UW iSchool faculty, students and library colleagues, to share highlights of this unique program. Learn about the co‐design of MLIS curriculum by library employers, the opportunities and challenges of practitioners in the academy and share your thoughts on aligning MLIS graduate education with needs of 21st century libraries. Program Organizer: Susan Hildreth Date and Time: 6/23/2018 from 10:30:00 AM to 11:30:00 AM
2. Title: Stronger Together: Public‐Private Partnerships for Digital Literacy Description: Bringing millions of people online to fully participate in today’s digital world is a big job, and libraries have long been leaders. But how do you leverage and strengthen library assets to best meet this critical community need? PLA and Cox Communications teamed up with three local libraries in 2017 to help answer this question and share key learnings. A diverse panel will share strategies and resources for increasing digital inclusion, evaluating impact, strengthening community connections and increasing visibility and use of library programs and services. Program Organizer: Scott Allen Date and Time: 6/23/2018 from 10:30:00 AM to 11:30:00 AM
3. Title: Compassionate service: promoting dignity for marginalized patrons through a holistic approach Description: In the last few years many public libraries have hired social workers to address the needs of customers experiencing life challenges. In this session, administrators and social work teams from the Denver and San Francisco public libraries will discuss best practices, challenges, and how their libraries have integrated a holistic social service program into their service plan. Presenters will work with participants to develop a blueprint for how they can bring social work into their library environments. Program Organizer: Thomas Fortin Date and Time: 6/23/2018 from 1:00:00 PM to 2:00:00 PM
2 of 5
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.34 4. Title: We Welcome You to Welcome Everyone: Serving Immigrants in Public Libraries. Description: Libraries from four major metropolitan hubs for immigrants and refugees will discuss their strategies, working spaces and programs in their respective systems. The success of the programs and activities are rooted in sensitive, responsive and flexible approaches which build on community trust, feature community‐based organizations and reflect community aspirations. Meet colleagues interested in serving immigrants, discover different approaches, and learn how you can start small and provide meaningful support or go big by bringing the ideas and lessons learned, from large urban systems into your Library‐‐we are here to help and are creating an information sharing network. Program Organizer: Adriana Blancarte‐Hayward Date and Time: 6/23/2018 from 4:00:00 PM to 5:00:00 PM
5. Title: Impact of Embedded Digital Inclusion Champions Description: Across the country, libraries are beginning to designate dedicated Digital Inclusion champions to help further the digital inclusion (home broadband, public broadband, local tech support, devices and digital literacy) mission in their space and in the community they serve. Many begin with assistance through fellowships or through larger initiatives, and more and more are becoming permanent. This session will showcase professionals from several different programs and libraries whose positions are dedicated to digital inclusion. Through sharing and conversation, we'll learn more about how their programs changed practices in their libraries and enabled them to have an impact on their communities Program Organizer: Matthew Kopel Date and Time: 6/24/2018 from 9:00:00 AM to 10:00:00 AM
6. Title: Our Do‐It‐Yourself Approach to Learning Online Description: Using open resources (Google Sites, Mozilla Backpack), Markham Public Library (Ontario) created an innovative, in‐house learning management solution that enhances staff digital literacy competencies. Courses were developed to cover a spectrum of job responsibilities, and achievement badges intrinsically motivate staff along their learning journeys. Each lesson uses the principles of microlearning. Learn how to implement this DIY e‐learning solution at your library. Program Organizer: Pamela Saliba Date and Time: 6/24/2018 from 10:30:00 AM to 11:30:00 AM
7. Title: Every Child Ready to Read’s Impact on the Community Description: Every Child Ready to Read is a research‐based, family engagement program focusing on early literacy used by public libraries nationwide. New studies, involving nearly 60 public library locations, show libraries using ECRR have stronger engagement of parents/caregivers and more diverse program offerings than others. Join this session to learn about the ECRR model, partnering with families and communities on early literacy, and new ECRR and family engagement tools. This session will highlight the results of new, federally‐funded research showing the ECRR’s impact on library services and parent behavior. Program Organizer: Scott Allen Date and Time: 6/24/2018 from 10:30:00 AM to 11:30:00 AM
8. Title: Cultural Competence & Collaborative Conversations: A Path to Providing Equitable Services for Multicultural Patrons Description: We will examine the community benefits of providing cultural competence staff training grounded in intersectionality; review how we developed and implemented this training; and lastly, 3 of 5
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.34 provide materials and best practices for other librarians tasked with addressing diversity and multiculturalism within their libraries. Program Organizer: Aurelia Mandani Date and Time: 6/24/2018 from 1:00:00 PM to 2:00:00 PM
9. Title: Public Libraries: Leading Communities in Family Engagement Description: Public libraries can elevate the family voice in their work, build professional capacity for family engagement, and develop strong community partnerships to support families. Learn about the new, research‐based 5Rs framework for libraries and hear examples from diverse libraries. Get tips on how your library staff can become more educated about family engagement, and how you can integrate family engagement into your library's partnerships and strategic planning. Participants will complete exercises that help them understand how to build family engagement tactics into library programming and strategy. Program Organizer: Scott Allen Date and Time: 6/24/2018 from 1:00:00 PM to 2:00:00 PM
10. Title: Supporting Diversity Through Social Media and What To Do When This is Challenged Description: Social media is the perfect way to champion those living within our service areas whether they are homeless, LGBTQ, a member of minority populations, immigrants and others. The goal is to be culturally sensitive and to educate those who may not be open‐minded on social media channels when these topics come up. ALL ARE WELCOME. In other words, we speak up! Program Organizer: Kimberly Crowder Date and Time: 6/24/2018 from 2:30:00 PM to 3:30:00 PM
11. Title: Teen Internships: Building a Future Library Workforce Description: Libraries that participated in PLA’s Inclusive Internship Initiative will share how the experience went, beyond supporting teen interns to uncovering paths that build towards an inclusive future workforce. Libraries will share strategies such as revamping intern orientation programs to include a broader focus on librarianship, instituting connected learning projects along with their day‐to‐ day work to inspire them and develop a passion for the field, and pointing interns to future job and career pathways. These are simple, free or nearly free adjustments every library with a teen intern program can make. Program Organizer: Scott Allen Date and Time: 6/24/2018 from 4:00:00 PM to 5:00:00 PM
12. Title: On the Ground, Online & Operative: Perceptions & Effectiveness of Public Library Staff Professional Development Description: What are YOUR best or most rewarding professional development opportunities? How do you learn? Via results of a multi‐national survey of public library employees and their perceptions of professional learning experiences in a time of rapidly evolving technologies and mechanisms for delivery, this session will engage attendees to consider their own development needs and the needs of their institutions. What challenges do employees face and how can library administration overcome them? How can we create a true culture of learning? This session explores how to best support staff professional learning experiences on the ground, online, and beyond. Program Organizer: Michael Stephens Date and Time: 6/25/2018 from 1/1/1900 9:00:00 AM to 1/1/1900 10:00:00 AM
4 of 5
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.34 13. Title: MakMo: the LA County Library MakerMobiles Description: The MakMo vehicles are out of this world providing STEAM programming for teens, adults and children beyond library walls. MakMo provides programming to libraries, schools, parks and community centers. In addition to providing STEM and maker programming, MakMo serves as a highly visible vehicle for outreach and helps our communities learn what the 21st century library has to offer. MakMo is introducing LA County Library customers to a whole new world of possibilities. Program Organizer: Jesse Walker‐Lanz Date and Time: 6/25/2018 from 1/1/1900 10:30:00 AM to 1/1/1900 11:30:00 AM
14. Title: Lessons Learned from the 2017 Eclipse: What Participation in Charismatic Events Can Do For YOUR Library Description: This session will help public libraries catalyze the momentum from the 2017 Solar Eclipse to make plans to participate in other charismatic STEM events in the coming year, partner with local and national STEM organizations (like NASA!), and find innovative ways to help their community see them in a new light. Presenters will discuss future STEM events, transformative stories from Eclipse participant libraries, and guide participants in their own future planning. Program Organizer: Anne Holland Date and Time: 6/25/2018 from 1/1/1900 2:30:00 PM to 1/1/1900 3:30:00 PM
5 of 5
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.35 TO: PLA Board of Directors RE: DigitalLearn.org Update DATE: January 25, 2018
ACTION REQUESTED/INFORMATION/REPORT: Report ACTION REQUESTED BY: Brian Franklin, Program Manager DRAFT OF MOTION: N/A
BACKGROUND DigitalLearn.org (https://www.digitallearn.org/) is a resource PLA provides that is primarily geared for public libraries offering digital literacy support and training to their communities. The site is free to use and currently features 21 short, self‐directed modules related to basic computer, mobile device, and internet skills, in both English and Spanish. In addition to providing free access to the modules on the site, PLA provides access to open source files on Github so libraries can build their own customized version of the site, and PLA will also build libraries a customized version of the site for a one‐time fee of $15,000. This one‐time fee also provides libraries the ability to personalize course lists, tailor user content through a course recommendation tool, track progress of users, distribute certificates for course completions, and to monitor site usage statistics.
UPDATES
Core Content Expansion A public‐facing module on Using a Mobile Device (Android) was added in October 2017. PLA will begin working with contractor Kixal in early 2018 to add closed captioning to modules to make them more accessible for the hearing impaired. PLA plans to add CC to the more popular courses at first, and will continue with all courses as funding allows. In early 2018, PLA will create the Spanish equivalents for the two courses that were added to the site in 2017, Using a Mobile Device (Android) and Creating a Basic Budget with Excel. With these translations, all existing modules on the site will have a Spanish equivalent. PLA will work with the newly formed Digital Literacy Committee in early 2018 to identify new course topics. Once we determine funding, we hope to create an additional 5‐10 courses in 2018, with the goal being to keep the site appealing and competitive with comparable sites offering similar content.
1 of 5
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.35 New Supplemental Content As reported previously, in September 2017 PLA completed bringing the Gail’s Toolkit content into DigitalLearn. The new content includes customizable tools (design documents, activity sheets, handouts and slides) for live training on nearly 80 topics. Since bringing the content onto the site, there have been approximately 800 users who have accessed the content. In 2018, PLA plans to promote and market this content as one of the more notable features of the DL site. As an incentive for upgrading, PLA plans on expanding the support provided to libraries that purchase the customized version of the site. This will include creating additional templates in Articulate Storyline that will allow these libraries to more easily create course content on their own, with an emphasis on templates for content focused on local topics specific to a community (i.e. how to use your library web site, how to pay bills online, using the school’s parent portal). In addition, PLA will create further documentation / screencasts to assist libraries with maintaining their customized site, such as support with using Google Analytics.
Personalized Sites PLA is supporting seven personalized sites (see list and usage statistics below). As reported previously, in September 2017 the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh executed an agreement with PLA to purchase the seventh site and in October 2017 their site was up and running. PLA has recurring calls with these libraries, and the libraries continue to share valuable feedback that serves to improve
the overall quality of content and functionality of the site. Copyright 2018, Carnegie There continues to be interest from public libraries in upgrading to Libray of Pittsburgh. the customized version of DL. PLA is considering implementing new strategies to encourage libraries to upgrade, including: o Reserving access for some of the new courses only for those libraries with a customized version of the site; o Encouraging partnerships between other community organizations and public libraries, with an emphasis on sharing costs for upgrading. Using Google Analytics, PLA is closely looking at referral statistics to the DL site to identify possible partnerships. In those communities where there is a high usage rate of the site, organizations that are referring a high amount of traffic could be potential partners with the public library in offering a customized version of DL as a resource in that community. For instance, Charlotte, NC, was ranked as as the third city in the United States with the highest amount of user activity on DigitalLearn, receiving the most referrals from Charlotte‐ Mecklenburg Schools and Central Piedmont Community College.
Usage Statistics Course completion and visitor session statistics for 2017 are below. In 2017, there was approximately a 17% increase from 2016 in the number of English language course completions on the main site, and approximately a 19% increase in visitor sessions.
2 of 5
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.35 Other statistics being prepared include course popularity, traffic sources, and geography stats, including acquisition and behavior by city (the top 5 are currently Morton Grove, IL, Chicago, IL, Charlotte, NC, and Nashville, TN, Silver City, NM). The 5 most popular courses in 2017 were Getting Started on a Computer (4965 course completions), Introduction to Email (1763), Navigating a Website (1758), Using a PC‐Windows 10 (1247), and Using a PC‐Windows 7 (1186). The top 5 referrers to the main DL site were the Saint Paul Public Library (11,644 referrals), Learn My Way (3,291), ALA (2,201), Los Angeles Public Library (846), and the National Government Portal for the Republic of the Philippines (774).
Course Completions Site Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec TOTALS Main DL site ‐ English 1291 1640 1668 1233 1413 1126 855 1501 2107 2427 1908 1274 18443 Main DL site ‐ Spanish 48 52 109 101 106 48 18 20 18 122 104 52 798 Chicago ‐ English 277 370 251 207 269 321 209 272 164 193 178 128 2839 East Baton Rouge ‐ English 0 0 0 18 13 11 17 23 5 7 8 2 104 Kalamazoo ‐ English 1 2 0 0 5 0 3 0 1 0 0 0 12 Nashville ‐ English 4 8 52 25 46 20 36 29 3 2 20 1 246 Pittsburgh ‐ English 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 21 0 21 Pima County ‐ English 0 0 18 2 12 5 23 16 2 21 27 5 131 Topeka‐Shawnee ‐ English 0 0 22 6 6 2 5 28 10 10 2 0 91 TOTALS 1621 2072 2120 1592 1870 1533 1166 1889 2310 2782 2268 1462 22685
Total and New Visitor Sessions Site Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec TOTALS General 7466 7820 9363 7453 8276 7081 5231 6865 8446 8363 8109 5696 90169 Chicago 1005 950 1192 830 910 820 623 733 631 640 598 485 9417 East Baton Rouge 0 0 0 146 194 136 127 148 92 113 89 65 1110 Kalamazoo 130 48 18 17 29 15 9 49 64 47 33 41 500 Nashville 69 247 426 286 855 629 581 562 520 538 468 370 5551 Pittsburgh 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 17 12 23 52 Pima County 0 0 12 151 224 168 459 1326 1457 1563 1362 1180 7902 Topeka‐Shawnee 0 0 52 117 145 92 132 130 60 53 29 22 832 TOTALS 8670 9065 11063 9000 10633 8941 7162 9813 11270 11334 10700 7882 115533
Content Sharing As previously reported, IBM has committed $70 million to digital literacy training in Africa. As a result of this, IBM is launching a project website called Digital‐Nation Africa (DNA). PLA agreed to share the raw files for 8 modules from DL with IBM’s consultant, Core Learning Exchange. The agreement between IBM and Core Learning Exchange notes that the material is only for non‐commercial use as part of the DNA project and that the PLA and DL site will be
3 of 5
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.35 acknowledged as a content partner (logo credit) whenever content is shown and in IBM’s marketing efforts. In October 2017 during the Innovation Africa 2017 conference, IBM provided a presentation on the DNA digital learning platform, and PLA was acknowledged during the event. The DNA site is scheduled to go live in January 2018. Core Learning Exchange has indicated they can connect PLA with IBM in 2018 to discuss future with DNA and how PLA and/or public libraries in Africa could be involved. PLA intends to include both the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) and African Library and Information Association and Institution (AfLIA) in any discussions.
DIGITAL LITERACY PILOT INITIATIVE The Digital Literacy Initiative, funded by Cox Communications, was completed in December 2017. The pilot libraries were East Baton Rouge Parish, Pima County, and Topeka Shawnee County. As part of the pilot, three DL sites had been built for the libraries in early 2017 and are still being used (see usage data above). During the pilot, some of the libraries used Project Outcome to conduct classroom learner surveys and evaluate the course content, and while the survey feedback was sparse much of the responses that were collected indicated high satisfaction. Pima County collected 565 survey responses, and 95% of those surveyed felt more knowledgeable about using digital resources after taking the courses. An evaluation of the pilot is scheduled to be completed by the end of January 2018. As part of the evaluation, the pilot libraries involved will provide information on these data points: The challenges and successes while implementing the initiative in their community; Recommendations for criteria needed if PLA seeks funding for a similar initiative; How the Cox relationship was helpful to their digital literacy outreach.
EDUCATIONAL PRESENTATIONS AND PROMOTION In June 2017, PLA presented the webinar, Using DigitalLearn in Your Library, about how DL can complement the classes and one‐on‐one training your library staff are already providing as well as specific information on how your library can start the process of creating its own DigitalLearn site. Librarians from Nashville and Kalamazoo spoke at the presentation about their experience in maintaining a customized version of the DL site. The DL committee chair, Monica Dombrowski, will be presenting The Accidental Trainer: Teaching Technology in a Modern Public Library at the PLA conference in March 2018. Monica spearheaded the creation of the Gail’s Toolkit content (which is included on the DL site), and will use the presentation to promote DL and the toolkit. The nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN) recently contacted PLA and indicated interest in having PLA present about DigitalLearn.org in a webinar to the NTEN Digital Inclusion Fellows and affiliates. This could be an opportunity for PLA to connect with some of the sponsors of the fellowship, which include Capital One, Google, Google Fiber, and Rainbow Push. PLA will be presenting information about DL, mainly focusing on the Cox Communications partnership, at both the PLA 2018 conference and the ALA 2018 Annual Conference. Speakers from Topeka‐Shawnee and East Baton Rouge will join staff in presenting these sessions.
4 of 5
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.36
TO: PLA Board of Directors RE: Leadership Academy DATE: January 8, 2018
ACTION REQUESTED/INFORMATION/REPORT: Information ACTION REQUESTED BY: Mary Hirsh DRAFT OF MOTION: N/A
STATUS: 28 mid‐career librarians from around the country attended the fourth PLA Leadership Academy, December 4‐8 in Chicago. This iteration of the Academy was supported with Legacy Grant funds. Each attendee was assigned to a small group cohort, coaches by 6 outstanding PLA Leaders: Carolyn Anthony, Audra Caplan, Karen Danczak Lyons, Michelle Jeske, Felton Thomas, and Julie Walker. As in the past, the Adam Goodman, Director of Northwestern University’s Center for Leadership, facilitated the Academy.
Interactive sessions and guest speakers contributed to the development of leadership skills. Participants are expected to implement a community‐based project at their library following the Academy. Proposed projects include: Introducing Spanish‐language services and materials to reach migrant populations Bring mobile services to homeless populations Launching community wide summer reading
In the coming months, PLA will organize and host three webinars on additional leadership topics for attendees. Potential topics include EDI, effective communication, advocacy and outcome measurement. Coaches will host three calls with their cohort to check progress, answer questions, and build network connections. Participants have indicated that networking and peer learning are among the most valuable aspects of the program. PLA is working to identify and formalize networking opportunities for all past Academy participants and PLA and ALA conferences.
FUTURE: Before PLA can offer the Leadership Academy again, the underlying Leadership Model needs to be revised. PLA will align this work with the strategic plan revisions. More information will be shared with the board regarding the model revisions, any resulting content revisions, and future Academy dates as it becomes available. PLA is also looking to expand the pool of available coaches. Please let PLA know if you or someone you know would be interested in joining this successful and well‐regarded program.
1 PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.37 TO: PLA Board of Directors RE: Health Initiative Update DATE: January 25, 2018
ACTION REQUESTED/INFORMATION/REPORT: Report ACTION REQUESTED BY: Scott G. Allen, Deputy Director DRAFT OF MOTION: N/A
BACKGROUND The Greater Midwest Region (GMR) of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NNLM) has provided PLA with $180,831 for projects to help public libraries connect to education, funding and other resources from NNLM on health literacy, consumer health information, disaster preparedness, and more. The official project period is August 1, 2017 to April 30, 2018. Project components include: Project management/staffing Recruitment of an informal advisory group of PLA members Development of a project web site, articles and blog posts, and e‐newsletters Educational events at the 2018 Midwinter Meeting and PLA 2018 Conference Research to determine the needs/interests of public library staff
ACCOMPLISHMENTS Staffing: Because PLA staff is at capacity, PLA allocated funds to staff in the ALA Public Programs Office (PPO) to manage this work. Advisory Group: Thirty‐one ALA and PLA members applied to serve in the 8 PLA positions on the Advisory Group. Members selected, plus the 3 representatives of NNLM regions, are listed below. The group is meeting monthly and has established multiple subcommittees to oversee communications, research, programs, etc. Web Site: The web site will debut in late January 2018 at www.publiclibrary.health (with a redirect from www.publiclibraries.health). It will provide quick access for public librarians to recent health news (the HealthDay feed from MedlinePlus), their NNLM regional office membership information, and continuing educatoin and funding opportunities. Educational Programming: o The project presented a webinar, “Putting the Consumer Health Information Specialization to Work in Public Libraries,” on November 1, 2017. About 115 people participated, and evaluation results were positive. o At the 2018 Midwinter Meeting, the project is hosting “Public Libraries Supporting the Health and Wellness of Your Community,” which is a discussion group/unconference event at which NNLM representatives will collect and answer pressing health reference and consume health information questions. o At the PLA 2018 Conference, the project is hosting a day‐long preconference entitled “Stand Up for Health: Health and Wellness Services for Your Community.” The grant enabled PLA to offer attendees $500 stipends toward registration and travel. Sixty‐eight people applied for the stipends, which were awareded in late December.
1 of 2
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.37 Consumer Health Information Specialization (CHIS) Certification: Before the project started, about a dozen public librarians had achieved the CHIS Certification, which is offered by the Medical Library Association. Through the work of PLA and GMR, as many as 150 public librarians may be certified by late spring 2018. GMR is hosting two online cohorts (fall 2017 and spring 2018), to which PLA is providing input and promotional assistance, and all PLA 2018 Preconference attendees will qualify for CHIS Certification. Research: Catherine Arnott Smith of University of Wisconsin Madison will conduct virtual, national focus groups in the spring of 2018. A subcommittee of PLA’s advisory group is providing input to her questions.
ANCILLARY ACTIVITY PLA Quick Reads: Planning for 2018 Quick Reads publications was underway, and the Advisory Group brainstormed potential health related topics. Members of the Advisory Group and NNLM partners are willing to write them. Programming Librarian Database Expansion: The Public Programs Office manages the Programming Librarian Database, which features programming ideas and resources on many different topics. After noting it included no health related programs, the Advisory Group is reaching out to colleagues to encourage them to add program models to the database. Medical Library Association Symposium: In December 2017, NNLM funded the Medical Library Association to add a 1.5‐day sumposium for public librarians to its May 2018 annual conference. The symposium will be held May 22‐23, 2018 in Atlanta, GA. PLA was invited to serve as a partner, helping to shape the agenda and promote the event. Two Advisory Group members (Francisca Goldsmith and Julie Robinson) along with Scott Allen are serving on the planning committee. The event will feature papers, posters and presentations that appeal to both medical/hospital librarians and public librarians and will encourage community‐level parnterships between public and medical libraries. MLA and the GMR office are able to offer free registration and travel funds, which should help meet attendance goals.
Promoting Health Advisory Group Co‐Chair: Bobbi Newman, NNLM Greater Midwest Region Co‐Chair: Julie Robinson, Refugee & Immigrant Services & Empowerment (RISE) Outreach Manager, Kansas City Public Library (Missouri) Francisca Goldsmith, Library and Media Consultant, Library Ronin (Massachusetts) Noah Lenstra, Asst Prof, Library & Information Studies, Univ of North Carolina, Greensboro (North Carolina) Pattie Mayfield, Director, Bertha Voyer Memorial Library (Texas) Susan McClelland, Health and Wellness Librarian, Oak Park Public Library (Illinois) Maria Mucino, Library Region Manager, Maricopa County Library District (Arizona) Marion Scichilone, Asst Managing Librarian, Seattle Public Library / Central Library (Washington) Stephanie Smith, Youth Services Librarian, Gloucester County Library System (New Jersey) Margot Malachowski, NNLM New England Region Carolyn Martin, NNLM Pacific Northwest Region
2 of 2
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.38
Date: January 4, 2018 To: PLA Board of Directors From: Kara O’Keefe, Manager, Marketing & Membership Re: Membership Report
Overview
As of November 2017, PLA membership was 8,459, which reflects a 2.81% decrease from November 2016. Due to PLA Conference taking place in even years and the effect it has on membership, comparing even and odd years is not an accurate measure. When comparing PLA membership in the odd years of November 2017 to November 2015, you’ll notice a 2.42% increase in overall members as shown in the table below.
Comparison of PLA Membership during odd years (as of November 2017/2015):
PLA Membership As of November 2017 (FY18) As of November 2015 (FY16) New Members 645 426 Renewed Members 1,337 1,413 Reinstated Members 377 359 Dropped Members 409 364 Overall Members 8,459 8,259
As of November 2017, ALA membership was 57,161, a 0.29% increase from November 2016.
PLA Membership Numbers by Type
Personal: 8,067 Retired: 150 Regular: 6,129 International: 120 Student: 439 Other: 350 Non‐salaried: 367 Trustee: 356 Organization: 368 Support Staff: 156 Corporate: 24
Division Membership Comparison (As of November 2017) These numbers reflect the total membership for each division. Percentage reflects percentage increase or decrease from November 2016.
AASL 6,650 (+4.18%) ALSC 4,272 (+3.64%) ACRL 10,463 (‐1.51%) ASCLA 766 (‐3.28%) ALCTS 3,304 (‐1.87%) LITA 2,444 (‐4.68%)
1
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.38 LLAMA 3,627 (+0.75%) YALSA 4,808 (‐2.40%) RUSA 3,088 (‐3.74%) UNITED 3,857 (‐11.70%)
Membership Engagement
ALA Connect The Division Membership Working Group, comprised of ALA staff, has been providing the additional capacity and expertise that ALA is lacking in order to launch the new ALA Connect, powered by Higher Logic. PLA’s Manager of Marketing and Membership serves as one of the group’s co‐conveners. The other convener is ACRL’s Associate Director. Remarkable progress has been made by the group in recommending a plan for implementing automation rules, as well as design enhancements to leverage the use of Higher Logic’s engagement and personalization tools. PLA plans to pilot a handful of new interest groups when the new connect launches in an effort to provide additional engagement opportunities for our members, while elevating the work of the association. The following interest groups have been proposed but not yet finalized: Digital Literacy, EDI, Family Engagement, Health, Performance Measurement, Legislation and Advocacy, and Small Business.
ALA Email Communications ALA has not addressed issues related to its complexity and how member communication preferences are handled. The ALA Communication Preferences Working Group, comprised of ALA staff, has met for several months to discuss the many issues surrounding email communications, including: member communication preferences, current legality of communications, and the frequency of email communications. PLA’s Manager of Marketing and Membership serves as one of the group’s members, along with representatives from other ALA divisions including AASL and United for Libraries. Based on these discussions, the group made a formal set of strategic recommendations to senior management to help address these issues to create a better member experience. There continue to be lack of clarity within ALA as to which ALA staff should be responsible for this function.
New Member Outreach The PLA Membership Advisory Group (MAG) has decided to continue reaching out to new members via email. Monthly, the MAG chair has been distributing PLA’s new members amongst the group and then each new member is contacted by an individual from the advisory group. This effort intends to pair a new member with a more experienced PLA member who can advise and assist as needed. Recently the group has tried to include more timely information including association news, new benefits, upcoming events, etc.
Membership Recruitment
2
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.38
PLA Membership Webpage Refresh In the Fall of 2017, PLA refreshed the content on the “Join PLA” and “Benefits of Personal Membership” webpages of the PLA website. This effort focused on using graphic highlighting to simplify the information being presented to potential members, as well as utilizing the association’s new positioning language. The content refresh took place shortly after PLA’s new responsive website launched, proving us with more design flexibility.
PLA Conference Member Discount PLA made a significant increase in the discount offered to PLA personal members registering for the PLA 2018 Conference. For 2018, PLA members save $280 off the nonmember early bird rate, vs. the $195 savings in 2016. The reason for the increase was to encourage nonmembers to join PLA and ALA while still receiving significant savings on conference registration. The average new PLA and ALA member will pay $142 in their first year, making the $280 savings well‐worth the investment. PLA should consider plans for identifying new members attending conference and reaching out to them post‐conference to encourage their future engagement with the association.
Member Story Videos Considerations are being made for filming a series of short video clips at the 2018 ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans. PLA’s Manager of Marketing and Membership, along with the Membership Advisory Group, have been exploring ways to capture stories of engaged PLA members to share for recruitment purposes but also for encouraging engagement amongst current members. PLA plans to first experiment with a video highlighting the new positioning story and if the project is found to me successful, will plan to move forward with the member story videos.
3
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.39
Date: January 9, 2018 To: PLA Board From: Emily Plagman, PLA Staff Re: Project Outcome Update
The grant‐funded portion of Project Outcome concluded December 31, 2017, and as planned the majority of the close‐out work has been completed:
‐ The Annual Report text has been completed and will be published just prior to Midwinter ‐ Bugs for custom groups have mostly been worked out, sustainability work to start first quarter 2018 ‐ Final evaluation will be completed just prior to Midwinter and the report will be shared when available ‐ Formal case studies from Appleton Public Library, Burnsville Public Library, Pima County Public Library, Thomas Crane Public Library, and Plano Public Library have been published and posted on the Project Outcome website (and attached to this memo) ‐ How‐to tutorials for new users are nearly complete and will be finalized first quarter 2018
The Measurement, Evaluation and Assessment Committee membership has been finalized and will hold its first meeting at Midwinter on February 12, 2018.
New members (terms will 2.5 years) Linda Hofschire, Colorado State Library (Chair) Christ Werle, Sno Isle Public Library Carrie Pedigo, Tippecanoe County Public Library Rebecca Jones, Consultant Chris Jowaisas, University of Washington TASHCA Group Suzanne McGowan, Anythink
Task Force members, terms will range from 1‐1.5 years Stacey Aldrich – 1.5 years Carolyn Anthony – 1 year Matt Birnbaum (Advisor) ‐ 1.5 years Denise Davis, Allen County Public Library (also a PLDS member) – 1.5 years
PLDS members, terms will range from 1‐1.5 years (terms TBD) David Cooksey, San Antonio Public Library Lynn Hoffmann, Somerset County Library System (NJ) Debbie Ehrmann, Salt Lake City Public Library
User numbers as of 1/9/18: ‐ 112,300+ patrons surveyed ‐ Over 929 libraries using the system PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.40
TO: PLA Board of Directors RE: PLA Task Force on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion DATE: December 27, 2017
ACTION REQUESTED/INFORMATION/REPORT: Report REPORT PROVIDED BY: Scott Allen, Deputy Director DRAFT OF MOTION: N/A
The PLA Board of Directors formed the Task Force on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in January 2017. The charge of the Task Force is “to develop a strategic and coordinated approach for PLA related to issues of equity, diversity and inclusion” and “to explore methods and consider resources to be developed that will allow PLA to take a multifaceted approach.” Seventeen members were appointed for roughly two‐year terms to end June 30, 2019. The Task Force membership is listed at the end of this report.
The Task Force met at the 2017 Midwinter Meeting and Annual Conference and has held monthly online meetings. They set up communications channels using Google Groups and ALA Connect. They established multiple subcommittees: PLA 2018 Preconference: This group successfully proposed and is planning a full‐day preconference at the PLA 2018 Conference in Philadelphia, PA. Communications: This group created two e‐newsletters which were sent to all PLA members and added content to the regular PLA E‐news. ALA Annual Conference Strategy Session: This group planned a strategy session with Mia Henry, Executive Director of Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, on June 22, 2017.
The group’s co‐chairs, Richard Kong and Amita Lonial, facilitated a session at the PLA Board’s Fall 2017 meeting. The Task Force is currently drafting goals to be incorporated into the PLA 2018‐2020 Strategic Plan. On December 5, 2017, two members along with the director of the ALA Office for Diversity, Literacy and Outreach Services (ODLOS) presented a webinar, “Understanding Power, Identity, and Oppression in the Public Library,” which had about 400 people register. Feedback from the 109 participants completing the evaluation was positive. Most recently, the Task Force has discussed the potential to do additional educational programs at public libraries and state/regional events. They are also planning to propose a session for the 2018 Joint Conference of Librarians of Color (JCLC), September 26‐30, 2018 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and may also be an event sponsor. They have discussed and/or initiated collaboration with other relevant groups, such as the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, the Joint Council of Librarians of Color, and the Government Alliance on Race and Equity.
Additionally, PLA staff has reported internally on activities of the Task Force to ALA leadership and to the ODLOS, when requested. Most recently, PLA submitted a report in January 2018 which indicated PLA’s activities (via the Task Force and conference programming) are addressing nine of recommendations resulting from ALA’s task force.
1
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.40
Task Force on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Members
Richard Kong, Co‐Chair, Skokie Public Library Cynthia Marie Landrum, Evansville Public Amita Lonial, Co‐Chair, San Diego Public Library Library Jessica Anne Bratt, Grand Rapids Public Library Sarah Lawton, Madison Public Library Katie Dover‐Taylor, Detroit Public Library Sheba Marcus‐Bey, East Cleveland Public Library Jane Eastwood, St. Paul Public Library Manya Danielle Shorr, Fort Worth Public Library Rachel E. Fewell, Denver Public Library Amy Lynn Sonnie, South Novato Library at Christina Fuller‐Gregory, Spartanburg County Marin County Public Libraries Lois Langer Thompson, Hennepin County Public Toby Greenwalt, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh Library Andrew F. Harbison, Seattle Public Library Roosevelt Weeks, Austin Public Library Jason P. Kucsma, Toledo Lucas County Public Library
2
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.41
Date: January 25, 2018 To: PLA Board of Directors From: Kathleen Hughes, Manager, Publications Re: PLA Publications
As of the latest report, overall PLA publications sales revenues are behind budget. Currently at $575, the sales figure was budgeted to be $1,813. We do have a small backlist of publications and this sales figure is comprised of sales from those publications and books in the Quick Reads line. You can see the PLA publications backlist on the last page of this document.
At the same time last year, sales were at $248.00. Due to this pattern of slow sales, we are holding the line on expenses in the publications program; expenses are at $142 against a budget of $0.
We are working on a marketing plan for 2018 to increase awareness of our backlist and improve sales of backlist products and Quick Reads.
Quick Reads We are in the second year of implementation of the ‘Quick Reads’ series. Sales have been slow in the series, but with time and familiarity we feel that sales will improve in this product line.
While there is no solid data on how long it takes for an audience to become familiar with a book series (particularly in an association setting), our plan is to begin a review of the project in the summer of 2018. This way we will have given the program two full years to evolve and mature. We will consider market research, the results of reader and member surveys, and of an environmental scan, and will use this objective data to make solid decisions for the future of the Quick Reads project.
At no more than 100 pages, these books cover both emerging and essential topics in public librarianship with style, clarity, and above all brevity. These short books are the perfect size in terms of depth and coverage for many public library world topics. Each book in the series has a similar look and design and is available as a pdf download (available immediately). In November, 2016, it was decided that all Quick Reads books published after September, 2016, would be made available free to members via the PLA Member Library. The first book made available was, “Building and Operating a Digital Media Lab.” It has been downloaded 476 times. Again, we feel that with time and familiarity with the new benefit, downloads of these book by PLA members will increase. Another book, “Get Inside: Responsible Jail and Prison Library Service” was added in September, 2017; since that time 232 copies have been downloaded.
Quick Reads books currently available include:
The Bed Bug Guide for Public Libraries (Since its release in January, 2016 has sold 122 copies). Author: Sarah Kittrell. 66 pages. Weeding Manual (Since its release in May, 2016 this writing, has sold 25 copies). Authors: Holly Hibner and Mary Kelly. 71 pages.
1 of 5
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.41
Building and Operating a Digital Media Lab (Released in November, 2016 and was the first in the series made available as a free download to members – 476 copies have since been downloaded). In addition to the member downloads we have sold three copies. Author: Jeffrey Fisher. 64 pages. Get Inside: Responsible Jail and Prison Library Service (Released September 2017‐232 copies have been downloaded. Author Nicholas Higgins. 73 pages.
Two Quick Reads book are currently in the pipeline:
A New Model for Service to Business (expected date of publication March 2018). Teaching Early Literacy to Teen Parents (expected date of publication June 2018).
Other PLA Publishing Activities
Public Library Data Service Statistical Report (PLAmetrics) As of the 2011 report, PLA ceased printing a paper PLDS report. For the past few years, PLA has offered access to the PLDS data, initially via the University of Illinois and for the past two year via Counting Opinions. The database, now known as PLAmetrics (www.plametrics.org) is available via subscription. A subscription ($250) provides unlimited web access to data and reports from the Public Library Data Service Survey for one year (12 months). At this point, we have 160 active subscriptions. For comparison purposes here are the subscription numbers from previous years:
2017 (June) – 175 subscriptions 2016 (June) – 175 subscriptions 2015 (June) – 145 subscription 2014 (June)‐ 171 subscriptions 2013 (June) – 167 subscriptions (PLAmetrics via Counting Opinions) 2013 (March) – 169 subscriptions (PLAmetrics via Counting Opinions 2012 (December) – 173 subscriptions (PLAmetrics via Counting Opinions) 2011‐138 subscriptions (PLAmetrics via Counting Opinions) 2010 – 69 subscriptions (PLAmetrics via Counting Opinions) 2009 – 78 subscriptions (PLDS subscription database via the University of Illinois) 2008 – 83 subscriptions (PLDS subscription database via the University of Illinois) 2007 – 70 subscriptions (PLDS subscription database via the University of Illinois)
PLA has had a licensing agreement with Counting Opinions since 2014 wherein they continue to manage the survey, taking over all aspects of the project, andPLA receives royalties based on sales of subscriptions to PLAmetrics. Royalties received in FY18 to date are $532; FY17 were $1090.00; FY16 royalties were $918; FY 2015, total royalties received were $1,265.33.
In addition, in January, 2017, Counting Opinions began to make available print‐on‐demand copies of the survey results, so far they have sold 56 of these books. PLA receives a royalty for these sales as well.
For the past few years, PLA and the PLDS committee have been considering the future direction of the PLDS project and committee. To best meet the evolving data needs of the profession, and guide PLA’s ongoing data strategy, a new committee, the Measurement Evaluation and Assessment Committee 2 of 5
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.41
(MEAC) has been created. This new committee will combine the PLDS Committee and the Performance Measurement Task Force (PMTF). As of this writing, Emily Plagman, PLA Project Outcome Manager, will be the liaison to the new committee and manager of the PLDS project.
Every Child Ready to Read (ECRR) 2nd Edition (2011) Sales of the ECRR kit and auxiliary products have been very strong overall. Since its release in June, 2011, we have sold 6,174 kits. At this point last year we had sold 5,952 kits.
Outside of the kits we have sold additional products: English Brochures ‐ Packets of 100 –5,871; last year at this time 4,906 packets English Bookmarks– Packets of 100 – 3,917; last year at this time 3,661 packets English Posters – 6,631; last year at this time 6,299 Spanish Brochures: 1,448; last year at this time 1,234 packets Spanish Bookmarks – 2,382; last year at this time 2,364 packets Spanish Posters – 1672; last year at this time 1,605 posters
The ECRR Toolkit for Spanish‐Speaking Patrons has sold 118 copies since being released in March, 2014; at this time last year the total was 104.
The latest ECRR module, Every Child Ready to Read ‐‐ Toolkit for Serving Early Childhood Educators, has sold 218 copies since being released in February, 2017.
As of the November report ECRR sales revenue is at $4823; we are budgeted to be at $53,646. This seems like a big discrepancy, but the report contains an error in allocations as this revenue target should have been more spread out over the course of the year. Our actual revenue target for this point in the budget would be closer to $15,000 so we are still a bit off from budget. Sales of the ECRR project have slowed in the past two years. The main product is now seven years old and over 6,000 copies have been sold since its release. We are optimistic that changes to the partnership with ALSC and moving the project into the PLA Family Engagement arena will impact sales revenue positively, as these actions spur the creation of new products.
As far as expenses, we are at $2,249; against a budgeted figure of $1,660. Last year at this time, ECRR sales revenue was at $5,358.
In the long term, things look even better for ECRR‐related product development. We have received the report on IMLS‐funded research (conducted by Susan Neuman) that studied the impact of Every Child Ready to Read. Among the findings: Librarians have embraced a more expansive view of early literacy, focusing on five literacy practices (e.g. talking, singing, reading, writing, and play) in workshops, activities, and programs. Storytime activities engaged parents more deliberately in the activities with their child, with non‐ didactic “asides” or tips for parents interspersed throughout the programs. Spaces in libraries were often re‐configured to encourage parent‐child engagement with technology, play, and book reading, using the public place of the library to gather with friends and acquaintances. These common foundational features seemed to thread throughout the Every Child Ready to Read
3 of 5
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.41
initiative, with each library system conveying information to parents in ways that best met their constituent communities. Although it might sound different in different places, there is no mistaking that the Five Practices are well‐known to many families Libraries are strategically redesigning décor and layout to promote family engagement Librarians’ roles are also shifting, from a focus on children and reading to a focus on children and their parents – in addition many librarians function as community or social workers Library programming is also changing, offering “family friendly” options that invite all parents and children to participate. An emphasis on play, as well as content rich programming in STEM and STEAM, offers families opportunities to interact, thus helping to build children’s vocabulary skills. In many libraries, programs are effectively drawing large numbers of families, many of them “regulars” who attend each week In areas of need, libraries are playing a particularly vital role as “resource brokers,” helping to connect parents with services and resources, providing them the support they need to effectively raise their children. By offering information about medical, government, and other services as well as a space for parents and children to work on literacy skills, libraries are helping to alleviate some of the direct effects that poverty brings to so many families. Libraries provide the space and resources for families to interact using digital resources, such as computers, tablets, e‐readers, and video games libraries are emerging as community centers that promote family engagement, thus serving an important mission of fostering school readiness for children in many communities.
The report shows that Every Child Ready to Read is having an impact in communities and also shows that libraries have begun to move to the next logical step, family engagement. The information also signals the need for libraries to move from a focus on just the youngest kids to grade school/high school. We will use all of this information to develop and inform the next generation of Every Child Ready to Read, Family Engagement, and older child literacy products and programming.
PLA Publications Backlist
Time Flies…But Where? Time Management Tips and Tools ‐‐ digital download Time Flies…But Where? Time Management Tips and Tools is one of a series of electronic publications in the Public Library Association's Train the Trainer Series. Each publication includes all of the materials needed to present a one day (4‐4.5 hour) training program for library staff members. The materials include masters for the handouts that will be distributed to the training participants, a PowerPoint presentation to be used by the trainer during the program, a detailed script for the training program, an evaluation form, and a training manual. $45.00
Stress Less: Taming the Tensions in Your Life ‐‐ digital download Stress Less: Taming the Tensions in Your Life is one of a series of electronic publications in the Public Library Association's Train the Trainer Series. This training program has been designed to provide all levels of library staff with the information and skills they need to identify the major stresses in their lives and to manage those stresses more effectively. Each publication includes all of the materials needed to present a one day (4‐4.5 hour) training program for library staff members. $45.00 4 of 5
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.41
Stress Less: Taming the Tensions in Your Life ‐‐ digital download Customer Service: Balancing Rights and Responsibilities ‐‐ digital download The second in PLA's ‘Train the Trainer' series, this kit contains everything needed to hold a one‐day customer service training workshop at your library. Content focuses on creating effective customer service policies and norms in your library by defining the rights and responsibilities of both customers and staff members. $45.00
Customer Service: Balancing Rights and Responsibilities ‐‐ digital download The second in PLA's ‘Train the Trainer' series, this kit contains everything needed to hold a one‐day customer service training workshop at your library. Content focuses on creating effective customer service policies and norms in your library by defining the rights and responsibilities of both customers and staff members. $45.00
"100 Best Books to Read in Kindergarten" poster kit Available in packets of 25 for libraries to distribute to their young readers, this poster kit lists some of the very best picture books to read aloud to Kindergarten‐age children. The list includes well‐loved classics as well as quality contemporary books. Designed so that books can be checked off as they are read. Kit includes two different poster designs (100 Best Books to Read in Kindergarten and 100 More Books to Read in Kindergarten, parent guide, and bookmarks). Created by the West Bloomfield Township (Michigan) Public Library. $75.00
Collection Development and Resources Access Plan for the Skokie (Illinois) Public Library This comprehensive plan has been totally updated and overhauled to meet new demands in collection management. This book covers new types of materials including graphic novels, ebooks, playaways, games, and more. Also new to this edition is a section on managing the library's web presences including purpose and scope, site maintenance (retention and weeding), development objectives, and more. $24.00
Defending Access with Confidence: A Practical Workshop on Intellectual Freedom This interactive, ready‐to‐use Intellectual Freedom training program for public library employees is based on American Library Association guidelines relating to intellectual freedom. Defending Access with Confidence provides libraries with step‐by‐step directions for planning and rolling out a comprehensive training program on access issues, and on how to resolve challenges to access. $60.00
Forming and Funding Public Library Foundations: 2nd Edition Covers the basics of forming a library foundation. Includes private vs. public foundations, choosing a board, articles of incorporation, bylaws and more. $28.00
5 of 5
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.42
Date: 1/9/18 To: PLA Board of Directors From: Kathleen Hughes, Manager, Publications & Editor, “Public Libraries” Re: Public Libraries
Public Libraries As of the November report, no ad sales revenues have been recorded against a budget of $1,327. Ads have been sold, they have just not been collected/recorded as of this report. At this same time last year advertising sales were also uncollected. There are also two items that have posted and are creating a negative balance in this line. One is a refund for an ad that was paid twice in the last fiscal year and the other is for an ad sales commission that was paid late.
While print advertising continues to suffer declines across the industry, the current lack of any ad revenue for us right now is mostly a timing issue – as we collect advertising revenues for the Sept/Oct and Nov/Dec issues we will move closer to the budgeted figure. However, the downturn in advertising has affected us negatively with very slow ad sales. To that end, last year we hired a new advertising representative who is starting to make connections which we hope will lead to more sales this year. We do plan to spend time in the exhibits hall at the PLA 2018 conference, pitching Public Libraries advertising opportunities to vendors 2018 and we also plan on marketing our advertising opportunities to potential advertisers throughout the year.
Our subscription base has decreased a bit; we currently have 527 subscriptions; at this time last year we had 536 subscriptions. For more perspective on subscription trends, at this time five years ago, subscriptions were at 572; at this time ten years ago subscriptions were at 764. We are taking action to stem this slow decline with a planned subscription drive, targeted emails, online advertising, and more.
Subscription revenues are budgeted to be $10,000; the actual figure is $9,554. Last year at this time subscription revenue was at $9,595
In terms of expenses, at this point in the year, we are budgeted to be at $28,467; the actual expenses total is $18,669. It looks like this is also a timing issue, when expenses billing occurs we will likely meet our targeted figure for expenses. However, we are actively keeping expenses down by limiting the number of pages in the print version of the magazine, using royalty-free stock images in both print and online, and scaling back the use of outside designers and illustrators.
Publiclibrariesonline.org The online companion site to “Public Libraries” continues to thrive with an average monthly readership of over 40,000, a rotating stream of talented writers providing daily updates, and an engaged readership interacting on PL Online social media outlets. Like the print iteration, PLOnline (www.publiclibrariesonline.org) focuses on issues and topics that matter to public libraries and public librarianship. The site features selections from the print magazine as well as unique content from our team of writers. Posts are comment-enabled so readers can share ideas on the often thought-provoking topics, as well as share their own stories or experiences. We are
1
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.42
happy to report that the site and the site’s social media have been very busy. Here is a look at statistics for the www.publiclibrariesonline.org:
FY18 statistics* September 1, 2017, the first day of the fiscal year, through December 31, 2017, reported by Google Analytics for the Public Libraries Online website:
• 109,125 users • 137,814 sessions, with 76.9% by new visitors and 23.1% by returning visitors and an average session duration of 1 minute, 7 seconds • 194,470 pageviews, for an average of 1.41 pages per session
*Please take a look at PLA Technology Report (Board Document #___) for more detailed PL Online statistics.
Related, the PL Online Facebook page has 7,317 likes (6,048 at this time last year); our Twitter account has 3,288 followers (2,651 at this time last year) and our Instagram account (started in October, 2015) has 406 followers (297 at this time last year).
With input from the PL Advisory committee, we hope to continue to develop the print journal, the online site, and the corresponding social networks. In the same spirit of further developing our communication and journalism outlets, PL has added podcasting as another way to explore a variety of topics in-depth and also bring great information to our members and readers. To date, we have recorded twenty-six podcasts.
Here are the top ten tracks: 1. Doug Crane - Advice for New Library Directors -- 1,099 2. PLA's Project Outcome--944 3. Weeding Library Collections--773 4. Valerie Gross -- Libraries = Education--724 5. Amy Koester on Unprogramming--608 6. Pew Research Center - Digital Divide/Digital Readiness Gaps—599 7. Building a Digital Media Lab with Jeffrey Fisher--596 8. Managing Bed Bug Situations At The Library--562 9. Teen Social Justice Symposium - Erin Hoppes--557 10: Engaged and Inclusive: Racial Equity and Social Justice--551
As far as programming for the PLA Podcast series, we explore a wide variety of library world topics, but also cover topics related PLA initiatives, for example: Libraries Ready to Code (a PLA collaboration with OITP) Pew Research Center-Digital Divide Readiness Gaps (a PLA collaboration with OITP and PEW) PLA’s Project Outcome
Upcoming episodes will focus on current PLA initiatives like Consumer Health Information and Digital Literacy, and topics like Homelessness and Libraries and Social Justice and Libraries. See the complete list of PLA podcasts here.
2
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.43a
Date: January 9, 2018 To: PLA Board From: Steven Hofmann, Manager, Web Communications Re: Technology
PLA Web Analytics In addition to the website analytics below, a comparison of PLA’s primary analytics with those of the other ALA divisions is attached. Although comparisons with other divisions do not necessarily have an “apples to apples” correlation, they may still offer some internal context. A comparison of analytics for the PLA site and Public Libraries Online with the same period last year is also attached.
PLA Website FY18 statistics September 1, 2017, the first day of the fiscal year, through December 31, 2017, reported by Google Analytics for the PLA website:
42,215 users 62,913 sessions, with 39.1% by new visitors and 60.9% by returning visitors and an average session duration of 2 minutes, 27 seconds 138,818 pageviews, for an average of 2.21 pages per session 88.53% of sessions were from the U.S., 3.38% from Canada, and the remaining from countries including India, China, Australia, the Philippines, the U.K., Nigeria, South Africa, and Malaysia Top 10 pages by pageviews were: o Homepage – 24,674 pageviews o Conferences & Continuing Education – 6,972 pageviews o Conferences & Preconferences – 5,336 pageviews o Performance Measurement – 4,397 pageviews o On‐Demand Webinars – 3,277 pageviews o Awards – 3,171 pageviews o Join PLA – 2,954 pageviews o About – 2,602 pageviews o Violence Prevention in the Public Library (Free On‐Demand Webinar) – 2,323 pageviews o Apply for PLA Awards – 2,213 pageviews Primary source of traffic on the site was organic (i.e. free) search results (62.80% of sessions), followed by users entering URLs directly in their browsers or using bookmarks (22.69%), then links from other sites (11.66%), links from social media (2.64%), paid search results (.10%), other (.06%), and links from e‐mail communications (.04%) Top 10 sources of traffic by sessions were: o Google (organic) – 36,363 sessions o entering URLs or bookmarks – 14,278 sessions o PLA Conference website – 2,224 sessions PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.43a
o Bing (organic) – 1,979 sessions o Yahoo (organic) – 1,068 sessions o t.co referrals – 526 sessions o Public Libraries Online – 515 sessions o Facebook – 351 sessions o Facebook Mobile – 346 sessions o WebJunction – 200 sessions
PLA 2018 Conference Website FY18 statistics September 1, 2017, the first day of the fiscal year, through December 31, 2017, reported by Google Analytics for the PLA 2018 Conference website:
30,050 users 49,565 sessions, with 58.3% by new visitors and 41.7% by returning visitors and an average session duration of 3 minutes, 57 seconds 150,720 pageviews, for an average of 3.04 pages per session 91.92% of sessions were from the U.S., 3.87% from Canada, and the remaining from countries including Egypt, India, Australia, China, the U.K., the Philippines, Ukraine, and Brazil Top 10 pages by pageview were: o Homepage – 55,046 o Programs – 19,243 o Registration – 16,647 o Housing – 8.885 o Preconferences – 7,553 o Stand up for Health: Health and Wellness Services for Your Community (Preconference) – 1,802 o Tracks – 1,262 o Closing Session with Hasan Minhaj – 1,232 o Exhibit at PLA 2018 – 1, 209 o New Trends and Solutions for Making Libraries Welcoming Spaces for All (Preconference) – 1,013 Primary source of traffic on the site was organic (i.e. free) search results (46.03% of sessions), followed by users entering URLs directly in their browsers or using bookmarks (22.07%), then links from other sites (21.64%), other (7.06%), and links from social media (3.20%) Top 10 sources of traffic by sessions were: o Google (organic) – 20,850 sessions o entering URLs or bookmarks – 10,940 sessions o ala.org (this would include the PLA site) – 9,278 sessions o GoogleAd/DigitalAd – 1,545 sessions o Bing (organic) – 1,334 sessions o Eblast/Email – 996 sessions PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.43a
o Yahoo (organic) – 593 sessions o Facebook Mobile – 556 sessions o t.co referrals – 491 sessions o PressRelease/PR – 406 sessions
Public Libraries Online Website FY18 statistics September 1, 2017, the first day of the fiscal year, through December 31, 2017, reported by Google Analytics for the Public Libraries Online website:
109,125 users 137,814 sessions, with 76.9% by new visitors and 23.1% by returning visitors and an average session duration of 1 minute, 7 seconds 194,470 pageviews, for an average of 1.41 pages per session 67.65% of sessions were from the U.S., 6.06% from Canada, and the remaining from countries including Australia, the U.K., India, the Philippines, Nigeria, New Zealand, Malaysia, and South Africa Top 10 pages by pageviews were: o Community Centered: 23 Reasons Why Your Library Is the Most Important Place in Town (Sep/Oct 2011; posted Apr 2013) – 15,855 pageviews o Homepage – 14,483 pageviews o A Day in the Life of a Prison Librarian (Oct 2017) – 5,890 pageviews o Ten Things a Children’s Librarian Needs to Know (posted Jan 2015) – 3,079 pageviews o Posts tagged “Adult Programming” – 3,025 pageviews o Ten Essential Qualities for Success: A New Cataloging Librarian’s Guide from a Supervisor’s Perspective (May/Jun 2013; posted Jun 2013) – 2,783 pageviews o Customers or Patrons? How You Look at Your Library’s Users Affects Customer Service (Jan/Feb 2015; posted Mar 2015) – 2,736 pageviews o Hey! The Library Is Kind of Awesome! Current Trends in US Public Library Services for Teens (Nov 2016) – 1,932 pageviews o The Future Looks Bright for Librarianship (Dec 2017) – 1,798 pageviews o Virtual Reality in the Library: Creating a New Experience (posted Feb 2016) – 1,723 pageviews Primary source of visits to the site was organic (i.e. free) search engine results (65.09%), followed by users entering URLs directly in their browsers or using bookmarks (21.39%), then links from social media (7.75%), links from other sites (5.74%), links from e‐mail communications (.03%), and other (.00%) Top 10 sources of traffic by sessions were: o Google (organic) – 84,675 sessions o entering URLs or bookmarks – 29,472 sessions o Facebook Mobile – 4,740 sessions o Bing (organic) – 3,242 sessions PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.43a
o Facebook – 3,041 sessions o ala.org (this would include the PLA site) – 2,540 sessions o t.co referrals – 1,767 sessions o Yahoo (organic) – 1,693 sessions o Google Search app for Android – 1,259 sessions o DuckDuckGo (organic) – 458 sessions PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.43b
FY18-to-date (September 1, 2017–December 31, 2017) Comparison with Other Divisions
PLA AASL ACRL ALCTS ALSC ASCLA LITA LLAMA RUSA UNITED YALSA Users 42,215 102,154 103,368 57,499 298,608 10,408 15,227 8,085 44,061 18,064 142,746 Sessions 62,913 161,471 157,522 79,415 411,881 13,113 20,547 10,962 61,167 23,611 204,504 Average Session Duration 0:02:27 0:02:36 0:02:00 0:02:03 0:02:25 0:01:31 0:02:02 0:02:57 0:02:05 0:02:38 0:02:26 Pageviews 138,818 341,237 310,093 169,179 934,950 22,392 45,909 31,839 122,912 56,598 531,105 Average Pages per Session 2.21 2.11 1.97 2.13 2.27 1.71 2.23 2.90 2.01 2.40 2.60
PLA + PLA 2018 AASL ACRL ALCTS ALSC ASCLA LITA LLAMA RUSA UNITED YALSA Users 72,265 102,154 103,368 57,499 298,608 10,408 15,227 8,085 44,061 18,064 142,746 Sessions 112,478 161,471 157,522 79,415 411,881 13,113 20,547 10,962 61,167 23,611 204,504 Average Session Duration 0:02:50 0:02:36 0:02:00 0:02:03 0:02:25 0:01:31 0:02:02 0:02:57 0:02:05 0:02:38 0:02:26 Pageviews 289,538 341,237 310,093 169,179 934,950 22,392 45,909 31,839 122,912 56,598 531,105 Average Pages per Session 2.57 2.11 1.97 2.13 2.27 1.71 2.23 2.90 2.01 2.40 2.60
PLA + PLA 2018 + PL Online AASL ACRL ALCTS ALSC ASCLA LITA LLAMA RUSA UNITED YALSA Users 181,390 102,154 103,368 57,499 298,608 10,408 15,227 8,085 44,061 18,064 142,746 Sessions 250,292 161,471 157,522 79,415 411,881 13,113 20,547 10,962 61,167 23,611 204,504 Average Session Duration 0:02:14 0:02:36 0:02:00 0:02:03 0:02:25 0:01:31 0:02:02 0:02:57 0:02:05 0:02:38 0:02:26 Pageviews 484,008 341,237 310,093 169,179 934,950 22,392 45,909 31,839 122,912 56,598 531,105 Average Pages per Session 1.93 2.11 1.97 2.13 2.27 1.71 2.23 2.90 2.01 2.40 2.60 PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.43b
Comparison with Same Period in Previous Years
PLA Website Sep 1, 2017-Dec 31, 2017 Sep 1, 2016-Dec 31, 2016 % Change Users 42,215 24,259 74.02% Sessions 62,913 46,714 34.68% Average Session Duration 0:02:27 0:02:31 -2.65% Pageviews 138,818 102,513 35.42% Average Pages per Session 2.21 2.19 0.91%
PLA Conference Websites PLA 2018 PLA 2016 Sep 1, 2017-Dec 31, 2017 Sep 1, 2015-Dec 31, 2015 % Change Users 30,050 28,238 6.42% Sessions 49,565 44,176 12.20% Average Session Duration 0:03:57 0:04:08 -4.44% Pageviews 150,720 147,950 1.87% Average Pages per Session 3.04 3.35 -9.25%
Public Libraries Online Website Sep 1, 2017-Dec 31, 2017 Sep 1, 2016-Dec 31, 2016 % Change Users 109,125 104,293 4.63% Sessions 137,814 130,460 5.64% Average Session Duration 0:01:07 0:01:09 -2.90% Pageviews 194,470 183,120 6.20% Average Pages per Session 1.41 1.40 -0.71% PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.44
TO: PLA Board of Directors RE: PLA Awards Program Update DATE: January 10, 2018
ACTION REQUESTED/INFORMATION/REPORT: Information REQUESTED BY: Megan Stewart, Program Coordinator and Scott Allen, Deputy Director DRAFT OF MOTION: N/A
BACKGROUND: PLA’s awards program is designed to honor those providing public library service whose vision and accomplishments are extraordinary and deserve recognition. PLA accepts applications for ten (10) awards and grants on an annual basis. The call for awards opened September 27, 2017.
Following the close of the call, each award’s jury receives credentials to use in accessing the application database. The juries then have approximately one month to deliberate and choose a winner or winners. PLA announces the winners’ names the following February via a press release and lists them on its website (http://www.ala.org/pla/awards).
In addition, PLA awards two cash prizes annually to the authors of the best feature articles written by public librarians and published in the previous year’s issues of Public Libraries magazine. The two honorees are selected by PLA’s Public Libraries Advisory Committee.
2017‐2018 AWARDS CYCLE: PLA solicited applications for a new award during this cycle: the Singer Group Helping Communities Come Together Award, which recognizes a public library’s ability to identify community needs specifically in times of crisis and division, and respond in creative and exemplary ways. PLA received eight (8) applications for this award in its inaugural offering. The applications cover a wide range of topics, including libraries’ responses to civil unrest, the opioid crisis, and rebuilding after natural disasters.
PLA staff once again made a concerted effort to promote its award program leading up to and throughout the application window. For example, in addition to sending out e‐newsletters to members, PLA issued a press release announcing the opening of the call and posted banners on its homepage to encourage applications. PLA staff also reached out to numerous ALA colleagues, and with their help, were successful in promoting PLA’s awards via ALA’s roundtables, offices, and divisions.
PLA received a total of 121 applications during the 2017‐2018 awards cycle. That figure represents an increase over the total of applications received in 2015‐2016 (97) and in 2016‐2017 (105). The breakdown of applications received per each award over the last three cycles appears in the following table.
1 PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.44
PLA Awards Applications Received Per Awards Cycle Award Name 2015-2016 2016-2017 2017-2018 Allie Beth Martin Award 3 10 7
Baker & Taylor Entertainment Audio Music/Video Product Award 21 13 17
Charlie Robinson Award 9 5 8
Demco New Leaders Travel Grant 8 3 9
EBSCO Excellence in Rural Library Service Award 6 7 8
Gordon M. Conable Award 0 2 2
John Iliff Award 8 14 11
Romance Writers of America Library Grant 28 22 17
The Singer Group Helping Communities Come Together Award Not offered Not offered 8
Upstart Innovation Award 14 29 34
Total 97 105 121
THE FUTURE OF PLA’S AWARD PROGRAM: PLA and its Board of Directors should consider ways in which PLA’s awards program can be made less sponsor‐driven and more aligned with PLA’s goals and values. PLA hopes to implement a new awards program prior to the 2018‐2019 cycle and will put forth a proposal at the Spring 2018 board meeting to solicit comments on how to best improve PLA’s awards program.
2 PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.45
TO: PLA Board of Directors RE: PLA-WebJunction collaboration re opioid crisis DATE: December 27, 2017
ACTION REQUESTED/INFORMATION/REPORT: Report REPORT SUBMITTED BY: Scott Allen and Larra Clark, Deputy Directors DRAFT OF MOTION: N/A
The challenges to libraries presented by the opioid crisis and heroin epidemic were noted repeatedly during the 2017 Annual Conference, and the PLA board suggested we be agile and act quickly to develop member resources. Since the June 2017 meeting, PLA has done the following:
• Opioid Crisis Town Hall: Library Needs and Responses (September 12, 2017) This 90-minute “town hall” event, jointly sponsored by PLA and OCLC/WebJunction, attracted over 500 registrants. Panelists included public library staff from libraries in California, Colorado, Ohio, and Oregon along with representatives of the National Association of Counties, and the Humboldt County (CA) Department of Health and Human Services. The event was recorded and made available on an OCLC page featuring many related resources and links. It was also promoted by the National Library of Medicine and briefly reported on in American Libraries magazine.
• National Forum on Public Libraries and the Opioid Epidemic proposal In mid-January, OCLC and PLA submitted a full proposal for an IMLS National Leadership Grant to host a national forum to elicit information, develop strategies, and foster collaboration between libraries, government and community stakeholders, and public health and human service organizations that are working to address the opioid epidemic in America. If approved, the roughly $100,000 grant will support a 1.5 day, in-person forum of up to 35 attendees in November 2018. The event will be managed by OCLC, and PLA will receive $10,000 to partially support staff time and input. Following the forum, a report will be written and shared broadly. Reviewer feedback on the letter of intent and IMLS feedback during the proposal development process was very positive.
• PLA 2018 Events PLA will present “The Opioid Epidemic: How Can My Library Help?” on Friday, March 23 during the PLA 2018 Conference. Speakers will represent five diverse communities/libraries. Also, as of December 2017, PLA staff were considering options to include training on administration of Narcan at the PLA 2018 Conference, either during the How-To Festival (likely) or as part of the existing program or a stand alone event (not likely).
• Library Survey PLA staff held a call with Maggie Lowenstein, MD, MPhil, Fellow, National Clinician Scholars Program of the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine. She is working with researchers on a set of survey questions related to librarian experiences with the opioid epidemic as a subset of a larger survey about public library engagement on health issues. The national survey is based on a state-level survey conducted in Pennsylvania that found 12% of public libraries in the state reported they had experienced an opioid overdose in the library in the past year. PLA agreed to review the draft survey and then promote it when it’s fielded. The results will likely be used to inform the National Forum assuming it is funded.
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.46
TO: PLA Board of Directors RE: Legacy Update DATE: January 9, 2018
ACTION REQUESTED/INFORMATION/REPORT: Report/Discussion ACTION REQUESTED BY: Barb Macikas; Scott Allen; Larra Clark; Mary Hirsh; and Emily Plagman DRAFT OF MOTION: N/A
BACKGROUND PLA was officially awarded the legacy grant from the Global Libraries program of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, in the amount of $10,805,701 on May 25, 2016. At that time, a payment of $1,682,460 was made. The remaining payment of $9,123,241 is contingent upon PLA reaching an established set of milestones by December 31, 2017.
A comprehensive update on status was provided to the PLA board at both its June and September 2017 meetings. Future reports to the board will focus on recent and upcoming activity as related to the five legacy goals (see below). Additional detail is provided in other board reports, such as activity on fundraising and sustainability or expansion of Project Outcome. Also, by late February 2018, the PLA board will be sent the phase 1 progress reports, reporting on major milestones, as submitted to the Gates Foundation, which will provide further detail, summarizing Phase 1 activity.
Legacy Project Interconnected Results
1. Performance and outcome measurement become standard practice
Reported previously: The success of spreading outcome measurement through Project Outcome; initial steps to integrate outcomes into other PLA work and consider international spread; establishment of the joint legacy partner “data” group; participation in the IMLS‐funded “Measures That Matter” project and the IFLA “Library Map of the World” project; and PLA support for the IFLA/TASCHA Development and Access to Information (DA2I) report.
Recent activity: Completion of Advanced Measurement Guidelines to meet outcome measurement needs outside of the Project Outcome survey tools, transition of the Performance Measurement Task Force and Public Library Data Service Committees to the Measurement, Evaluation and Assessment Committee (MEAC), white paper development of the Project Outcome model, and continued collaborative work of the Legacy Partners (shared case study formats, mapping PO measures to United Nations Sustainability Development Goals).
2. Community‐aligned service development and advocacy become essential leadership attributes
Reported previously: The December 2016 Ideas Exchange and subsequent revision of the PLA leadership model; replication of the 2008 OCLC From Awareness to Funding survey and report; initial development of the National Public Policy Advocacy Program with the ALA Washington Office.
Recent activity: The results of the From Awareness to Funding survey became available, and PLA is strategizing on how to make them actionable, including tying to the new PLA strategic plan, for the public library field (see related board report). Establishing the National Public Policy Advocacy Program and the corps of volunteers is
1
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.46 progressing: on January 4, the ALA Washington Office and PLA held a curriculum planning meeting. PLA also completed its 4th Leadership Academy in December 2017 for 28 mid‐career leaders. We continue to work with AfLIA on adaptation of the leadership training for its members and will hold the first African leadership training program in early 2018.
3. Innovation accelerates and impactful practices are iterated and scaled more quickly
Reported previously: Initial discussions with both TASCHA and the ALA’s Public Programs Office about civic engagement initiatives; the potential to evaluate and expand on the ALA Emerging Leaders program; use of legacy grant funds to move priority research and innovation findings through a process of business planning, production, implementation, and sustainability as new or revised products, beginning with family engagement.
Recent activity: Efforts to support evaluation and expansion of the ALA Emerging Leaders program have been put on hold but may be revisited later in 2018 or 2019. Work to turn the family engagement initiative into products that will spread through the field is progressing slowly. PLA and TASCHA have developed plans for how to use PLA communications vehicles to regularly introduce innovation and research concepts to the public library field, beginning in 2018.
4. Working collaboratively through networks becomes standard practice
Reported previously: The partnership map of library support organizations; PLA efforts to be more strategic and coordinated with federal agencies, associations and others; beginning to work more globally through IFLA and AfLIA.
Recent activity: PLA and our Partnership Map consultant made plans to continue the work in 2018, engaging new library support organizations who were identified as missing from the process and doing one‐on‐one interviews with library organization leaders to continue to build on what was accomplished already through the 2017 survey and convening. The PLA Legislation and Advocacy Committee continues to strategize about engaging new partners. A new staff position hired in December 2017 (see below) will provide additional support to PLA efforts to engage federal agencies, associations and others.
5. PLA’s evolution creates a progressive organization
Reported previously: Development of the “PLA Learning Needs” theory of change; Support of the ALA development audit; Establishment of a cross‐legacy partner communication group to consider messaging to the field; Expansion of staff to include a communications manager
Recent activity: PLA continues to integrate the “PLA Learning Needs” theory of change into our work (see related board report). The development audit was completed and submitted to the ALA Board, which approved a substantial investment of funds in the Development Office to increase fundraising activity (see related board report). The cross‐legacy partner communications group met October 9‐12 in Seattle, WA for planning. The Gates Foundation will be hiring GMMB Consulting to plan regular meetings and joint learning experiences for the legacy partner communication leads. In December 2017, PLA hired a new legacy‐funded position of Project Manager to support a variety of existing and new PLA initiatives and eliminated the legacy‐funded position of Manager, Leadership Development Initiatives.
2
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.47a
TO: PLA Board of Directors RE: Fundraising/Development Update DATE: January 15, 2018
ACTION REQUESTED/INFORMATION/REPORT: Report REPORT SUBMITTED BY: Scott G. Allen, MS, Deputy Director DRAFT OF MOTION: N/A
PLA Development Strategy PLA continues to build on the strategy, presented to the board in May 2017, to strengthen multiple aspects of its development program, including both grantwriting and individual giving. Developing a sustainability plan was a major deliverable in the legacy funding, and in January 2018 PLA submitted our report and plan to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Included with this report for the board’s information are PLA’s Grant History and a draft 2018 Planning Document/Calendar.
PLA Individual Giving On October 2‐3, 2017, an ad hoc committee consisting of Clara Bohrer, Gina Millsap, Vailey Oehlke, Pam Sandlian Smith, and Deborah Jacobs met in Chicago to plan PLA’s individual giving efforts. In early 2018, PLA will begin its campaign by enlisting past presidents, current and past board members, and leadership training beneficiaries to donate, then expand to the membership‐at‐large beginning in the summer of 2018. All donations to PLA will be matched 3‐to‐1 using the 2017 general operating grant of $2.9 million.
Development Office Collaboration The results of the ALA Development Audit, which was partially funded by PLA, were presented to the ALA board and staff in October 2017. The ALA board approved implementing many recommendations, which will significantly increase capacity in the ALA Development Office, benefiting all ALA units. PLA’s contribution of staff time and about $20,000 has leveraged an ALA investment of nearly $800,000 for fundraising over the next few years. For the ALA 2017 annual fund campaign, PLA provided the $100,000 match to year‐end ALA donations and worked with the ALA Development Office to develop the strategy (matching gifts up to $1,000, up to $10,000 per unit, with a $100,000 overall cap). Results of the annual fund campaign, for PLA and ALA as a whole, will be available by mid‐February.
PLA 2018 Sponsorships PLA and Corcoran Expositions continue to seek corporate/vendor sponsors for PLA 2018. As of December 31, 2017, PLA had secured $55,000 in support from 6 companies. This exceeds 2016 sponsorships but is still well below other previous totals.
Major Grants In the September 2017 update, PLA reported on the Gates Foundation’s $2.9 million general operating grant, the $180,000 grant from the Greater Midwest Regional office of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, the Knight Foundation’s potential $245,000 grant for the short story dispenser project (since confirmed), and various letters of intent submitted to IMLS. Since then, PLA has completed and PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.47a submitted two proposals to IMLS – a $100,000 request to hold a national forum on opioids with OCLC/WebJunction, and a $318,000 request (with PLA contributing matching funds) for a second cohort of the Inclusive Internship Initiative. At the request of the ALA Development Office, PLA has also participated in discussions with Stanley Access Technologies, who are proposing a long term partnership with ALA to use crowdfunding strategies to raise funds for installing ADA‐compliant, accessible doors in thousands of public libraries. PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.47b – Appendix B, PLA Grant History
Name Funder Source Project Grant Year Time Period (FY) Code to PLA 7 8 9 1011121314151617181920212223242526 Turning the Page 1.0 Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Foundation 3193$ 8,739,310 FY07 Turning the Page 2.0 Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Foundation 3193$ 623,723 FY10 Target National Reading Initiative Target Corporate$ 15,000 FY11 EDGE Technology Benchmarks Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Foundation 3194$ 867,448 FY11 Librarians for the 21st Century Institute of Museum & Library Services Government 3182$ 45,145 FY12 Summer Reading App Institute of Museum & Library Services Government $ 50,000 FY12 Digital Literacy Clearinghouse Institute of Museum & Library Services Government 3188$ 291,179 FY13 Early Literacy Evaluation Institute of Museum & Library Services Government 3180$ 499,741 FY14 Leadership Implementation Institute of Museum & Library Services Government 3182$ 213,682 FY14 Performance Measurement Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Foundation 3190$ 2,956,530 FY15 General Operating Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Foundation 3199$ 203,000 FY15 Family Engagement David & Lucile Packard Foundation* Foundation$ 20,000 FY15 Legacy Grant Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Foundation 3175$ 10,805,701 FY16 DigitalLearn Improvements Verizon Corporate 116‐0508$ 243,653 FY16 Rural Gateways/STEM National Science Foundation* Government $ 10,000 FY16 DigitalLearn Subsite Development Various Chicago‐area foundations Foundation 3188$ 140,000 FY16 African Leadership Training Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Foundation 3176$ 1,000,000 FY17 Inclusive Internships Institute of Museum & Library Services Government 3184$ 592,756 FY17 Digital Literacy Pilot Cox Communications Corporate 3188$ 81,550 FY17 Healthy Communities University of Iowa/NLM GMR Office Government 3186$ 179,867 FY18 General Operating Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Foundation TBD$ 2,900,000 FY18 Short Edition Story Dispenser John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Foundation TBD$ 244,814 FY18 * anticipated National Forum on Opioids Institute of Museum & Library Services* Government $ 10,000 FY18 * anticipated
TOTAL $ 30,733,099 * original funding source; PLA received pass through funds as a subcontractor PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.47c
PLA Sustainability/Resource Development - 2018 Planning Document
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC
ALA National ALA Annual ALA Midwinter Library Conference & PLA 2018 Meeting Legislative Days PLA Board Conference Major PLA/ALA Events Feb 9-13, Denver May 7-8, 2018, June 21-26, New PLA Board March 20-24, Washington DC Orleans Philadelphia PLA Board PLA Board PLA Board
Board Update Board Call to Plan Launch/Pilot New Board/Leader Engagement Board Update Board Update Board Update May Meetings Prospect Board Orientation Meetings
Int'l Library Fundraising Conf, FY19 Staff Goal Staff Support Jun 3-8, Denver, Setting (PLA) CO (ALA, PLA)
Award Program Award Program Award Program
INFRASTRUCTURE Policy/Systems Changes Revision Revision Sponsor Proposed Approved Outreach
FY19 Budget for Finalize 2017 Prospect Development 2018 Annual Match Campaign Researcher (.5 ALA Development Office Support Office Campaign FTE) Hired Improvements Planning Mtgs All Staff Debrief (ALA/PLA) Finalized
Solicitations (PPs, Leadership) Leadership Past President Solicitations (PPs, Solicitations (PPs, Individual Giving - Leadership Orientation for Meeting Leadership) Leadership) Secure Board Annual Campaign Commitments
Giving Campaign Full Member 2018 Annual Online Giving Launch at PLA Outeach - See Individual Giving - Membership Campaign Page for PLA Member Below, Planning Mtgs Breakfast Communications
CAMPAIGNS DUE: Knight DUE: IMLS Cycle Grantwriting Foundation, IMLS 2 LOIs Opiods
Prospect Staff Outreach to Spring 2018 Staff Outreach to Fall 2018 Vendor Meetings Partnership Development Identification Agency/Assoc Agency/Assoc Agency/Assoc Agency/Assoc at PLA 2018 (L&A Committee) Prospects Meetings Prospects Meetings PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.47c
PLA Sustainability/Resource Development - 2018 Planning Document
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC
Leadership Leadership Leadership Giving Campaign Leadership Leadership Leadership Launch of ALA Speaking Tour Speaking Tour Speaking Tour Launch at Speaking Tour Speaking Tour Speaking Tour Membership Connect (Spring state (Spring state (Spring state Member (Fall state (Fall state (Fall state meetings) meetings) meetings) Breakfast meetings) meetings) meetings)
CE/PD 2018 Continuing Education/ Planning Professional Development (CE/PD) (Leadership, DPI, TOC, Others) PRODUCTDEVELOPMENT 2018 Planning PORT and DL Initiatives (ECRR, DL, FE, promotion at PLA PORT, Others) 2018
Member Giving Campaign PLA Member PLA Member PLA Member Email Breakfast Launch Email Giving Emails Giving Emails Giving Emails Promotion
PLA Member PLA Member Mailings Solicitation 1 Solicitation 2
Ad/Article: PLA Online: Match Article: Match Ad/Article: Ad/Article: PLA's Ad/Article: Online: Giving FY18 Annual
COMMUNICATIONS Public Libraries/PL Online Campaign Results, DO Individual Giving Work on Individual Giving Appeal Report/Donor Results Upgrades Campaign Launch Partnerships Campaign Appeal Recognition
Other
Key PLA = Public Library Association IMLS = Institute of Museum and Library Services ALA = American Library Association LOI = Letter of Intent L&A = Legislation and Advoacy Committee DL = DigitalLearn.org DO = Development Office ECRR = Every Child Ready to Read CE = Continuing Education FE = Family Engagement PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.48
PLA Statement Against the Ballot Measure and in Favor of the MLIS‐Preferred for Next ALA Executive Director
Source: http://www.ala.org/pla/about/people/election
A 2018 ALA ballot measure will ask PLA members to overturn a recent ALA Council action regarding the educational requirements for the ALA Executive Director position (see American Libraries article). The measure is the result of a member petition and would change the requirement for the ALA Executive Director from “MLIS preferred” (or CAEP/school librarian equivalent) back to “MLIS required.” Regardless of the outcome, the search timeline for a new ALA Executive Director will be set back by a minimum of six months (see timeline below) and possibly longer.
The PLA Board of Directors is unanimous in its support of including candidates without the MLIS degree in the ED search. The PLA Board supports the recommendations of the ALA Executive Board, the ALA Search Committee, ten of the eleven ALA divisions, and the ALA Council, that the MLIS is preferred but not required for ED candidates.
The PLA Board sees great value in casting the widest net possible to attract the highest quality candidates to lead positive change and to help resolve significant challenges facing ALA and libraries. ALA President Jim Neal explained the search committee and ALA EB felt that a preferred Master’s Degree requirement would enable ALA to recruit individuals with the MLIS as well as individuals who work in libraries, library organizations and associations who have strong experience but have other educational backgrounds. Additionally, ALSC stated: “Given the underrepresentation of people of color among MLIS holders (who are 88% white), we must assume that requiring an MLIS would also make people of color underrepresented in our candidate pool.” Finally, demographics collected by ALA in a self‐reported membership survey (with 74% of members reporting) reveal that 61.7% of members have an MLS degree and 38.3% do not. There has been a slight drop (2%) in the number of members with an MLS from 2014 to 2017.”
Stephanie Chase, PLA’s representative on the ALA Council, pointed out, “We are not asking the successful ED candidate to lead a library; we are asking them to lead a complex membership organization. It is important to note that the language was changed only to add the word "preferred"—the hope is still very much to have a successful candidate with an MLIS degree. Some of the best advocates in our own local work are people with a deep passion for and understanding of libraries, but who do not have the degree.”
Though ALA represents libraries, ALA is not a library. The ALA Executive Board, Council, and division boards are comprised of librarians who work in strong partnership with the Executive Director and other staff to ensure the highest commitment to our core values, to our members, and to libraries more generally, and to advocacy on behalf of libraries. PLA President Pam Sandlian Smith: “The position of ALA ED calls for an individual with the commitment, knowledge, and skills to move our complex association forward at a critical moment in time. Let’s seek out all the opportunities available to us to find that leader.”
Timeline of ALA Executive Director Search
Text of statement from ALA Division Presidents to ALA President Jim Neal in support of the MLIS‐ preferred requirement for the next ALA Executive Director PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.49
TO: PLA Board of Directors RE: Short Story Dispenser Project Update DATE: January 23, 2018
ACTION REQUESTED/INFORMATION/REPORT: Report ACTION REQUESTED BY: Larra Clark, Deputy Director and Brian Franklin, Program Manager DRAFT OF MOTION: N/A
BACKGROUND A new PLA project, Fostering Creative Community Connections with Public Libraries and the Short Story Dispenser project, will be funded through a $250,000 grant by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and managed by PLA staff, Brian Franklin and Larra Clark. With the Knight Foundation’s support, the PLA will work with the French company Short Edition to bring their Short Story Dispenser and content creation platform to public libraries in four of the 26 Knight Foundation communities. By using the dispensers in Knight communities, the aim is to: Increase public awareness and use of library programs and services; Create new interest in literacy and literature through innovative access to more than 80,000 short stories and a national contest to generate at least 200 original stories; and, Develop and strengthen community outreach and engagement through an innovative and engaging reading services.
THE MACHINE From the dispenser, users can print and read from among 80,000 one‐, three‐, or five‐ minute stories at the touch of a button, at no cost. Stories are generated randomly. Alternately, there is a machine variation that allows users to choose a story geared to youth readers or to a general audience. Administrators of the machines can select the genre of stories fed to any dispenser and can dynamically add marketing messages to each story delivered. A general overview about the dispensers created by Short‐Edition can be found here.
PROJECT DETAILS PLA is creating an application process and will promote the opportunity to libraries in the targeted communities. PLA will review the applicant pool and make final selections based on how the dispensers will be used to Image © 2016 Short Edition advance a library’s goals, program and services; a library’s plan for outreach and partnering with other community organizations to market and/or implement the
1 of 2
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.49
dispensers; and, a library’s ability to provide regular, ongoing feedback about using the dispensers and any impact the dispensers have on library activities and usage.
If selected to participate in the project, Short Edition will provide libraries the dispensers to permanently keep (f they choose), along with 24 rolls of paper per machine. The grant also covers the monthly digital subscription and 3G connectivity costs for two years. Each library would be responsible for the utility costs of operating the machine, in addition to purchasing additional rolls of paper if needed to support the ongoing activity on each machine. Short Edition would provide technical support to operate and maintain the machines.
PLA and Short Edition also will coordinate, promote, and manage a national short story contest. All stories will be available online via Short Edition’s content platform, and winners will be added to dispensers in participating Knight communities. If they are of good enough quality (as judged by Short Edition staff) they will be added to the full roster of 80,000 stories in every networked machine.
During this project, participating libraries will be responsible for: Leveraging the devices and writing contest by strengthening or developing new local programming and connecting with library and/or community partner programs and services; Participating in and promoting the writing contest broadly, with emphasis on emerging writers and those who may be under‐represented in collections (note if a library participates in the selection of the winners of the contest, the library will receive a $250 stipend); Capturing and sharing innovations and lessons learned through the pilot; and, Coordinating logistics with PLA and Short Edition for delivery and maintenance of the dispensers.
2 of 2
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.50
January 24, 2018
To: PLA Board of Directors
From: Lian Drago PLA Program Officer
Re: PLA Spring Board Meeting Update
Here is the preliminary schedule for the 2018 PLA Spring Board meeting in Washington D.C. As you know, we will meet in conjunction with the 2018 National Library Legislative Day.
PLA Spring Board Meeting Sunday, May 6 ‐ 12noon ‐ 5pm Location: ALA Washington Office (1615 New Hampshire Ave NW, 1st Floor, Washington D.C.)
PLA Board Dinner Sunday, May 6 ‐ 6pm Location: TBD
Meetings with National/Federal Partners Monday, May 7 and Tuesday, May 8 ‐ Times TBD Times TBD. Meetings will likely conclude by Tuesday morning so people can fly out Tuesday afternoon.
National Library Legislative Day Monday, May 7 8am ‐ 4pm ‐ Briefing Day ‐ Issue briefs and the keynote speaker. State delegation meetings and training opportunities. Time TBD ‐ Capitol Hill Reception
Capitol Hill Visits Tuesday, May 8 Visits are coordinated by state coordinators throughout the day.
The board meeting is the only mandatory activity, but you are strongly encouraged to also attend National Library Legislative Day and to work with PLA staff to set up individual meetings with national and federal partners. To register and for more information on NLLD, please go to http://www.ala.org/advocacy/advleg/nlld. There is a $75 fee to register for NLLD.
PLA covers your travel costs and two nights at a hotel for this meeting. The PLA Board will be staying at The George, located at 15 E St NW, Washington, D.C., on Capitol Hill. PLA will book your hotel reservations for you per the information given from the travel survey that you filled out, and will send you a confirmation of your hotel stay.
To book your flights, please call Gant travel agency at 877‐786‐0957 or e‐mail [email protected] to arrange your flight. The agency will have your name and will charge the flights to PLA. 1
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.50
If you need any help with making your travel reservations for the PLA Spring Board meeting, or have any questions regarding your hotel stay, please contact Lian Drago at [email protected] or 312‐280‐5021.
2
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.51
January 16, 2018
To: PLA Board of Directors
From: Barb Macikas
Re: PLA Staffing Update
PLA currently has 14.5 staff positions. Of these, 7.0 FTEs are supported by PLA general funds while the remaining 7.5 FTEs are grant‐funded (primarily the legacy grant). Overall, this is an increase of 1 FTE from FY17. Most recently, in December we hired a new program manager, Brian Franklin, for project management. Additionally, Nellie Barrett was hired in as a program coordinator for leadership and professional development in September. Both positions are grant funded. One grant‐funded position related to the leadership initiative was eliminated as it was determined the curriculum development component of our leadership work would best be accomplished working with consultants on an ad hoc basis.
As in the past, PLA also hires interns to support short term projects and Public Libraries Online. Additionally, the PLA conference manager position is and has been vacant for some years. Melissa Faubel Johnson, of KGJ LLC, manages our conferences.
Five of the 15 people on PLA’s staff hold the MLIS degree. The PLA staff directory which describes each staff person’s area of responsibility is here.
1
Public Library Association PLA Board of Directors FY2017‐2018 Financial Report Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.52 Balance Sheet as of November 30, 2017
FY17 (final) FY18
Admin/Core Programs/ Annual Annual Budget as of Variance as of Conference Budget Actual Variance Budget Nov 2017 Actual Nov 2017 Opening Fund Balance$ 3,464,583 $ 3,178,644
Revenue$ 1,120,270 $ 931,671 $ (188,599) $ 4,679,317 $ 305,969 $ 181,473 $ (124,496) Expenses$ (1,832,342) $ (1,189,561) $ 642,781 $ (3,552,923) $ (390,027) $ (325,561) $ 64,466 Overhead and Taxes$ (74,071) $ (28,049) $ 46,022 $ (876,595) $ (24,332) $ (5,005) $ 19,327 Transfer to Endowment $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ Fiscal Year Results$ (786,143) $ (285,939) $ 500,204 $ 249,799 $ (108,390) $ (149,093) $ (40,703)
Closing Fund Balance$ 3,178,644
Grants Actual Balance Grant Balance Breakdown Total Committed, 2013‐2026$ 20,413,221 Grant (Ending FY) Total Spent through FY17 Legacy (FY26)$ 9,664,562 Direct Expenses$ (5,479,730) African Leadership Training (FY20)$ 684,964 Overhead$ (585,899) $ 14,347,592 Gen Ops Supplemental (n/a)$ 2,900,000 Total Spent FY18 (to Nov 2017) Early Literacy (FY18) $ ‐ Direct Expenses$ (464,267) IMLS Leadership (FY17) $ ‐ Overhead$ (40,089) $ 13,843,236 IMLS Inclusive Internships (FY18)$ 107,838 NNLM/Iowa Healthy Comm (FY18)$ 100,889 Gates Perf Measure (FY19)$ 26,341 Gates EDGE (n/a)$ 33,661 Gates Gen Ops (n/a)$ 75,507 Knight Short Edition (FY19)$ 249,474 $ 13,843,236
Page 1 of 1 Public Library Association PLA Board of Directors FY2017‐2018 Financial Report Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.53 Year‐to‐Date Report ‐ ADMIN/CORE PROJECTS
Project FY17 (final) FY18 Budget FY18 (as of Nov 2017) Subproject Budget Actual Variance full year Budget Actual Variance 1. Administration (0000) Revenue $ ‐ $ 12,750 $ 12,750 $ ‐ $ ‐ $ 625 $ 625 Expenses$ (874,646) $ (612,958) $ 261,688 $ (819,361) $ (185,302) $ (167,092) $ 18,210 Net$ (874,646) $ (600,208) $ 274,438 $ (819,361) $ (185,302) $ (166,467) $ 18,835 2. Service to Members (3000) Revenue $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ Dues$ 502,420 $ 525,513 $ 23,093 $ 614,400 $ 150,840 $ 136,031 $ (14,809) Expenses$ (314,969) $ (89,146) $ 225,823 $ (188,250) $ (16,688) $ (21,943) $ (5,255) Net$ 187,451 $ 436,367 $ 248,916 $ 426,150 $ 134,152 $ 114,088 $ (20,064) 3. Regional CE, Bootcamp (3007) Registration$ 50,000 $ 38,080 $ (11,920) $ 25,000 $ 25,000 $ ‐ $ (25,000) Expenses$ (30,375) $ (24,586) $ 5,789 $ (19,550) $ (19,550) $ (6,583) $ 12,967 OH & Tax$ (13,200) $ (5,027) $ 8,173 $ (6,600) $ (6,600) $ ‐ $ 6,600 Net$ 6,425 $ 8,467 $ 2,042 $ (1,150) $ (1,150) $ (6,583) $ (5,433) 4. PLA Leadership (3011) Revenue $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ 25,000 $ 5,000 $ ‐ $ (5,000) Expenses $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ (26,980) $ (1,720) $ ‐ $ 1,720 OH & Tax $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ (3,300) $ (1,000) $ ‐ $ 1,000 Net $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ (5,280) $ 2,280 $ ‐ $ (2,280) 5. PLA Partners (3020) Revenue$ 54,500 $ 23,029 $ (31,471) $ 25,500 $ ‐ $ 3,116 $ 3,116 Expenses$ (8,810) $ (15,833) $ (7,023) $ (15,280) $ (1) $ (60) $ (59) Net$ 45,690 $ 7,196 $ (38,494) $ 10,220 $ (1) $ 3,056 $ 3,057 6. ALA Precons/MW Institute (3026) Revenue$ 40,000 $ 7,323 $ (32,677) $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ Expenses$ (28,390) $ (3,341) $ 25,049 $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ OH$ (10,560) $ (1,933) $ 8,627 $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ Net$ 1,050 $ 2,049 $ 999 $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐
Page 1 of 4 Public Library Association PLA Board of Directors FY2017‐2018 Financial Report Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.53 Project FY17 (final) FY18 Budget FY18 (as of Nov 2017) Subproject Budget Actual Variance full year Budget Actual Variance 7. Public Libraries (3030) Revenue$ 75,000 $ 45,609 $ (29,391) $ 75,000 $ 11,327 $ 5,834 $ (5,493) Expenses$ (136,768) $ (121,394) $ 15,374 $ (143,107) $ (25,992) $ (17,408) $ 8,584 OH$ (10,560) $ (5,035) $ 5,525 $ (9,900) $ (2,475) $ (1,261) $ 1,214 Tax$ (547) $ 547 $ 1,094 $ (547) $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ Net$ (72,875) $ (80,273) $ (7,398) $ (78,554) $ (17,140) $ (12,835) $ 4,305 8. Web Based CE (3040) Revenue$ 53,600 $ 18,713 $ (34,887) $ 28,600 $ 5,900 $ 732 $ (5,168) Expenses$ (23,065) $ (9,310) $ 13,755 $ (14,815) $ (3,704) $ (822) $ 2,882 OH & Taxes$ (7,260) $ (2,470) $ 4,790 $ (3,775) $ (944) $ (97) $ 847 Net$ 23,275 $ 6,933 $ (16,342) $ 10,010 $ 1,252 $ (187) $ (1,439) 9. Publications (3058) Revenue$ 32,750 $ 3,238 $ (29,512) $ 7,250 $ 1,813 $ 575 $ (1,238) Expenses$ (23,933) $ (5,110) $ 18,823 $ ‐ $ ‐ $ (68) $ (68) OH & Taxes$ (3,960) $ (157) $ 3,803 $ ‐ $ ‐ $ (74) $ (74) Net$ 4,857 $ (2,029) $ (6,886) $ 7,250 $ 1,813 $ 433 $ (1,380) 10. Family Engagement (3072) Revenue $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ 30,000 $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ Expenses $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ (30,000) $ (6,000) $ (3,820) $ 2,180 OH & Taxes $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ Net $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ (6,000) $ (3,820) $ 2,180 11. Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (3073) Revenue $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ Endowment Transfer $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ 57,792 $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ Expenses $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ (57,792) $ (4,446) $ ‐ $ 4,446 OH & Taxes $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ Net $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ (4,446) $ ‐ $ 4,446 12. Preschool Literacy (3120) Revenue$ 71,500 $ 25,653 $ (45,847) $ 63,500 $ 53,646 $ 4,823 $ (48,823) Expenses$ (40,658) $ (6,992) $ 33,666 $ (39,043) $ (1,660) $ (2,249) $ (589)
Page 2 of 4 Public Library Association PLA Board of Directors FY2017‐2018 Financial Report Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.53 Project FY17 (final) FY18 Budget FY18 (as of Nov 2017) Subproject Budget Actual Variance full year Budget Actual Variance OH & Taxes$ (9,438) $ (3,386) $ 6,052 $ (8,382) $ (7,016) $ (637) $ 6,379 Net$ 21,404 $ 15,275 $ (6,129) $ 16,075 $ 44,970 $ 1,937 $ (43,033) 13. PO Regional Training (3171) Revenue$ 89,000 $ 78,900 $ (10,100) $ 155,000 $ 38,750 $ 21,725 $ (17,025) Expenses$ (53,000) $ (24,018) $ 28,982 $ (141,500) $ (10,375) $ (19,580) $ (9,205) OH & Taxes$ (11,748) $ (10,415) $ 1,333 $ (9,900) $ (2,475) $ (2,868) $ (393) Net$ 24,252 $ 44,467 $ 20,215 $ 3,600 $ 25,900 $ (723) $ (26,623) 14. PLDS (3172) Revenue$ 1,500 $ 1,311 $ (189) $ 500 $ (1,307) $ 512 $ 1,819 Expenses$ (10,000) $ ‐ $ 10,000 $ (2,500) $ (750) $ ‐ $ 750 OH & Taxes$ (198) $ (173) $ 25 $ (66) $ (27) $ (68) $ (41) Net$ (8,698) $ 1,138 $ 9,836 $ (2,066) $ (2,084) $ 444 $ 2,528 15. Digital Learn (3188) Revenue$ 150,000 $ 151,552 $ 1,552 $ 75,000 $ 15,000 $ 7,500 $ (7,500) Expenses$ (126,340) $ (138,349) $ (12,009) $ (52,460) $ (9,062) $ (7,075) $ 1,987 OH & Taxes$ (6,600) $ ‐ $ 6,600 $ (3,300) $ (660) $ ‐ $ 660 Net$ 17,060 $ 13,203 $ (3,857) $ 19,240 $ 5,278 $ 425 $ (4,853) 16. National Conferences A. NC General Program (3061) See FY16, FY18 Conferences Worksheet Expenses $ ‐ $ (1,279) $ (1,279) OH & Taxes $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ Net $ ‐ $ (1,279) $ (1,279) B. NC Exhibits (3062) Revenues $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ Expenses $ ‐ $ (4,314) $ (4,314) OH & Taxes $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ Net $ ‐ $ (4,314) $ (4,314) C. NC Promotion (3063) Revenues $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ Expenses $ ‐ $ (1,103) $ (1,103)
Page 3 of 4 Public Library Association PLA Board of Directors FY2017‐2018 Financial Report Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.53 Project FY17 (final) FY18 Budget FY18 (as of Nov 2017) Subproject Budget Actual Variance full year Budget Actual Variance Net $ ‐ $ (1,103) $ (1,103) I. NC Promotion/Planning (3145) Revenues $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ Expenses$ (161,388) $ (131,828) $ 29,560 Net$ (161,388) $ (131,828) $ 29,560
FY17 (final) FY18 Budget FY18 (as of Nov 2017) TOTAL ADMIN/CORE PROJECTS Budget Actual Variance full year Budget Actual Variance Revenue $ 1,120,270 $ 931,671 $ (188,599) $ 1,124,750 $ 305,969 $ 181,473 $ (124,496) Expenses $ (1,832,342) $ (1,189,561) $ 642,781 $ (1,550,638) $ (285,250) $ (246,700) $ 38,550 OH & Taxes $ (74,071) $ (28,049) $ 46,022 $ (45,770) $ (21,197) $ (5,005) $ 16,192 Net$ (786,143) $ (285,939) $ 500,204 $ (471,658) $ (478) $ (70,232) $ (69,754)
Expenses off from Prophix Tallied Expenses Above $ (1,832,342) $ (1,189,561) PROPHIX EXPENSES$ (1,860,892) $ (1,315,451) difference$ 28,550 $ 125,890
Tallied OH Above$ (28,049) PROPHIX OH/TAXES$ (26,946) difference$ (1,103)
Page 4 of 4 Public Library Association PLA Board of Directors FY2017‐2018 Financial Report Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.54 Year‐to‐Date Report ‐ NATIONAL CONFERENCES (EVEN YEARS)
Project FY16 (final) FY18 Budget FY18 (as of Nov 2017) Subproject Budget Actual Variance full year Budget Actual Variance 14. National Conferences A. NC General Program (3061) Revenues$ 1,302,000 $ 1,520,072 $ 218,072 $ 1,520,072 $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ Expenses$ (334,708) $ (117,481) $ 217,227 $ (419,000) $ (19,072) $ (5,722) $ 13,350 OH & Taxes$ (337,218) $ (393,880) $ (56,662) $ (401,299) $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ Net$ 630,074 $ 1,008,711 $ 378,637 $ 699,773 $ (19,072) $ (5,722) $ 13,350 B. NC Exhibits (3062) Revenues$ 1,602,120 $ 1,586,495 $ (15,625) $ 1,699,495 $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ Expenses$ (490,411) $ (595,498) $ (105,087) $ (725,500) $ (57,975) $ (41,568) $ 16,407 OH & Taxes$ (378,689) $ (380,599) $ (1,910) $ (385,306) $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ Net$ 733,020 $ 610,398 $ (122,622) $ 588,689 $ (57,975) $ (41,568) $ 16,407 C. NC Promotion (3063) Revenues$ 86,000 $ 100,539 $ 14,539 $ 95,000 $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ Expenses$ (70,295) $ (95,307) $ (25,012) $ (88,700) $ (1,175) $ (1,298) $ (123) OH & Taxes$ (8,805) $ (6,371) $ 2,434 $ (12,540) $ (3,135) $ ‐ $ 3,135 Net$ 6,900 $ (1,139) $ (8,039) $ (6,240) $ (4,310) $ (1,298) $ 3,012 D. NC Registration (3064) Revenues $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ Expenses$ (4,600) $ (14,925) $ (10,325) $ (25,000) $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ OH & Taxes $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ Net$ (4,600) $ (14,925) $ (10,325) $ (25,000) $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ E. NC Opening/Closing Session (3065) Revenues $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ Expenses$ (180,000) $ (146,471) $ 33,529 $ (270,000) $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ Net$ (180,000) $ (146,471) $ 33,529 $ (270,000) $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ F. NC Programs (3066) Revenues $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ Expenses$ (85,500) $ (77,153) $ 8,347 $ (110,075) $ (125) $ ‐ $ 125 Net$ (85,500) $ (77,153) $ 8,347 $ (110,075) $ (125) $ ‐ $ 125
Page 1 of 2 Public Library Association PLA Board of Directors FY2017‐2018 Financial Report Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.54 Project FY16 (final) FY18 Budget FY18 (as of Nov 2017) Subproject Budget Actual Variance full year Budget Actual Variance G. NC Meal Events (3069) Revenues$ 90,000 $ 114,675 $ 24,675 $ 100,000 $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ Expenses$ (84,000) $ (126,401) $ (42,401) $ (117,500) $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ OH $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ Net$ 6,000 $ (11,726) $ (17,726) $ (17,500) $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ H. NC Preconference (3070) Revenues$ 90,000 $ 137,299 $ 47,299 $ 100,000 $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ Expenses$ (51,400) $ (45,939) $ 5,461 $ (64,700) $ (100) $ ‐ $ 100 OH & Taxes$ (23,310) $ (34,485) $ (11,175) $ (26,400) $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ Net$ 15,290 $ 56,875 $ 41,585 $ 8,900 $ (100) $ ‐ $ 100 I. NC Future Planning (3145) Revenues $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ Expenses$ (50,000) $ (42,557) $ 7,443 $ (156,810) $ (26,330) $ (30,273) $ (3,943) Net$ (50,000) $ (42,557) $ 7,443 $ (156,810) $ (26,330) $ (30,273) $ (3,943) J. PLA Virtual Conference (3173) Revenue$ 52,000 $ 40,125 $ (11,875) $ 40,000 $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ Expenses$ (33,000) $ (24,369) $ 8,631 $ (25,000) $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ OH & Taxes$ (6,734) $ (5,196) $ 1,538 $ (5,280) $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ Net$ 12,266 $ 10,560 $ (1,706) $ 9,720 $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐
FY16 (final) FY18 Budget FY18 (as of Nov 2017) TOTAL NATIONAL CONFERENCES Budget Actual Variance full year Budget Actual Variance Revenue $ 3,222,120 $ 3,499,205 $ 277,085 $ 3,554,567 $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ Expenses $ (1,383,914) $ (1,286,101) $ 97,813 $ (2,002,285) $ (104,777) $ (78,861) $ 25,916 OH & Taxes $ (754,756) $ (820,531) $ (65,775) $ (830,825) $ (3,135) $ ‐ $ 3,135 Net$ 1,083,450 $ 1,392,573 $ 309,123 $ 721,457 $ (107,912) $ (78,861) $ 29,051
Page 2 of 2 Public Library Association PLA Board of Directors FY2017‐2018 Financial Report Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.55 Year‐to‐Date Report ‐ GRANTS (Budgeted to Zero Out)
Project TOTAL GRANT TOTAL SPENT BALANCE FY18 Budget FY18 (as of Nov 2017) BALANCES Subproject through FY17 Close of FY17 full year Budget Actual Variance Post Nov 2017 Gates Legacy Grant (3175) Jun 2016 to May 2026 (FY16‐FY26) Revenue$ 10,805,701 $ 958,375 $ 9,847,326 $ 1,197,772 $ 295,483 $ 182,764 $ (112,720) $ 9,664,562 Expenses$ (9,647,947) $ (855,692) $ (8,792,255) $ (1,068,754) $ (263,657) $ (163,340) $ 100,318 $ (8,628,915) OH & Taxes$ (1,157,754) $ (102,683) $ (1,055,071) $ (129,018) $ (31,826) $ (19,424) $ 12,402 $ (1,035,647) Net $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ Gates African Leadership Training (3176) Oct 2016 to Oct 2019 (FY17‐FY20) Revenue$ 1,000,000 $ 315,036 $ 684,964 $ 322,337 $ 13,466 $ ‐ $ (13,466) $ 684,964 Expenses$ (892,857) $ (281,282) $ (611,575) $ (287,786) $ (12,020) $ ‐ $ 12,020 $ (611,575) OH & Taxes$ (107,143) $ (33,754) $ (73,389) $ (34,551) $ (1,446) $ ‐ $ 1,446 $ (73,389) Net $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ Gates Gen Ops Supplement (3177) Sep 2017 through no end date Revenue$ 2,900,000 $ 2,900,000 $ 474,000 $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ 2,900,000 Expenses$ (2,552,000) $ (2,552,000) $ (300,000) $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ (2,552,000) OH & Taxes$ (348,000) $ (348,000) $ (174,000) $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ (348,000) Net $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ IMLS‐PLA‐ALSC Early Literacy (3180) Oct 2013‐Oct 2017 (FY14‐FY18) Revenue$ 499,741 $ 469,040 $ 30,701 $ ‐ $ ‐ $ 30,701 $ 30,701 $ ‐ Expenses$ (490,058) $ (464,398) $ (25,660) $ ‐ $ ‐ $ (30,701) $ (30,701) $ 5,041 OH & Taxes$ (9,683) $ (4,642) $ (5,041) $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ (5,041) Net $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ IMLS Grant Leadership (3182) Jun 2014‐May 2017 (FY14‐FY17) Revenue$ 213,682 $ 213,682 $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ Expenses$ (179,946) $ (180,216) $ 270 $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ 270 OH & Taxes$ (33,736) $ (33,466) $ (270) $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ (270) Net $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ IMLS Inclusive Internships (3184) Mar 2017 ‐ Dec 2017 (FY17‐FY18) Revenue$ 592,756 $ 411,410 $ 181,346 $ 80,890 $ 61,185 $ 73,508 $ 12,323 $ 107,838 Expenses$ (576,480) $ (400,559) $ (175,921) $ (78,200) $ (59,150) $ (73,469) $ (14,319) $ (102,452) OH & Taxes$ (16,276) $ (10,851) $ (5,425) $ (2,690) $ (2,035) $ (39) $ 1,996 $ (5,386) Net $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ NNLM/UofIowa ‐ Healthy Communities (3186) Sep 2017‐Apr 2018 (FY18) Revenue$ 124,889 $ ‐ $ 124,889 $ 124,889 $ 33,735 $ 24,000 $ (9,735) $ 100,889
Page 1 of 3 Public Library Association PLA Board of Directors FY2017‐2018 Financial Report Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.55 Project TOTAL GRANT TOTAL SPENT BALANCE FY18 Budget FY18 (as of Nov 2017) BALANCES Subproject through FY17 Close of FY17 full year Budget Actual Variance Post Nov 2017 Expenses$ (91,770) $ ‐ $ (91,770) $ (91,770) $ (23,940) $ (24,000) $ (60) $ (67,770) OH & Taxes$ (33,119) $ ‐ $ (33,119) $ (33,119) $ (9,795) $ ‐ $ 9,795 $ (33,119) Net $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ Gates Performance Measurement (3190) Jan 2015 ‐ Dec 2018 (FY15‐FY19) * NOTE: FY18 budget for Perf Measurement (3190) is inflated due to limitations of ALA budgeting system Revenue$ 2,956,530 $ 2,736,806 $ 219,724 $ 562,902 *$ 324,263 $ 193,383 $ (130,880) $ 26,341 Expenses$ (2,639,759) $ (2,443,577) $ (196,182) $ (502,358) $ (289,464) $ (172,757) $ 116,707 $ (23,425) OH & Taxes$ (316,771) $ (293,229) $ (23,542) $ (60,544) $ (34,799) $ (20,626) $ 14,173 $ (2,916) Net $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ Gates EDGE Technology Benchmarks (3194) Feb 2011 until funds are spent Revenue$ 867,448 $ 833,787 $ 33,661 $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ 33,661 Expenses$ (770,282) $ (740,420) $ (29,862) $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ (29,862) OH & Taxes$ (97,166) $ (93,367) $ (3,799) $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ (3,799) Net $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐
Page 2 of 3 Public Library Association PLA Board of Directors FY2017‐2018 Financial Report Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.55 Project TOTAL GRANT TOTAL SPENT BALANCE FY18 Budget FY18 (as of Nov 2017) BALANCES Subproject through FY17 Close of FY17 full year Budget Actual Variance Post Nov 2017 Gates Gen Ops (3199) April 2015 until funds are spent Revenue$ 203,000 $ 127,493 $ 75,507 $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ 75,507 Expenses$ (181,247) $ (113,586) $ (67,661) $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ (67,661) OH & Taxes$ (21,753) $ (13,907) $ (7,846) $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ (7,846) Net $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ Knight Short Edition (PROJECT # TBD) Jan 2018‐Dec 2018 (FY18‐FY19) Revenue$ 249,474 $ ‐ $ 249,474 $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ 249,474 Expenses$ (249,474) $ ‐ $ (249,474) $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ (249,474) OH & Taxes $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ Net $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐
TOTAL GRANT TOTAL SPENT BALANCE FY18 Budget FY18 (as of Nov 2017) TOTAL GRANTS through FY17 Close of FY17 full year Budget Actual Variance Revenue $ 20,413,221 $ 6,065,629 $ 14,347,592 $ 2,762,790 $ 728,132 $ 504,356 $ (223,777) $ 13,843,236 Expenses $ (18,271,820) $ (5,479,730) $ (12,792,090) $ (2,328,868) $ (648,231) $ (464,267) $ 183,965 $ (12,327,823) OH & Taxes $ (2,141,401) $ (585,899) $ (1,555,502) $ (433,922) $ (79,901) $ (40,089) $ 39,812 $ (1,515,413) Net $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐
COST SHARES
Cost Share IMLS Inclusive Internships (3185) Mar 2017 ‐ Dec 2017 (FY17‐FY18) Revenue $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ $ ‐ Expenses$ (159,753) $ (24,795) $ (134,958) $ (128,880) $ (75,126) $ (113,165) $ ‐ $ (21,793) OH & Taxes$ (10,015) $ ‐ $ (10,015) $ ‐ $ (5,860) $ ‐ $ ‐ $ (10,015) Net$ (169,768) $ (24,795) $ (144,973) $ (128,880) $ (80,986) $ (113,165) $ ‐ $ (31,808)
Page 3 of 3 PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.56
Questions for ALA Leadership at 2018 Midwinter
1. What are ALA’s planned strategies for addressing budget short falls in ALA general fund?
a. Sale of HQ building‐what is rationale and what are short‐ and long‐term plans for investing in funds that may be generated by the sale? b. Given a steady decline in Midwinter attendance and revenue, should Midwinter be phased out? What have the membership and exhibitors told ALA about support for Midwinter? c. ALA provides an interest payout on endowment funds of 3‐5%. Could ALA look at raising that to 4‐6%? In general, how often is the endowment policy reviewed? d. ALA’s Technology Investment plan and next steps‐what are they? e. What are the overhead projections? Overhead has continued to climb over the past several years. Increases are a disincentive to innovation and new program development. Is it time to revise the overhead model as ALA develops new products that will result in revenue streams long term? f. Looking at financials, association and library trend data, what opportunities does ALA see and what are the challenges? How is ALA communicating these to members and division staff?
2. Role of divisions in supporting ALA.
a. ALA has begun relying more heavily on divisions to “co‐fund” programs/services. For example, divisions supported the ALA development office audit and Jim Neal’s policy corps initiative. A funding request for a new ALA data dashboard is on the horizon. How will these co‐funding requests be handled going forward? Will requests be across the board for all divisions? What will the formula be and what will approval process be? b. ALA is convening a product development group to generate new revenue ideas. How might divisions contribute? How will the work of the group be shared? c. How can divisions contribute to the discussion related to the future of Midwinter, alternatives to Midwinter and learn about the working group that has been put into place? Has there even been financial modeling done to test how Midwinter overhead might be recovered through other sources?
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.57
2017‐2018 CD#32_act Resolution on Adjusting Personal Member Dues
Whereas in the 2013 election, ALA members voted that upon the annual review and approval of the ALA Executive Board, personal member dues may be adjusted not to exceed the percentage change in the national average Consumer Price Index (CPI) for a five‐year period;
Whereas the approved five‐year period of tying ALA dues amounts to the Consumer Price Index ends on August 31, 2018;
Whereas using the Consumer Price Index to adjust dues between 2013 and 2017 has resulted in annual increases between $0 and $3;
Whereas ALA offers ten membership categories with reduced dues providing members with options to meet their needs;
Whereas based on member feedback, the small annual dues adjustments have had no measurable effect on membership over time;
Whereas the ALA Membership Committee agrees that future dues adjustments are necessary to support progress towards achieving ALA’s four Strategic Directions: Advocacy, Information Policy, Professional and Leadership Development, and Equity, Diversity and Inclusion;
Whereas an adjustment to personal member dues in 2018 would result in additional funds to support ALA’s Strategic Directions;
Whereas use of the Consumer Price Index to adjust dues between 2019 and 2022 would provide continuing support for ALA’s Strategic Directions;
Whereas the dues proposal has been reviewed and approved by the ALA Membership Committee (9/1/17), the Budget Analysis and Review Committee, BARC (10/26/17) and the ALA Executive Board (10/28/17); and
Whereas adjustments to personal member dues require approval by ALA Council and personal members, but do not require a change to the ALA bylaws (Article I, Section 2); now, therefore, be it
Resolved, that the American Library Association, on behalf of its members, approves the personal member dues adjustment strategy and places the following two items on the 2018 ALA ballot:
1
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.57
1. Proposed Dues Adjustment for 2018
Beginning in September 2018, personal member dues shall be adjusted as follows:
Member Type Current Sept. 2018 Dues Dues 1st year $69 $72 2nd year 106 110 3rd year+ 140 145 Student 37 38 Earning <$30,000 50 52 Support Staff 50 52 Retired 50 52 Associate 63 66 Trustee 63 66 Friend 63 66 International 84 87
2. Proposed Dues Schedule for 2019 ‐2022
Beginning in September 2019 and continuing annually through September 2022, personal member dues will be reviewed by the ALA Executive Board, which may approve a dues adjustment not to exceed the percentage change in the national average Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the previous calendar year, rounded to the nearest dollar. Any increase beyond the above provision proposed by the Executive Board will require approval by a vote of Council and a vote of ALA personal members.
Mover: Janet T. O’Keefe, Acting Chair, ALA Membership Committee, 810‐275‐7507 January 22, 2018
Attachment: Q&A on ALA Personal Member Dues Adjustment Proposal
2
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.57
Q&A: ALA Personal Member Dues Adjustment Proposal January 22, 2018
1. What is the personal member dues adjustment proposal? The proposal consists of two parts: a. Proposed Dues Adjustment for 2018. Beginning in September 2018, personal member dues shall be adjusted as follows:
Member Type Current Sept. 2018 Dues Dues 1st year $69 $72 2nd year 106 110 3rd year+ 140 145 ALA Student 37 38 Earning <$30,000 50 52 Support Staff 50 52 Retired 50 52 Associate 63 66 Trustee 63 66 Friend 63 66 International 84 87
b. Proposed Future Dues Schedule for 2019‐2022: Beginning in September 2019 and continuing annually through September 2022, personal member dues will be reviewed by the ALA Executive Board, which may approve a dues adjustment not to exceed the percentage change in the national average Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the previous calendar year, rounded to the nearest dollar. Any increase beyond the above provision proposed by the Executive Board will require approval by a vote of Council and a vote of ALA personal members.
2. When was the last adjustment made to personal member dues and why is this proposal being presented now? In the 2013 election, ALA members voted to establish a five‐year personal dues adjustment mechanism not to exceed the percentage change in the national average Consumer Price Index (CPI) beginning in September 2013 and continuing annually through September 2017. During this period, the ALA Executive Board annually reviewed the change in the CPI and approved adjustments to ALA dues levels. (See chart in the Addendum for dues rates from 2013 through 2017.) On August 31, 2018, the approved five‐year period of tying ALA dues amounts to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) ends.
3
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.57
The ALA Membership Committee is charged to assess needs and make recommendations concerning membership dues. The ALA Membership Committee is now recommending an adjustment to dues in September 2018 (see chart in question 1), followed by using the CPI to adjust dues from 2019 to 2022. The adjustment in September 2018 will provide an additional $85,000 to support the Strategic Directions.
Since the 2013 ALA election and the implementation of using the CPI to adjust dues amounts, ALA has aggressively implemented the goals of ALA’s Strategic Directions, developed with input from thousands of ALA members. ALA’s Strategic Directions call for an increasingly active and proactive association, and though great progress has been made, ALA has reached its financial limit. A dues adjustment is necessary to continue the work that has begun.
Like our member libraries, ALA works continuously on reducing its expenses and improving efficiency. ALA will continue to seek cost savings and generate as much non‐ dues revenue as possible, but the small proposed dues adjustment is also needed to meet our goals.
3. How will using the Consumer Price Index affect my dues? If the Consumer Price Index goes up, your dues could go up by that percentage if the ALA Executive Board approves the change. If there is no change or a decrease in the CPI, your dues will stay the same. Basing dues rates on an index allows for small, incremental increases as opposed to larger increases that are necessary if the adjustments are made only every 5‐10 years. With an average CPI increase of 2% a year, this would translate into $1‐$3 based on your membership type. These small increases spread over thousands of members will provide ALA with consistent financial resources to help advance the goals in the ALA Strategic Directions.
4. If this proposal is approved, the new rate in September 2018 for third‐year+ members would be $145. How does this rate compare to dues for other national associations?
Here are the current dues amounts for other national associations: American Association of Law Libraries: $242 American Society of Information Science and Technology: $140 ISTE: International Society for Technology in Education: $125 (basic); $305 (premium) Medical Library Association: $195 National Council of Teachers of English: $50 Special Libraries Association: $200
5. If the dues are adjusted, what added value will my ALA membership offer? This dues adjustment would allow ALA to augment valuable work on the goals in the ALA Strategic Directions, including:
4
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.57
Advocacy: Supporting the efforts of advocates in increasing funding for libraries of all types by expanding on‐line training opportunities and other resources. Promoting the value of libraries by expanding resources in the Libraries Transform Campaign. Maintaining effective advocacy at the federal level for legislation that preserves and promotes fundamental library values by lobbying Congress, partnering and working with others and engaging in grassroots advocacy on behalf of the public and all types of libraries. Information Policy and Intellectual Freedom: Continuing to advocate in diverse policy areas including intellectual freedom, privacy, civil liberties, telecommunications, funding for education and research programs, copyright and licensing, open access, government information, and literacy. Professional and Leadership Development: Providing professional development and leadership opportunities by expanding in‐person and on‐line training programs. Equity, Diversity and Inclusion: Supporting equity, diversity and inclusion is a fundamental value of the association, its members and library workers. This includes developing resources and providing training on recruitment and retention, personal and professional leadership, organizational change, team and capacity building, and service strategies for diverse user populations.
6. Can we raise the funds we need through other sources? Dues are the most reliable source of income for any association, but dues make up only about 20 percent of ALA’s operating income. For every dollar paid by members, ALA generated another four dollars through conferences, publishing, workshops and grants. The ALA Strategic Directions call for the association to develop and sustain the resources required to ensure the vitality of the association, its programs and services. The dues adjustment is only one part of the overall strategy needed to meet our goals and the challenges ahead. ALA continues to pursue new sources of revenue and is working on a new strategic development program.
7. I understand that the costs of most things go up over time. How is ALA helping me make my membership affordable? ALA offers numerous helpful options for many types of members, including: Reduced rates for individuals whose income is $30,000 or less. This dues category helps those in career transition and those just beginning their careers. Discounted rates for students for up to five years to accommodate graduation schedules. Discounted joint ALA‐Chapter membership programs for students. First‐ and second‐year ALA membership discounts for new professionals. Discounted rates for library support staff members, retired members, international members, and trustees and friends.
5
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.57
Installment plan to pay dues in two equal installments. ALA is also looking at ways to expand the payment plan and is assessing members’ interest in auto‐payments of dues via credit card. Life Membership, offering personal members the opportunity to join now as a Life Member and save money in the process. These dues range from $1,400 to $2,000 depending on the member’s current age.
8. Who needs to approve this dues proposal? ALA members must approve the dues proposal via the ALA ballot. To appear on the ballot, it must be approved by the following member groups: the ALA Membership Committee, the Budget Analysis and Review Committee (BARC), the ALA Executive Board, and ALA Council. The Membership Committee approved the proposal on August 1, 2017, BARC approved it on October 26, 2017 and the ALA Executive Board approved it on October 28, 2017. The proposal will be reviewed by Council during the 2018 Midwinter Meeting. If approved by Council, ALA members will vote on the dues proposal on the ALA ballot in spring 2018. If approved by the ALA membership, it will take effect on September 1, 2018.
9. More questions? Your questions/comments are welcome. Please send them to Ron Jankowski, Membership Director, [email protected].
Addendum
Personal Dues Schedule September 2013‐2017
Member Type 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 1st year $ 66 $ 67 $ 68 $ 68 $ 69 2nd year $100 $102 $104 $104 $106 3rd year+ $133 $135 $137 $137 $140
ALA Student $ 34 $ 35 $ 36 $ 36 $ 37
Earning < $30,000 $ 47 $ 48 $ 49 $ 49 $ 50 Support Staff $ 47 $ 48 $ 49 $ 49 $ 50 Retired $ 47 $ 48 $ 49 $ 49 $ 50 Trustee $ 60 $ 61 $ 62 $ 62 $ 63 Friends $ 60 $ 61 $ 62 $ 62 $ 63 Associate $ 60 $ 61 $ 62 $ 62 $ 63 International $ 80 $ 81 $ 82 $ 82 $ 84
6
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.58
In: ALA Members ALA Organizational Effectiveness Discussion - 2018 - Posted on behalf of the ALA Executive Board (New Discussion) Heading: General News & Discussion By: Mary Ghikas
Dear Members,
On behalf of the ALA Executive Board, I’d like to bring your attention to a document for our Council II discussion in Denver. As we hope you’re aware, President Neal recently challenged us to consider ALA’s organizational effectiveness and governance structure with the goal of revitalizing the association.
The attached 2-page document lays out the guiding principles and reasoning behind having such a discussion at this juncture. Several more pages of appendices provide additional lists, links, and information that not only reflect the complexity of our beloved 140+ year old institution, but also provide useful information for our discussion.
This conversation should take place as broadly as possible among the membership. As such, this ALA Connect page has been set up to capture a broad array of feedback. Moreover, information regarding this exercise is being shared with the Committee on Organization, Constitution & Bylaws, Chapter affiliates, and Ethnic Affiliates. ALA staff will also distribute details to all Divisions, Round Tables, Committees, and the Diversity Council.
Anyone attending the Council II session (Monday, February 12, 2018, 10:00am-12:00pm) will be welcome to participate in this conversation and exercise.
Finally, the Executive Board would like to extend its thanks to the LLAMA Division for its recent work on reorganization. Their work formed the basis for the Executive Board’s initial conversations and their outputs are evident in the attached document.
Please start thinking about what you would do to make ALA the ideal organization and what we all can do to get there.
We’re looking forward to the conversation in Denver!
Attachments: - ALA - Organizational Effectiveness Discussion - MW18 final.pdf
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.58a
ALA Executive Board Talking Points – ALA Midwinter Meeting – 2018
(1) Organizational Effectiveness: The ALA Executive Board has initiated a discussion with members in response to ALA President Jim Neal’s call “to consider ALA’s organizational effectiveness and governance structure with the goal of revitalizing the association.” The ALA Council will take up this discussion at Council II (Monday, 10:00‐noon, CCC Four Seasons BR 3‐4); all individuals present at the Council meeting may participate in this discussion. This topic is also on the agenda at the Planning & Budget Assembly, a representative body including representatives from ALA Council, ALA Committees, ALA Divisions and ALA Round Tables (Sunday, 1:00‐2:30pm, CCC Room 201). Individuals may also comment in the ALA Members group in ALA Connect: http://connect.ala.org/node/272617 This is an important discussion and the Board is urging broad participation.
(2) Reinvesting in ALA: Over the past several months, ALA Management and the ALA Executive Board have engaged in a series of discussions about the need to reinvest in ALA’s core structures and the revenue streams that support ALA’s mission and services. This discussion has included examination of ALA financial trends; review of investment plans in areas including information technology, development and advocacy; and, a review of ways in which the Board and Management might leverage the Association’s strong financial position (balance sheet) to invest in the Association’s future. These discussions will continue at this Midwinter Meeting. http://www.ala.org/aboutala/ebd‐ inventory‐2017‐2018
The ALA Conference Committee is working with ALA Conference Services and an external consultant to recommend major changes to the ALA Midwinter Meeting. The ALA Conference Committee meets on Saturday, 10:00‐noon, CCC Mile High BR 2&3. A report for ALA Information Technology & Telecommunication group and the ALA Information Technology Advisory Committee (ITAC) will be discussed at the ALA Executive Board meeting on Monday, 2:00‐4:30pm (item scheduled 3:00‐3:30pm), HYATT Granite Room. ALA’s financial position and planning will be discussed at the Planning and Budget Assembly, Sunday, 1:00‐2:30pm, CCC Room 201. Preliminary planning for the FY2019 budget include significant investment in technology to improve services to members and support for ALA’s mission. In addition to increased support for core functions such as the eStore, this includes a data dashboard to allow staff to more easily generate reports and prepare tailored messages, as well as a CRM system to support expanded advocacy. Led by Rod Hersberger (Chair, ALA Endowment Trustees) and Jim Neal (ALA President), ALA is forming a business development committee, including both key
1
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.58a
staff and members, to explore new opportunities. The group will be interested in hearing from members about the challenges they face and how the Association might address them. Management anticipates bringing to the ALA Executive Board (June ‐October 2018) recommendations related to the “highest and best use” of ALA’s Chicago real estate holdings. In addition to technical and financial review, the recommendations will also be based on discussion with ALA staff aimed at understanding how changes to physical space might enhance productivity and collaboration, as well as well‐being. Information has been shared with leadership groups, which are urged to participate in the discussions at Midwinter. Requests for Proposals have been released for studies related to ALA communications and ALA membership. EBD #12.22 Communications and Membership Studies
(3) WO, ALA President launch ALA Policy Corps: The twelve members of the inaugural class of the recently launched ALA Policy Corps were announced on January 4. The ALA Policy Corps aims to expand our ability to advocate on key policy issues on behalf of the library community. Participants in the Corps focus on issues for which deep and sustained knowledge are necessary to advance ALA policy goals and library values among policymakers. Members of the ALA Policy Corps will meet at ALA MidWinter Meeting in Denver, then in Washington, D.C. in early March and again in May in conjunction with National Library Legislative Day.
(4) Federal funding for libraries encouraging, but unresolved: By October 2017, both chambers of Congress rejected the administration’s FY2018 budget proposal to eliminate the Institute for Museum and Library Services. House and Senate Appropriations Committees provided level funding for most programs (the Senate provided a $4 million increase for the LSTA Grants to States program). Unable to pass a final FY 2018 budget, Congress enacted a series of continuing resolutions (CR) to keep the government open past the October 1 start of the fiscal year. The current CR expires February 8, when Congress will need to hammer out a final budget agreement or pass another CR to avoid another federal government shutdown. Until then, federal agencies continue to operate under FY 2017 funding levels.
Meanwhile, the White House plans to release its FY2019 budget proposal sometime in February. While we do not have confirmation yet, we are anticipating that the majority of federal library funding will be eliminated. The Washington Office has also been preparing for this likelihood and has a plan to help us raise awareness about this situation among our membership, the public, and on Capitol Hill.
2
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.58a
Once the budget is officially released, an Action Alert will go live on the ALA Action Center, along with a detailed blog post on District Dispatch. You can expect to see social media messages, emails, and press surrounding the campaign. Attend the update session on Monday, February 12 at 10:30 am hosted by the Washington Office to learn more. The meeting will be held in the convention center, room 501/502.
(5) The Advocacy Corps: Over the past months, in an ongoing series of discussions. ALA has been discussing approaches to strengthening advocacy. The ALA Washington Office plan notes that “Externally, we need to refocus on advocacy as a year‐round commitment to relationship‐building… Libraries are present in every congressional district and school district as well as on college and university campuses across the country. Combined with the presence of state library associations, we have the makings of a robust national advocacy infrastructure.” Working with state associations, ALA Divisions and ALA Offices ‐‐ particularly ODLOS, OLA and CRO – ALA aims to have a lead advocate in every congressional district within three years. Such a network will benefit advocacy at all levels and will increase support for libraries. Many pieces of this network are already in place, at both national and local levels. There are also significant training programs (such as the Advocacy Bootcamp, sponsored by OLA and OIF), as well as the continuing stream of background documents from OITP, OIF and other groups..
(6) ALA Executive Director Search: The search for a new ALA Executive Director is on the ALA Executive Board’s agenda beginning with the Fall 2018 meeting. The Board will examine the position statement and qualifications, as well as the composition of the search committee. The intent is to have a new ALA Executive Director to introduce to members at the 2020 Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia.
(7) Dues Proposal: The ALA Membership Committee will bring a resolution to ALA Council I on February 11 requesting that Council approves placing on the 2018 ballot two items that would adjust personal member dues. Item 1 would increase dues in 2018 from $1 to $5, depending on membership type. Item 2 would use the changes in the CPI (Consumer Price Index) to adjust dues for 2019‐2022. The full resolution and a Q&A document is available on the Council website.
(8) 2018 ALA Midwinter Meeting Registration: Final pre‐registration for the 2018 ALA Midwinter Meeting in Denver is at 7054, compared to 7831 at the same point for the 2017 ALA Midwinter Meeting in Atlanta. This includes 3473 full registrants, compared to 3896 full registrants, plus 731 exhibits only registrants compared 814 exhibits‐only registrants, as well as staff and exhibitor personnel.
3
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.58a
(9) December 2018 – December 2017 ALA Membership Statistics:
ALA Membership
December 2017 December 2016 Total 57,221 56,445 Including: Personal 51,940 50,677 Organizational 5,119 5,596 Corporate 162 172
December 2017 December 2016
Division Memberships American Association of School Librarians (AASL) 6,583 6,241 Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) 10,384 10,643 Association for Library Collections & Technical Services (ALCTS) 3,287 3,365 Association for Library Services to Children (ALSC) 4,254 4,176 Association for Specialized & Cooperative Library Agencies (ASCLA) 767 798 Library & Information Technology Association (LITA) 2,426 2,542 Library Leadership & Management Association (LLAMA) 3,623 3,601 Public Library Association (PLA) 8,689 8,629 Reference & User Services Association (RUSA) 3,040 3,208 United for Libraries (United) 4,066 4,363 Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) 4,768 4,887
Round Table Memberships Ethnic & Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table (EMIERT) 829 680 Exhibits Round Table (ERT) 454 485 Federal & Armed Forces Libraries Round Table (FAFLRT) 416 314 Games and Gaming Round Table (GameRT) 694 534 Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Round Table (GLBTRT) 1,320 1,152 Government Documents Round Table (GODORT) 578 611 Intellectual Freedom Round Table (IFRT) 1,255 1,106 International Relations Round Table (IRRT) 1,634 1,590
4
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.58a
Learning Round Table (LearnRT) 358 290 Library History Round Table (LHRT) 395 332 Library Instruction Round Table (LIRT) 1,726 1,507 Library Research Round Table (LRRT) 1,298 1,138 Library Support Staff Interests Round Table (LSSIRT) 412 326 Map and Geospatial Information Round Table (MAGIRT) 291 292 New Members Round Table (NMRT) 1,363 1,045 Retired Members Round Table (RMRT) 272 220 Social Responsibilities Round Table (SRRT) 1,594 1,108 Staff Organizations Round Table (S[T]ORT) 153 134 Sustainability Round Table (SustainRT) 537 250 Video Round Table (VRT) 518 369
(10) ALA Executive Director: On January 25, ALA President Jim Neal shared the following information: “I am pleased to inform you that the ALA Executive Board has appointed Mary Ghikas as executive director through January 2020, effective immediately. Mary has been serving as interim executive director since August 1, 2017, after the retirement of Keith Michael Fiels. She has been with ALA since 1995, most recently as senior associate executive director of member programs and services. Mary has her MLS and BA from UCLA, as well as her association executive certification (CAE) from the American Society of Association Executives.”
And, on an entirely different note…..
What’s Happening on hiatus: You may have noticed that What’s Happening, the semi‐annual overview of the upcoming conference usually curated by Mary Ghikas, with input from many ALA staff, is on holiday this Midwinter. Sorry, just too many things going on. However, Danielle Alderson and Alicia Babcock put together some pieces that may be hard to find elsewhere – and they’re included with the Talking Points. The Midwinter registration update and the ALA/Division/Round Table membership update – usually included in What’s Happening – are above. You can find complete information on the Midwinter Meeting at: https://2018.alamidwinter.org/ For quick location information and the Shuttle Schedule, see https://2018.alamidwinter.org/whats‐happening/glance‐schedule
5
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.58a
And here is the Emergency Contact and Other Useful Numbers section:
First Aid Location in the Colorado Convention Center (CCC): “E” Lobby, near 507 (end of the 500s hallway) Convention Center Emergency Numbers: From a cell phone: 303‐228‐8030 From any house phone in the convention center: ext. 200 Hospital: Saint Joseph Hospital, 1835 Franklin St., 303‐837‐7111 Pharmacy: Walgreen’s, 801 16th Street (Stout & 16th St.), 303‐571‐5314
And, Hotel Numbers for your convenience:
Meeting Hotel Phone Numbers:
Crowne Plaza Denver: 303‐573‐1450 Embassy Suites by Hilton Denver Downtown: 303‐592‐1000 Grand Hyatt Denver: 303‐295‐1234 Hilton Denver City Center: 303‐297‐1300 Hyatt Regency Denver at Colorado Convention Center – HQ: 303‐436‐1234 Sheraton Denver Downtown – Co‐HQ: 303‐893‐3333 The Curtis, a Doubletree by Hilton: 303‐571‐0300
All Hotels Phone Numbers:
Hyatt Regency Denver Convention Center – HQ: 303‐436‐1234 Sheraton Denver Downtown ‐ CO‐HQ: 303‐893‐3333 Crowne Plaza Denver: 303‐573‐1450 The Curtis, a Doubletree by Hilton: 303‐571‐0300 Embassy Suites by Hilton Denver Downtown: 303‐592‐1000 Grand Hyatt Denver: 303‐295‐1234 Hilton Garden Inn Denver Downtown: 303‐603‐8000 Holiday Inn Express Denver Downtown: 303‐296‐0400 Hyatt House Denver Downtown: 303‐893‐3100
6
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.58a
Hyatt Place Denver Downtown: 303‐893‐2900 Magnolia Hotel Denver: 303‐607‐9000 Hilton Denver City Center: 303‐297‐1300
MG 4 February 2018
7
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.58b
Future of Midwinter
Over the past 6 months ALA’s Conference Services has been working with MarketWorks, a tradeshow research and marketing company, to help us examine Midwinter’s components and establish benchmarks of past performance to look to the future.
Reasons to Re-Examine Midwinter
All revenue aspects of Midwinter have been declining over the past 3-5 years with the last 2 years (and probably this 2018) at a consistent 10% drop.
There are several key factors impacting both attendance and exhibit participation including location (both distance and membership in local area), weather, competition from large and niche events, budgets (both employer and employee), content of sessions and lack of a focused marketing message.
At the same time as revenue has stalled, we have focused on reducing expenses reflecting the lower attendee and exhibit participation, but in some cases, there is a minimum level of service that should be implemented regardless of the participation (rent, security, staff, etc.).
Engagement with MarketWorks
The goal of the current work is to gather data and explore options to provide staff and members a basis to begin a discussion around the future of the event. MarketWorks assisted us with surveys, phone interviews and a focus group and will continue to interview exhibitors at this Midwinter as well as exhibitors who did not exhibit this year.
Moving Ahead
Decisions about the future of Midwinter will need to take into account ALA member needs, existing ALA policy and policy groups, and financial impact on the Association. As we have contractual and facility limitations in the short term, we are looking to implement some incremental changes for 2019 and 2020. We are looking at education, expenses and the attendee experience while at Midwinter.
Some of the potential adjustments to Midwinter that may be explored:
• Continue down a path of changes to the current structure of Midwinter to refocus education around the Symposium on the Future of Libraries, leadership development, and/or content to complement the Youth Media Awards. • Build Midwinter around some of the smaller divisions that currently host separate events (ALSC Institute, LITA Forum, YALSA Symposium), co-locating with those events to provide a robust audience for Midwinter, provide attendees with diverse educational opportunities, and lower the Association’s collective expenses. This would also bring “new” attendees to the Midwinter exhibits. • Elimination of Midwinter. This presents financial challenges and leaves some events, Council, Youth Media Awards, etc. without a home.
This document will be discussed during Midwinter at the ALA Conference Committee meeting on Saturday, February 10, 10:00 am – Noon, Mile High Ballroom, Section 1 E in the Convention Center. PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.58c
EBD # 12.16
2017-2018
TO: ALA Executive Board
RE: ALA Technology Investment Plan
ACTION REQUESTED/INFORMATION/REPORT: Discussion
ACTION REQUESTED BY: Sherri Vanyek, Information Technology & Telecommunication Service (ITTS), Director Ron Block, Chair, Information Technology Advisory Committee (ITAC)
CONTACT PERSON:
Sherri Vanyek, 312-735-2597, [email protected]
DRAFT OF MOTION: None
DATE: January 29, 2018
BACKGROUND: The document attached contains both background on ALA’s “technology debt” and a proposed pathway forward to implementation of a stable, flexible platform that will support ALA’s membership and programs into the future. The plan calls for a multi-year, phased approach. In addition to the baseline systems addressed in the plan, the increased capacity allows ALA ITTS, working with program units, to realistically explore implementation of targeted products to address specific volunteer and staff productivity needs. These include a CRM system to support advocacy nation-wide and a data dashboard to enable staff to serve members more efficiently and effectively.
FY2019 budget discussions have focused strongly on reinvestment in the Association’s future. These discussions continue to explore these parallel strategies: (1) improve core resources and baseline systems and (2) make spot investments in carefully targeted productivity products. Planning assumes a multiyear strategy. It should also be noted that the plan aligns with other major ongoing activities, notably the Board-led conversation about simplifying and reinvigorating ALA. The plan document
1
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.58c repeatedly notes the negative impact of excessive complexity, combined with siloed structure. To the extent these issues can be addressed in both ALA’s member-facing structure and internal organization, it is reasonable to expect corresponding gains in ALA IT effectiveness.
ATTACHMENTS:
ALA Technology Investment Plan Updated January 29, 2018 Submitted by Sherri Vanyek (Director ITTS) and Jenny Levine (LITA Executive Director)
Background There is a name for what ALA members and staff are experiencing: technology debt.
“Technology debt is more than just the sunk costs of hardware, software and code. It is the inefficiencies, duplicate processes and extra work created by an outdated or out of control technology architecture. Recognizing the full scope of technology debt allows organizations to address it, and, in doing so, tip the balance from maintaining to innovating.
“In response to the push and pull of innovation vs. legacy, enterprises try to address their technology debt with a short-term view. This approach is ineffective in managing debt, and may actually add to it. Instead, organizations must take a step back and plan strategically across all technology platforms, processes and people”. i We need to address this technology debt while there are still paths forward to do so. The external IT review performed two years ago and the recent Alexander Haas report indicate areas where ALA can improve its long-term viability. A recurring theme is simplification and standardization. ALA has a demonstrated history of not being able to hit IT target dates due, among other things, to lack of funding for projects.
We have many examples of areas where we need to simplify. The duplication of effort, negative impact on user experience, and inefficiencies created by our complex structure and lack of collaboration have brought us to the point where we cannot function effectively, and it is affecting all of our engagement and revenue streams.
Traditionally, ALA has insisted that it needs 100% specialized functionality to recreate its complex structure and different needs for every group in its software. This results in ALA spending staff time and resources on building new services from scratch or heavily customizing existing software to make it fit our model. There are additional costs required to maintain even basic functionality of heavily customized software once it has been developed. ALA can no longer afford the costs associated with this approach. It is time for ALA to move past this mindset and make our model fit existing software if it gives us 80% of the functionality we need.
2
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.58c
Changing this mindset and simplifying our structure so that our model fits existing software is the single most effective way to create a technology environment that will support ALA’s data needs, free up resources to implement more projects, and successfully launch projects on time.
The ALA website supports almost 8 million annual visitors, 1 million file downloads, and 2.5 million site referrals, most sending visitors to our own satellite sites, such as Annual Conference, JobLIST, the ALA Store, CQREngage/ALA and division conference sites. Going forward the ALA Website will transition to focus on the profession, media, and public, and ALA Connect will be where we provide member-focused content and engagement. The new My ALA dashboard in ALA Connect will provide an easy-to-use, real- time starting point where members will be able to network with other members, get customized recommendations for communities of practice, and take advantage of a personalized ALA experience that is unique to them.
To do this, ITTS submits the following proposal to erase our technology debt and free up money and resources for innovation and strategic investments in technology. Overview of ALA ITTS ALA ITTS currently has 12.5 staff members supporting over 200 desktop applications, 150 servers, and a massive public facing presence, and managing 25 consulting relationships. The fiscal 2018 operating budget is $3,068,117. Any capital expense is eventually recognized as part of the operating expenses. While this is a slight increase from recent years, it represents 6% of ALA’s total revenue. In The Road to Relevance, the authors recommend spending a minimum of 10% of an organization’s total revenue on technology, suggesting that for some organizations it should be closer to 17%.2 Over the last decade, the increasing gap between what ALA has spent on IT and this recommendation is what has produced our current technology debt.
Because ITTS has no central authority over technology used by individual units, some of them have implemented their own technology projects using their own money, which is then not reflected in ITTS’ budget. Sometimes this is because ITTS lacks the resources to meet division deadlines, sometimes it is because the division prefers to go its own way. While this means ALA’s overall spending on technology could be considered higher than 6%, those implementations do not consider the burden that is placed on ITTS staff to integrate those systems into our ecosystem, fully test pricing categories for all our membership types, test for ADA compliance (in some cases, continuously), and sometimes, to advise on support or training issues when problems occur.
These conditions lead to a situation where maintenance and implementation of systems aren’t prioritized for upgrade or replacement until they reach a crisis level, at which point ITTS has to stop what it’s working on to resolve the crisis. The most illustrative example of this is that a virtual disaster recovery service was not implemented until 2016 due to lack of resources and the constant re- prioritization of other projects. Had ALA experienced a catastrophic event that affected the physical server room in the Chicago office, it would have been days, possibly weeks or even months, before we could have returned to business as usual. Barriers to Quick and Successful Implementations ITTS must recreate ALA’s complex hierarchy in all new systems, most of which are not designed for organizations with so many different types of users, disparate pricing structures, and multi-level hierarchies. This means that we can never just upgrade to the latest version of a software package
3
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.58c because previous customizations we’ve made must be re-tested and sometimes even re-coded for the new version based on every type of user, every pricing level, and every hierarchy.
It is nearly impossible for ITTS to implement a new instance of an existing service as is (e.g., conference registration, an election ballot, etc.) because pricing, ADA-compliance, and other customizations must be fully tested to make sure they still work properly since we’ve customized the vendor’s software so heavily. Even something as simple and predictable as dues increases must be carefully implemented and tested across multiple systems because most software/services are not set up for the number of dues categories and complex calculations required by ALA (33 types of membership, 150 dues-generating products, 671 special pricing rules for dues).
As new priorities and initiatives are submitted by ALA units and member leaders (including new presidential initiatives every year), the same staff working on current high-priority projects are diverted to work on these new ones with no additional support. Staff at external vendors/consultants routinely turn over or are assigned to new clients, which means we must constantly educate new consultants to get them up to speed on all of ALA’s complexities and requirements, which takes up valuable project time and further delays implementation.
There are no staff members in ITTS devoted to strategic planning across resources. Instead, each project is implemented as a silo by one staff project manager, with no thought to how it will integrate with other ALA resources due to lack of staff time and training. At best, this results in issues with navigation between sites, completely disparate interfaces, incomplete search results, duplication of effort, and the lack of a unified approach. At worst, it makes it impossible for members to understand ALA and use its online services. Lack of tolerance for true risk assessment results in deadlines that are not attainable. Target dates are set according to arbitrary factors such as end of fiscal year dates, deadlines that must fall within the single year of a presidential initiative, or launch windows around major conferences and events. True risk assessment includes budget for mitigating foreseeable problems and resolving those issues which would greatly affect timelines; however, this type of forecasting has not been included when developing project plans, so budget is never set aside to mitigate these potential problems should they arise.
Although ITTS has been able to achieve some cost savings by moving some services to virtual servers and cloud-based vendors, over the past 10 years costs have also increased to accommodate new services (online courses, webinar software, ALA Connect, virtual disaster recovery services, etc.).
How to Remove these Barriers 1. Our complex dues structure and the number of dues-based units requires customization of most of our foundational systems: the iMIS Association Management Software (AMS), our conference registration and hotel reservation software, registration systems for online education and in- person events, our join/renew ecommerce system (the graduated dues for student and beginning librarian members are particularly difficult to recreate), our election software, our appointments database, the ALA website, ALA Connect and more.
ALA needs to reduce the number of member categories, the disparate pricing across the ones that remain (for membership, online education, in-person event registration, etc.), move to flat
4
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.58c
division pricing (ALA + 1 division = x price, ALA + 2 divisions = y price, etc.), and remove the special pricing dues structure. 2. While we made sections free, members still had to join them as part of dues processing function. This process must be revisited when the new ALA Connect launches. 3. ALA needs to reduce the number of internal hierarchies so that HR and financial systems can be implemented with less customization of software. 4. While some existing applications may have to be grandfathered in, going forward, ALA Management should not allow use of multiple platforms for services like conference registration and webinar delivery and consolidate to one system for each service to standardize the member experience and make it easier to train both members and staff. To foster innovation, pilot programs to test new applications will be possible. 5. ALA must perform realistic risk assessment for each new project (or phase of a project) to create achievable timelines. If there are valid can’t-miss deadlines, the budget needs to include money to resolve potential issues that would delay the launch. 6. ALA must fund more than the bare minimum for each project including resources needed to make sure projects are integrated to work together rather than separately. Projects must not be awarded to vendors based solely on which one submits the lowest bid. 7. ALA Management, based on ITTS assessment, must say no to projects that do not meet ALA’s business requirements, or do not provide enough Return on Investment (ROI) for the expenditure. 8. ITTS needs to perform an Association Management Software (AMS) needs assessment to determine if iMIS continues to be the best solution for ALA. iMIS is the foundational center for all our processes and services. We need to take the time to do a proper environmental scan to determine if it can do everything we need it to do or if we should seek an alternative.
ALA STRATEGIC TECHNOLOGY RATIONALE User experience is a key factor for ensuring success in recruiting and retaining members and customers. Investing in technology for FY2018 and beyond positions us to support the member and customer experience in the following ways: Outcomes • Promotes ALA’s objectives by making it easy for the public to learn about our mission, access information about libraries and advocacy, join ALA, and purchase goods and services. • Provides the resources to focus ala.org on the public and the profession while moving member information, engagement, and resources to a different site. • Creates an internal site and an external one to give us the ability to create strong calls to action focused on external audiences, supporting our work through donations, sponsorships, and partnerships. • Creates a central resource for the profession that coordinates advocacy campaigns, outreach to funders and policymakers, and concrete actions on ALA policy initiatives. • Engages members at all levels to help shape Association directions through meaningful virtual discussions and a suite of online tools for true collaboration to move ideas and projects forward. • Refocuses ALA work on getting things done rather than working around technology barriers.
5
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.58c
• Uses technology to aggregate and display a personalized “My ALA” view of the most relevant content, recommendations, learning opportunities, networking options, pathways to leadership, and interest-based advocacy for each user. • Provides focused learning activities and communities for engaging in group work outside of face-to- face meetings. • Streamlines systems and processes for donations, registrations, and the purchase of goods and services to increase revenue and support. • Ensures ALA is able to maintain strict privacy protections for user data, maintain the highest level of security to protect systems, and recover quickly from any physical or virtual technology disasters to restore service with minimal downtime. Impact on Staff • Provides access to real-time member demographics and data to facilitate data-driven decisions, personalized marketing, and focused services. • Provides data mining and business intelligence systems to enable predictive analytics that will assist with strategic planning. • Improves technology resources to make ALA staff more efficient, allows for remote access to critical tools, reduces workflow inefficiencies, moves ALA to paperless processes, ends the need for manual re-entry of data, and integrates disparate systems and data.
The items below are in priority order and the salary estimates represent market value including benefits.
Benefits of Phase 1 (FY18) Simplify membership categories and dues pricing to reduce organizational complexity. The number of pricing rules required to handle memberships and registrations is prohibitively expensive to implement and maintain.
Member Benefits • Streamlines the join and renew process to reduce the number of steps required and makes it easier to purchase and register for dues-based products and services. • Makes pricing easier to understand. • Offers a faster path for ALA to implement new ways to pay dues, such as monthly payments. • Makes ALA’s organization easier to understand.
Staff Benefits • Allows ALA to implement existing IT systems that don't require extensive and costly customizations to build and maintain our unique structure within the software. • Removes delays to upgrading systems by reducing the need to re-test all of the customizations and permutations of pricing rules. • Reduces the need for constant Quality Assurance testing for the join/renew, conference registration, elearning registration, ALA Store, and other services that have to be customized to accommodate the pricing rules, 671 for dues, potentially 30 for every function at an event, every online learning opportunity, and every product we sell. Decreases the cost and bureaucracy of our elections, which cost staff hundreds of hours in time and manual effort every year.
6
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.58c
Hire a consultant to do a process analysis to optimize internal workflows and efficiencies ($150,000) There are workflows related to most, if not all repetitive tasks that staff must complete. Because these workflows have not been analyzed recently (if ever), we are sure to find ways to streamline and optimize so that staff can focus on more creative challenges.
Member Benefits • Improved member engagement, communication, and customer service when staff can focus on member-centric service instead of internal processes and workarounds. • Member dollars are spent supporting ALA’s mission and objectives, rather than legacy systems and processes. • Reduced errors on member records and customer service issues due to manual or incorrect data entry in iMIS.
Staff Benefits • Staff will be able to focus on more compelling tasks in support of ALA’s objectives once repetitive tasks and workflows have been optimized. • Staff time is no longer spent on manually re-entering data from one system to another. • Confidential user information is handled in secure online systems rather than on paper documents sent through interoffice delivery. • Time to completion on IT projects is reduced and does not encounter substantive delays because ITTS is staffed properly, with project oversight led by project managers, and time is spent on integrating systems efficiently rather than building out customizations. Benefits of Phase 2 (FY19) Project Manager ($140,000) The primary advantage of having a dedicated project manager is to help ALA reach desired goals and achieve those goals within specific time and cost parameters. Other benefits include:
Member Benefits • Improved Stakeholder/Customer Satisfaction: The project manager will make it possible for more projects to be completed on time and within budget, ensuring staff have the tools and resources they need to quickly serve member needs. • More tools and resources can be implemented online and made self-service.
Staff Benefits • Risk Management: Potential risks become obvious when a strategy is mapped, so a mitigation plan can be put into place to create workarounds in advance. • Practical Flexibility: The project manager will determine the strategy to achieve project completion but will use an agile approach to allow for new integrations and functionalities that will enhance or improve service when possible without jeopardizing deadlines. • Quality and Quantity Improvements: Increased efficiency will make it possible to accomplish additional projects, enabling the Association to achieve more of its objectives. • Timelines will be measured in months, rather than years, with much faster times to implementation replacing the current cycle of delays.
7
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.58c
Increase staffing dedicated to the new ALA Connect Hire an Automation Rules/Informz Specialist ($84,500) Hire a Personalization Specialist ($84,500) In the world of ecommerce, personalization is known to increase sales by 30% or more.3
Member Benefits • Quicker connections to groups of interest. • Provides a more efficient path for onboarding new or newly-active members. • Personalized MyALA dashboard of content, events, and member-based networks. • More relevant marketing that matches user preferences and interests. • Reduction in the overall amount of email received from ALA due to coordination across groups and the combination of content from multiple sources. • Service and achievement-based badges added to member profiles automatically. • Members realize increased value in their ALA membership due to recognition of their contributions and are encouraged to progress through their personal member engagement journey.
Staff Benefits • Coordinated and automated membership and marketing email campaigns. • Centralized source for coordinating and managing ALA’s hundreds of automation rules. • Allows ALA to implement web tracking in Informz to provide targeted follow-up emails. • Automation rules save staff time by automatically inviting users to interest-based networks, giving members the correct permissions in ALA Connect, and sending automated touchstone emails to connect with members throughout the year. • Specialist who will create, document, refine, and report on automation rules and the resulting outcomes at both the ALA and microsite level. • Specialist who will provide reports showing the effect of personalization on member progress in the membership engagement journey. • Specialist who will develop metrics and reports to inform data-driven decisions.
Hire a Drupal Content Management System Administrator ($150,000) Having an in-house, dedicated Drupal Administrator means security updates can be implemented more rapidly than is currently possible, increasing the safety and integrity of our three large Drupal-based sites. In addition, staff and stakeholders will benefit from:
Member Benefits • Gives ALA a way to test the compatibility of Drupal modules and add those that are stable to the microsites to improve the user experience.
Staff Benefits • More display and visual options. Administrators can alter site theme installations to make it easier for site admins to refine their site’s branding.
8
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.58c
Hire a Drupal Developer for 1-year ($115,000) This position will allow us to accelerate the pace of change on our Drupal-based sites, but the following benefits will also accrue:
Member Benefits • As new functionality is identified on our individual Drupal sites: the primary ALA website, the ALA Store, and the Join-Renew-Donate site, ALA’s response will be more nimble having an in-house implementation team. ALA can simplify workflows and adapt the sites to better serve our needs. For example, when discussions about simplification proceed to action plans, the developer will be able to simplify join/renew workflows. • An example of area where in-house development would improve delivery is website accessibility. Every ALA project has required extensive and expensive time consuming accessibility remediation.
Staff Benefits • Essential changes will happen more quickly, easing staff time invested in member and customer assistance and various workarounds. • Reduce reliance on third parties. Hire a Data Analyst to work with the Development Office ($90,000) A Data Analyst with iMIS expertise to seek out patterns in donation data to assist with strategic planning, to increase Development Office staff awareness of iMIS capabilities, and provide marketing benefits to ALA.
Member Benefits • Recipients of fewer, but more targeted, messages to support areas of personal and professional interest.
Staff Benefits • Enables targeted appeals that will lead to increased donations. • Improves utility of iMIS fundraising functionality. • Allows Development staff to analyze data without relying on ITTS staff as gatekeepers. • Increases Development’s reporting ability at the ALA, division, and round table level. Run a RFP process to select and implement a new Learning Management System (LMS) ($85,000) Professional development will continue to be both a service to the profession and a revenue source for ALA. This is another area where systems have been evolving and maturing, and ALA would benefit from the right system.
Member Benefits • A more modern, unified system implemented across all of ALA will improve both the participant and instructor experience. • A new LMS system that works with a Single Sign-on (SSO) system will allow members to seamlessly move back and forth between the courses and other ALA resources. • An association-focused LMS that connects out-of-the-box with other ALA systems could allow integration of LMS content and data into Higher Logic groups, Informz target groups, and member profiles.
9
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.58c
Staff Benefits • The right tool would simplify course management and record-keeping activities. • Data from the LMS could be integrated into member profiles and an ALA data dashboard. • A more intuitive interface would reduce staff support time. Do an environmental scan to determine if there is a better Single Sign-On (SSO) solution ($10,000) Ongoing security concerns and ease of system integrations make it essential that ALA have a SSO solution that provides a seamless user experience and allows users to remain logged in to ALA systems longer.
Member Benefits • A different SSO system that allows users to stay logged in longer means personalized templates and content are immediately visible when members return to ALA Connect, online courses in a new LMS, conference schedulers, and other ALA sites. • Would reduce frustration with ALA sites that time out on members and force them to manually re-enter data in forms.
Staff Benefits • Saves time because staff won’t have to constantly log in to ALA sites. • Would reduce frustration and time spent re-entering data in forms and content on sites when the authentication times out. Benefits of Phase 3 (FY20) Hire a Systems Integration Specialist ($100,000) Hire a Systems Integration Specialist to take the big picture view of our various IT systems and make sure they’re working together for maximum efficiency, to reduce duplication of effort, and to offer the best possible user experience. When a new system is implemented, this person will be responsible for making sure it is seamlessly integrated with existing systems.
Member Benefits • Provides a more seamless user experience across ALA resources. • Ensures more intuitive interfaces and functionality. • More one-stop shopping instead of time spent visiting multiple sites to find services and resources.
Staff Benefits • More reliable hand-offs between systems reduces time spent troubleshooting issues. • Replaces a siloed implementation approach in which systems don’t (and in fact, can’t) interact with each other because they weren’t built for integrated functionality. • Allows data to be integrated throughout multiple systems when and wherever necessary. • Ensures that phased implementations progressively build on each stage to maintain forward progress, rather than constantly going back to refine and fix work already done. Hire an AMS Trainer ($90,000) This position will allow an ITTS person to help ALA staff maximize use of our most important system.
10
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.58c
Member Benefits • Increased integrity of iMIS data means more accurate and robust member profiles on ALA Connect and fewer committee roster issues.
Staff Benefits • Educates staff about standardization and accuracy of data, which is essential to the success of a data dashboard. • Helps standardize staff processes and procedures for maximum efficiency and implementation of best practices for data management. • Provides granular training on features so that more staff can take advantage of them. • Ensures a smooth transition from use of the desktop client to web-based access. Migrate the financial system to an externally hosted service ($86,000) Member Benefits • Easier to share information with member-leaders.
Staff Benefits • Upgrades taken care of by the cloud vendor. • Reduces our need for remote access software. Consolidate our file storage and sharing systems to an externally hosted service ($50,000) Member Benefits • Increases and simplifies information sharing between staff and members.
Staff Benefits • Automatic upgrades will be handled by the cloud vendor. • Reduces our need for remote access software. • Allows for greater collaboration between staff at remote ALA locations and staff at ALA HQ in Chicago. Perform a needs assessment to determine if iMIS is the best AMS solution for ALA ($100,000) New players have emerged in the AMS market with systems built in the 21st century. New features include more functions and integrations, better user experience design, and cloud-based access and storage. A review of the state-of-the-art and pricing will make it possible for us evaluate options and develop a strategic plan.
Member Benefits • We want to ensure that members always receive the best possible benefit from each membership dollar. • Our AMS is the underpinning for all of our member interactions. Having the best fit in place facilitates implementation and interactions of all other components.
Staff Benefits • Would allow staff to determine what functionality we truly need and then determine the best product to meet our goals, rather than shoe-horning what we needed into an existing system and hoping it does what we need in a way that works for us.
11
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.58c
Implement all necessary modules to make iMIS work the way we need it to or replace with a new AMS ($500,000-1.7 million) Member Benefits • Staff productivity increases make it possible to serve members’ needs effectively and ultimately saves ALA money. • This process will force us to clean up and standardize our data, regardless of whether we stay with iMIS or migrate to a new system. Removing duplicate member records and standardizing fields and the data in them will reduce member frustration, make committee roster maintenance easier, and allow for more robust member profiles and connections in ALA Connect. This will also be both an outcome and a generator of process review.
Staff Benefits • Better workflows and additional functionality to enable us to better support the fulfillment of our mission. • A system that is easier to use will save staff time in terms of committee maintenance and data analysis. • A more intuitive system will give staff direct access to data and reports, without having to wait on ITTS capacity to provide these services for them on a request-by-request basis. • A cloud-based system would allow remote access to member and committee data. Implement a new Single Sign-On service if a viable solution was found in phase 1 ($50,000) Member Benefits • A different SSO system that allows users to stay logged in longer means personalized templates and content are immediately visible when members return to ALA Connect, online courses in a new LMS, conference schedulers, and other ALA sites. • Would reduce frustration with ALA sites that time out on members and force them to manually re-enter data in forms.
Staff Benefits • Saves time because staff won’t have to constantly log in to ALA sites. • Would reduce frustration and time spent re-entering data in forms and content on sites when the authentication times out. Hire a consultant to design our migration to a Desktop as a Service (DaaS) environment ($62,500) Member Benefits • Staff productivity increases make it possible to serve members’ needs effectively and ultimately saves ALA money.
Staff Benefits • Would make it much easier for ITTS to maintain user desktops and programs. • Would allow staff to access their full desktop with all programs from anywhere. • Makes it easy to get a staff member up and running almost immediately if their primary ALA computer dies or is replaced. • Allows ITTS to purchase less expensive devices and enable remote office work for $500 per device instead of $1,500 per device for 300 users, as well as save us $100,000 in consulting fees.
12
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.58c
Hire a consultant to design our migration to a Datacenter as a Service (DCaaS) environment ($65,500) Member Benefits • Staff productivity increases make it possible to serve members’ needs effectively and ultimately saves ALA money. • Reduces the likelihood of network and server outages, which affect the availability of ALA’s online services.
Staff Benefits • Allows us to host our servers and network infrastructure offsite at a physical data center using the resources of the DCaaS provider instead of paying for and maintaining our own. • Gives us 24/7/365 support without requiring costly overtime charges from consultants who help maintain our infrastructure. • Frees up ITTS staff time to work on data analysis, project implementation, improving services, and increasing efficiency rather than maintaining software and hardware. • Allows staff to access the datacenter, view their dashboards, and run reports from anywhere at any time. Benefits of Phase 4 (FY21) Hire a User Experience Director (UXD) ($150,000) UXD would be responsible for managing the member and customer experience across all of ALA’s websites and improving the customer journey through all aspects of the ALA relationship.
Member Benefits • Provide a more seamless user experience across ALA resources. • More intuitive interfaces mean less time spent searching and browsing for the information users are seeking.
Staff Benefits • Gives staff more time engaging with members around goals and objectives, rather than troubleshooting problems. • Standardized interfaces mean less time spent on maintaining customizations. Hire a Server Administrator for our virtual server farm ($120,000) Servers require security patches, updates, and constant monitoring. This position will be evaluated as part of a Data Center as a Service(DCaaS) decision. DCaaS providers offer a suite of services, possibly including those this position might provide.
Member Benefits • Helps protects personally identifiable information and user privacy. • Ensures security updates are always current.
Staff Benefits • Servers underlie a great deal of what staff need to do their jobs, so keeping our servers in prime running order benefits all staff and members. Implement Desktop as a Service ($610,000) This will allow staff to access their applications from anywhere at any time.
13
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.58c
Member Benefits • Staff productivity increases make it possible to serve members’ needs effectively and ultimately saves ALA money.
Staff Benefits • Would make it much easier for ITTS to maintain user desktops and programs. • Would allow staff to access their full desktop and all programs from anywhere. • Makes it easy to get a staff member up and running almost immediately if their primary ALA computer dies or is replaced. • Allows ALA to purchase less expensive devices and enable remote office work for $500 per device instead of $1,500 per device for 300 users, as well as save us $100,000 in consulting fees. Implement Datacenter as a Service ($816,667) Member Benefits • Staff productivity increases make it possible to serve members’ needs effectively and ultimately saves ALA money. • Reduces the likelihood of network and server outages, which affect the availability of ALA’s online services.
Staff Benefits • Allows us to host our servers and network infrastructure offsite at a physical data center using the resources of the DaaS provider instead of paying for and maintaining our own. • Reduces on-premise space, electric, physical security, and cooling requirements. • Gives us 24/7/365 support without requiring costly overtime charges from consultants who help maintain our infrastructure. • Frees up ITTS staff time to work on data analysis, project implementation, improving services, and increasing efficiency rather than maintaining software and hardware. • Allows staff to access the datacenter, view their dashboards, and run reports from anywhere at any time. Investigate and implement a Digital Asset Management Service (DAMS) ($100,000) This project potentially goes hand-in-hand with a new CMS. ALA units need to be able to track and reuse all their assets, whether born digital or converted.
Member Benefits • Provides a collaborative environment so that ALA’s media library can be shared with members and others to coordinate advocacy campaigns and calls-to-action.
Staff Benefits • Allows staff to easily locate and repurpose digital assets instead of constantly creating their own, saving time and budget. • Makes ALA’s branding and advocacy messages more consistent and unified in appearance. • Controls access so that resources can’t be used without permission before they are approved for distribution. • Embeds digital rights, copyright, and contact information on every image or file to make it easier for external parties to contact the right person prior to use.
14
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.58c
• Supports compliance with copyright information and licensing terms.
Run a RFP process for a new Content Management System (CMS) for the static, non-personalized portion of ala.org websites ($20,000) CMS platforms have been evolving, and ALA should investigate new software that would support a transition to an externally-focused website.
Member Benefits • Allows us the opportunity to organize ala.org by topic with a focus on our external audiences instead of forcing all users to try to find content organized by ALA’s internal structure.
Staff Benefits • Reducing the overwhelming amount of content on ala.org and organizing it by topic helps staff collaborate more effectively, concentrate on the most critical and current information, and focus on content. • Saves staff positions currently focused on building and maintaining Drupal-based services.
Budget summary for what it will take to erase our technology debt • Phase 1 = $ 150,000 + TBD • Phase 2 = $ 759,000 • Phase 3 = $ 1,653,000 – 2,853,000 • Phase 4 = $ 2,555,667 • Total = $5,117,667 - 6,317,667
Subsequent years will require an increase in operating expense of $876,000 hosted services + $1,009,000 salaries = $1,885,000. We expect a reduction in our depreciation expense as we move services off premise, but we cannot currently estimate that reduction. Given our phased implementation and the changing landscape of technology expenses, we expect our estimates to change over time.
New operating budget for ITTS would be $1,885,000 + current budget of $3,068,117 = $4,953,117.
1 Accenture, Inc., “Is Technology Bankrupting Your Competitiveness,” © 2017 Accenture. https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insight-technology-debt-bankrupting
2 Road to Relevance: 5 Strategies for Competitive Associations; 61pp., © 2013 Harrison Coerver and Mary Byers 32011. Forrester Research. The Business Impact of Customer Experience. https://www.forrester.com/report/The+Business+Impact+Of+Customer+Experience+2011/-/E- RES59072.
15
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.58c
APPENDIX A – Detail of budget required to properly resource ALA’s technology services
• iMIS Membership Engagement System o $100,000 = Perform an iMIS needs assessment to determine if iMIS is the best solution for ALA. o $90,000 = hire an iMIS Specialist to manage training, recommend new modules, guide implementations, manage the needs assessment and the recommendation, manage the migration to a new system or the streamlining of our iMIS implementation. o $90,000 = Hire a Data Analyst for the Development Office to assist with data extraction projects from the membership, financial, and fundraising databases systems and present data in a usable format that meets their requirements. o If we determine that iMIS is the best solution, the cost will be $500,000 to: ▪ Implement task and automation tools. ▪ Improve our ability to generate reports and provide them in more usable formats in order to support fundraising, advocacy, membership, and other initiatives. ▪ Ensure we have the capability to perform iMIS upgrades in a timely fashion for security purposes and to take advantage of the latest features. o If iMIS is not the best solution, the cost will be $1.7 million to: ▪ Run a RFP process for a new Association Management System (AMS) and select a vendor. ▪ Implement the new solution with integration to 27 systems. ▪ Implement the new system’s automation tools and reports. ▪ Ensure we have the capability to perform upgrades in a timely fashion for security purposes and to take advantage of the latest features.
• Drupal-based ALA.org websites = $1.3 million o $150,000 = Hire a Drupal Administrator to support the ala.org sites, new eCommerce/eLearning sites, implement new modules, and perform software and security updates for the 100+ modules, 46 of which are customized for ALA. o $115,000 = Hire 1 Drupal Developer for one year to assist the Drupal Administrator with installing, maintaining, and upgrading Drupal modules and core software. o Implement Google Analytics and Tag Manager for the new ALA Store, eLearning, and join-renew-donate sites in order to aggregate data about all of these sites in one place and develop an action plan to integrate the data into decision-making processes and continuous improvement of the user experience. o Set up the Google Search Appliance across all ala.org microsites. o Shift our focus from building desktop-centric websites and services to new processes that prioritize mobile design and services. o $830,000 = Complete implementation of the eCommerce/eLearning systems: ▪ Implement joint student-chapter joins and renewals ▪ Complete online corporate joins and renewals, including associate and Exhibitor Round Table memberships.
16
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.58c
▪ Add the ability for donors to direct their donations to more specific goals/funds, e.g. the Disaster Relief Fund to Puerto Rico. ▪ Implement alternate payment processes for paying membership dues and donations. ▪ Consolidate the join-renew-donate, ALA Store, eLearning, and small events registration into a single shopping cart. ▪ Implement the ability to contextually display relevant ALA Store and eLearning items on all ala.org sites. ▪ Run a RFP process and select a vendor for a modern, association-wide eLearning platform that integrates with iMIS.
• ALA Connect = $169,000 o $84,500 = Hire an Automation Rules/Informz Specialist to manage ALA’s growing list of automation rules, implement new ones, coordinate marketing through Informz, and provide staff training on both automation rules and Informz. o $84,500 = Hire a Personalization Specialist to create personalized dashboards for members, further customize member profiles, implement personalized widgets, and implement personalized data from third-party services in the Higher Logic interface.
• Network Infrastructure = $2.25 million o $120,000 = Hire a Server Administrator to manage and support the ALA server farm, which currently consists of 100+ virtual servers. o Investigate a new single sign-on technology that lets users stay logged in longer and handles authentication from site to site better. o Hire a consultant to help us move to a Desktop as a Service environment (DaaS) which will allow us to give staff virtual desktops where the software they use is hosted by a third-party cloud service provider, thereby removing the need for ITTS staff to maintain individual installations on every user’s desktop. o Purchase all new user devices in order to implement Desktop as a Service. This will let us buy less expensive devices and enable remote office work for $500 per device instead of $1,500 per device for 300 users, as well as save us $100,000 in consulting fees. o Hire a consultant to help us move to a Datacenter as a Service (DCaaS) environment which will allow us to host our servers and network infrastructure offsite at a physical data center using the resources of the DaaS provider instead of paying for and maintaining our own. o Move remaining software hosted on ALA servers, such as the financial system, to cloud- based systems. o Implement a new, cloud-based Help Desk support system that allows ticketing across ALA units with remote access. o $50,000 = Evaluate and implement a cloud-based, collaborative file storage system that can be used by all staff remotely. o Research and implement a Digital Asset Management (DAM) solution for storing, organizing, and retrieving all media assets and managing digital rights and permissions. • Department-wide
17
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.58c o $140,000 = Hire a Project Manager to track major ITTS projects, monitor for delays and problems, and help mitigate issues for resolution. Tasks include representing users' and the organization's interests; working to maintain project timelines; carrying out and monitoring risk assessment; making sure that all the aims of the project are met; and making sure the quality standards, including accessibility requirements are met. o $100,000 = Hire a Systems Integration Specialist to take the big picture view of our various IT systems and make sure they’re working together for maximum efficiency, to reduce duplication of effort, and to offer the best possible user experience. When a new system is implemented, this person will be responsible for making sure it is seamlessly integrated with existing systems. o $150,000 = Hire a consultant to perform a complete Process Analysis of every workflow and interaction that touches any IT system and recommend new processes and procedures to streamline workflows, reduce manual entry of data, ensure data integrity, improve the user experience, and ensure ALA is using its technologies to maximum effect.
18
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.58d
Working Document Exploration of Integration and Realignment Opportunities for ALCTS, LITA, and LLAMA
Background For several months some of division and executive leadership within ALA have been discussing the challenges facing ALA as a whole and the divisions themselves. Like many professional associations, ALA membership and membership engagement through conference attendance have been dropping. Units are seeing differing economic impacts but it is enough to prompt leadership to reexamine many of the traditional assumptions, practices, and boundaries within the organization. The separations and complexities within the organization have also been a barrier to moving forward on IT issues, such as the necessary customization in rolling out the new iteration of ALA Connect. Therefore ALCTS, LITA, and LLAMA leadership have been having focused discussions about the sustainability of the independent mid-sized, functional divisions. As part of these discussions, we have come to realize how much actual overlap in strategic mission, continuing education, and topical interest there is between our divisions, despite the different structural elements and the importance of member identities associated with being part of the division.
In some ways, the organizational structures and functional divisions that existed within libraries when ALCTS, LITA, and LLAMA were formed have changed, with many of these changes in how we look at integrated technology and operational evolutions. We believe our three divisions should take a leadership role now in exploring how we can better serve our members with a focus on providing comprehensive support for careers that are evolving and changing over time. It’s worthwhile for the organization to consider whether it needs to also evolve to better reflect this more integrated model. Whether this would be a model for increased collaboration between the divisions or something bigger involving shared/joint membership and structural realignments, or even a full merger to a new single division has not been decided.
This document is meant to provide a starting place for these discussions and is not a finished plan. At this point, we want to increase awareness of the concerns and open the discussions up for an informed engagement with the larger membership perspective of our divisions. This will mean exploring the risks and opportunities associated with different models. It also means asking questions, such as “If we could build a new combined division from scratch, what might it look like?”
A New Strategy Rather than trying to fit existing programs into a typical ALA division structure, we wanted to start by putting the long-term success of our members – and potential members – at the center of our work, and then imagine what type of sustainable entity could best facilitate their success. That strategy means a much more targeted approach to understanding our members – what they need to do their jobs better, what they need to make their libraries better, and what they need to advance their careers. It also means advocating for equity, diversity, inclusion and access in all aspects of the professional environment.
Such a member-centered strategy would mean restructuring our current priorities, volunteer opportunities, and staff support roles. Rather than three small staffs duplicating efforts to be continuing education providers, marketers, social media managers, recruiters, and process facilitators, we would develop a new structure that shares resources to support identified areas as our core strengths:
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.58d
● Standards – Creating an authoritative resource for best practices within the functional areas of the profession ○ Creation and input on national and international policies, standards, and competencies ● Operations and Buildings – Providing venues for sharing best practices supporting efficient unit operations and facilities ○ Sharing ideas and knowledge to stay engaged on changing trends in organizational structures, services, staff operations, and facilities ● Collections – Ensuring that libraries and library staff can meet user’s needs ○ Creation and input on standards and best practices for selection, acquisition, description, access, and preservation of information resources ● Technology – Supporting the identification and adoption of best practices in libraries ○ Making ALA information policy concrete for members and the profession by providing resources, tools, training, and community support for adoption and implementation ○ Helping librarians to understand emerging technologies and translate them into actionable plans for library services ○ Bridging the technology related needs and discussions across all types of libraries and operational areas ● Leadership – Identify and develop leaders at every level ○ Ability to grow and lead within our governance structure, growing micro-opportunities and virtual engagement ○ Robust and diverse mentoring programs and leadership institutes ○ Growing and maintaining cohorts from leadership programs to expand member networks
Interrelated staff and volunteer roles would be focused on member success: ● Member engagement – building communities of mutual interests, proactive conversations, delivering value across multiple platforms, facilitating connection and formal/informal mentoring ● Member analytics – understanding needs and motivations, quantitative and qualitative research, building personas to differentiate and personalize member experiences within a framework that respects individual preferences for privacy ● Member career development – continuing education across a range of library functions/settings, building an easily accessible ecosystem based on competencies, personalized recommendations based on analytics ● Association operations – instilling a culture of member-centricity, excellence in governance/volunteer engagement, measurement and reporting that aligns with strategies; space for rapid innovation, i.e., launch, learn, course correct, repeat.
Next Steps As noted, this initial document is a strategic level summary of our discussions. If there is interest in further exploring the concept, we would need to begin work on several fronts. First and foremost is member communication and engagement to identify supportive ideas and concerns that would need to be addressed.
● Sharing information through a variety of venues ● Asking the right questions to support or deny assumptions of core strengths and member needs ● Developing appropriate and accurate responses to create a shared understanding and build buy in
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.58d
Then we would create ad hoc interdivisional working groups or task forces charged to develop proposals for addressing the operational details for a closer realignment of the divisions. These might include areas, such as: ● Creating shared mission/vision statements accompanied by new bylaws/governance documents ● Redefining future committees/member group structures ● Addressing collaborative finance/budgetary issues ● Seeking efficiencies in staff support operations based on skill sets and resources ● Communicating plans and processing member input/feedback ● Developing rollout and integration timelines and procedural planning documents ● Engaging within ALA with Executive Committee, Council, and other divisions on ideas and strategic and political frameworks
Document prepared January 31, 2018 by the following:
Pixey Anne Mosley Lynn Hoffman President, ALA LLAMA President-Elect, ALA LLAMA
Andromeda Yelton Bohyun Kim President, ALA LITA President-Elect, ALA LITA
Mary Beth Thomson Kristin Martin President, ALA ALCTS President-Elect, ALA ALCTS
In consultation with:
Kerry Ward, ALA LLAMA Executive Director Jenny Levine, ALA LITA Executive Director Keri Cascio, ALA ALCTS Executive Director
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.58e PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.58e PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.59
January 16, 2018
To: PLA Board of Directors
From: Barb Macikas
Re: Every Child Ready to Read Update
Since 2001, PLA and ALSC have worked cooperatively on the Every Child Ready to Read (ECRR) project. PLA initiated the project in 2000, contracting with researchers Russ Whitehurst and Russ Lonigan for development of model programs and parent education materials that could be implemented in public libraries. These provided the foundation for the training model and product subsequently developed by the joint PLA/ALSC ECRR Task Force. In 2004 and again in 2011, ALSC and PLA developed Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) to outline responsibilities for each division and sharing of expenses and revenues for products. These have expired. In the interim, PLA and ALSC have continued to manage the project per the MOU, sharing revenues and expenses on a 50/50 basis. From FY02 through FY17, ECRR has earned approximately $27,000 annually for PLA. ECRR is a foundational program and as recent research conducted by Dr. Susan Neuman via an IMLS‐funded grant highlights, it has made a significant difference in how the field approaches early literacy programming, as well as on the impact libraries have on parent engagement.
ECRR is now a mature program and as such, while ALSC and PLA continue to support it, PLA and ALSC have continued to evolve and develop new programs that build upon the ECRR foundation. For PLA, that work is focused on family engagement. As Dr. Neuman’s research indicated, ECRR is serving as a springboard for new ideas and practices libraries can use to engage families even more successfully. The education and child welfare communities have embraced the concepts that learning is no longer confined to classrooms, and that parents and caregivers must be engaged to support their children’s ability to learn anytime and anywhere.
PLA defines family engagement as a shared responsibility among families, educators, and communities to support children’s learning and development, which begins at birth and continues through young adulthood. Public libraries have been at the forefront of promoting family engagement through ECRR and the results of the new research support the value of this work in changing library practice. Working with the PLA Family Engagement Task Force, new efforts will help transition those concepts and skills to initiatives involving children of all ages, diverse families, and new community partners. Public librarians have been practitioners of family engagement for decades through ECRR and are now transitioning to become leaders of family engagement in their communities.
PLA is working with ALSC to finalize a new MOU. It will spell out the next steps for each organization that may include disengaging from our partnership in order to allow each organization to pursue related new initiatives. The new MOU will define responsibilities, communication protocol, and expense/revenue sharing related to existing ECRR product. It will clarify for both PLA and ALSC and for the long‐term record, the terms and conditions for this project for the next two years. It will assume that neither division has plans for new ECRR‐branded programs or services but may reference the ECRR program in new initiatives. 1
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.60
TO: PLA Board of Directors RE: Communications report DATE: January 9, 2018
ACTION REQUESTED/INFORMATION/REPORT: Information
ACTION REQUESTED BY: Larry Deutsch, manager of communications
Plan for establishing and activating PLA Speakers Bureau in 2019 PLA Communications proposes the following plan to organize and mobilize a Speakers Bureau consisting of volunteers charged with helping PLA get the word out its programs and services while increasing the organization’s presence at various library conferences and events. The desired outcomes of the Speakers Bureau are as follows:
1. Volunteer leaders are more closely engaged with PLA a. Committee and task force members – particularly those who have not had an opportunity to serve in a leadership capacity (i.e., as chairperson) – increase their involvement with PLA b. Board members receive increased exposure and opportunities to represent the organization 2. Library staff across the country have a greater understanding and appreciation of PLA’s work 3. State library association, library support organizations, and strategic partner organizations are more closely engaged with PLA
After outlining the numerous steps required to make the Speakers Bureau a reality, we believe the most prudent approach would be using the calendar year 2018 laying the necessary groundwork for the Bureau to begin operation at the start of 2019. The plan is contingent upon the willingness of all ten board members to commit to serve on the Speakers Bureau. Staff will recruit additional volunteers, focusing on members of PLA committees and task forces, to fill a minimum of ten additional spots. Each Speakers Bureau member will be expected to seek out presentation opportunities through their professional networks (outreach tools will be included in the speakers toolkit) and make a minimum of one presentation in 2019. PLA will also conduct an outreach campaign of its own. Email blasts will be sent to PLA’s contacts at state library associations, library support organizations, and strategic partner organizations, monthly, offering up the services of the Speakers Bureau and directing interested parties to the Bureau web page.
Following each presentation, PLA will send the speaker a personalized thank‐you note. Presentations made during the previous month, with photos (if possible), will be highlighted in the following month’s edition of PLA e‐News.
The following outline describes a detailed plan for the remainder of 2018:
1
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.60
1st Quarter o Mockup of Speakers Bureau web page is created. This page will include: . A list of the Bureau’s members with their names, head‐shots, and a description of their experience . A dynamic Speaker Request Form, instructing the requester to select from a list of pre‐selected presentation topics, and request specific presenters, if desired . Instructions for contacting PLA to discuss speaker availability and scheduling. A new email account, PLA‐[email protected], which will be monitored by staff, will be established for this purpose One or more staff will be assigned to communicating with the Speakers Bureau to match speakers with opportunities based on their availability, comfort level with the desired topic(s), and proximity to the presentation location, as well as responding to speaker requests. Once the match is made, the speaker will be put in touch with the requesting party to finalize arrangements. PLA staff will also collect the completed evaluation forms from the presenters and analyze the data to recommend improvements. 2nd Quarter o Speakers Toolkit materials are finalized and posted to a password‐protected Google Drive or Dropbox account. The toolkit will include the following items: . Speakers’ Outreach Resources Template letter for sending to professional contacts offering one’s services as a speaker Promotional copy for speakers to add to their email signatures . Photography Guidelines: the speaker will request that the event organizers appoint someone to take photos during the presentation and share the photos with PLA Communications staff for later publicity/recognition efforts. The Guidelines sheet will provide suggestions regarding photo composition, lighting, preferred image file size and format, etc. . Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Speakers Bureau participation, expectations, and resources . A list of Best Practices for an Outstanding Presentation . An Evaluation Form for seeking feedback from presentation attendees . A Reporting Form for sharing information with PLA and “getting credit” for completed presentations 3rd Quarter o Presentation materials are finalized and incorporated into the Speakers Toolkit. . Main PLA Power Point slides are updated to include more compelling visual content (better photos, possibly video clips). These will include standard slides about PLA, an overview of our initiatives, partners, communication channels, etc. . For presenters to build custom slide‐decks tailored to specific topics, downloadable sets of slides are added covering each the following areas: Family Engagement
2
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.60
Leadership Development Working with PLA Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Early Childhood Literacy Continuing Education Opportunities Public Library Issues/Challenges Digital Literacy Performance Measurement 4th Quarter o Campaign to recruit additional Speakers Bureau members from PLA volunteer base is conducted . Articles run in each Q4 edition of PLA e‐News . Email blasts are sent to target volunteer contacts o Additional 10+ volunteers are selected, and roster of Speakers Bureau members is finalized o Speaker photos, bio information, and presentation topic preferences are collected and incorporated into Speakers Bureau web page o Speakers Bureau members receive training by webinar to guide them through the Toolkit resources and affirm expectations o Speakers Bureau is announced via press release, on social media, and in PLA e‐News o Email blast is sent to PLA’s contacts at state library associations, library support organizations, and strategic partner organizations, offering up the services of the Speakers Bureau and directing interested parties to the Bureau web page.
‘Libraries Transform’ toolkits under development PLA is in discussions with the ALA Public Awareness Office about how we can leverage Libraries Transform resources and tools. Designed to increase public awareness of the value, impact and services provided by libraries and library professionals, the Libraries Transform campaign ensures there is one clear, energetic voice for our profession, showcasing the transformative nature of today’s libraries. We are currently working with PAO on developing Libraries Transform toolkits specific to PLA’s Consumer Health Information/Health Literacy Initiative and Family Engagement Initiative, which will include several new “Because” statements related to libraries’ work in these spaces. The toolkits are expected to be completed sometime in the Spring.
Assessing Library Staff Preferences Re. PLA Communications At the AC17 meeting, the board of directors asked staff to follow up on collecting feedback to help improve PLA communications. The target audience to be surveyed was identified as staff who work our board members’ libraries.
We have proceeded with the steps describe in the fall 2017 communications report, which included asking each board member to forward the October, November, and December editions of PLA e‐News to their library’s staff. We also shipped 20 additional copies of Public Libraries magazine’s November/December issue to each board member in January, so they could circulate the copies to their staff. Around Jan. 25 we will be sending you the link to a survey on PLA communications, which we’d like you to encourage your staff to take. The survey results will be used to inform a set of recommendations, which will be presented at the Spring 2018 board meeting.
3
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.60
Communications summary E‐News Since the last report, in September, four editions of PLA e‐News have been published. The most critical of the three core metrics – the open rate – jumped from 26.4% to 37.8% between June and July, and remained above 35% through the end of the year. The forwarding rate (percentage of e‐News recipients who share the e‐newsletter with a colleague) has continued to climb over the past six months, topping the 16% mark in tandem with our Q4 campaign encouraging board members to circulate PLA communications to their library’s staff (see previous section). The reporting process has brought to our attention a downward trend in the click‐through rate, which could be attributed to a variety of factors. We will further investigate this trend and implement changes to attempt to increase the click‐through rate.
PLA e‐News: key data trends, June‐Dec. 2017 45.0%
40.0% 38.4% 37.8% 36.8% 36.8% 35.0% 35.8% 35.5%
30.0% 29.8% 26.4% 27.0% 25.0% 23.4% 22.9% 21.6% 21.8% 20.0% 21.1% 16.2% 16.3% 16.1% 15.0% 14.5% 11.2% 10.0% 10.2% 10.7%
5.0%
0.0% Jun‐17 Jul‐17 Aug‐17 Sep‐17 Oct‐17 Nov‐17 Dec‐17
Open Rate Click‐Thru Rate Forwarding Rate
Social Media PLA’s main social media channels continue to perform well based on key performance indicators. PLA’s main Twitter and Facebook profiles continue to gain hundreds of new followers each month. Both accounts saw significant increases in September and November, directly correlated to the large number of announcements shared in those months.
4
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.60
PLA Facebook: key trends, June‐Dec. 2017 120
100
80
60
40
20
0 Jun‐17 Jul‐17 Aug‐17 Sep‐17 Oct‐17 Nov‐17 Dec‐17
New Followers Page "Likes"
PLA Twitter: key data trends, June‐Dec. 2017
1396 Dec‐17 114 19
1904 Nov‐17 163 38
1726 Oct‐17 187 39
2140 Sep‐17 278 31
1688 Aug‐17 155 21
1339 Jul‐17 243 15
1417 Jun‐17 256 15
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
Profile Visits New Followers Tweets Posted
5
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.60
Press Releases Since its last report to the PLA board, submitted on September 8, PLA communications has posted 24 press releases, three times the number posted during the previous reporting period. The titles of these releases and their posting dates are listed below.
1. PLA promotes family engagement through libraries at fall conferences (9/12) 2. Library staff gather virtually for discussion of national opioid crisis (9/18) 3. Partnership supports renewed 'From Awareness to Funding' advocacy study (9/19) [co‐released with ALA Office of Library Advocacy] 4. September 2017 update from the Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Task Force (9/20) 5. Registration & housing now open for PLA 2018 Conference (9/26) 6. October webinar highlights the many uses of outcomes data (10/2) 7. United for Libraries and PLA to host Oct. 17 webinar on ‘Troubled Library Boards’ (10/3) [co‐ released with United for Libraries] 8. Public libraries highlight cyber security awareness in October (10/3) 9. PLA now accepting nominations for 10 service awards and grants for 2018 (10/3) 10. PLA, National Network of Libraries of Medicine announce Promoting Healthy Communities initiative (10/11) 11. Nationwide library internship program to hold commencement program in Chicago (10/13) 12. Stipends available for public library health workshop with National Network of Libraries of Medicine (10/16) 13. Fellows, coaches selected for December PLA Leadership Academy (10/23) 14. November webinar to focus on using data to increase community impact of library programs (11/2) 15. PLA, Gail Borden Public Library team up to expand DigitalLearn.org training resources (11/6) 16. Courses in budgeting, using mobile devices added to PLA’s DigitalLearn.org website (11/9) 17. Twelve preconference educational sessions offered at PLA 2018 (11/10) 18. Candidates announced for 2018 PLA board election (11/14) 19. New research finds Every Child Ready to Read curriculum leads to successful family engagement through libraries (11/17) 20. December webinar highlights Project Outcome as strategic planning tool (11/20) 21. Public libraries sought for PLA/DC Public Library digital archiving project (11/22) 22. PLA Webinar to introduce core concepts related to equity, diversity, and inclusion in libraries (11/27) 23. PLA recognizes four 'I Love My Librarian' Award winners from public libraries (12/4) 24. PLA continues support of Emerging Leaders program through sponsorship of 2018 participants (12/5)
6
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.60a
TO: PLA Board of Directors RE: 2018 Awareness to Funding Voter Survey Report DATE: February 2, 2018
ACTION REQUESTED/INFORMATION/REPORT: Report ACTION REQUESTED BY: Barb Macikas, Director, and Larra Clark, Deputy Director DRAFT OF MOTION: N/A
BACKGROUND With funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, OCLC published the “From Awanress to Funding: A Study of Library Support in America” report 10 years ago. The study was created to conduct research, develop strategies, create materials and evaluate the potential of marketing and communications programs aimed at increasing and sustaining funding for U.S. public libraries. It was one of the first to bring forward U.S. voter perceptions about library funding and library support and directly informed library advocacy efforts ranging from PLA’s Turning the Page to OCLC’s Geek the Library campaign to ALA advocacy trainings, as well as local library funding campaigns.
Just over a year ago, PLA, ALA and OCLC leaders began discussions of how we could update this research after a tumultuous decade of economic, technological and social change. It was agreed the three groups would collaborate. With more limited funding available, it was agreed to focus on the voter perception survey with library supporter segmentation. Fortunately, Leo Burnett agreed to field the survey and again apply its proprietary segmentation formula to the analysis so we would not only capture a current snapshot of voter perceptions, but be able to make comparisons to earlier data. An advisory group made up of three PLA member leaders and the chair of the Committee on Library Advisory reviewed the draft survey and executive summary and provided feedback.
PROJECT DETAILS In both research studies, a panel of 2,000 U.S. voters between the ages of 18 and 69 who reside in communities with populations less than 300,000 was surveyed, segmented and analyzed. Two population segments that were not part of the original research panel were added last year and analyzed separately: people age 70 or older, and people who live in large cities (populations greater than 300,000). The new study does not include a qualitative analysis in the form of focus groups or a survey of city leaders, both of which had been conducted for the 2008 research. It does include some new questions related to newer library programs and services and support for federal library funding.
The new report will be released at the 2018 PLA Conference with a panel on Thursday, March 22. PLA Past President Vailey Oehlke will be on the panel, as well as PLA Deputy Director Larra Clark, ALA Office for Library Advocacy Director Marci Merola and WebJunction Director Sharon Streams. There will be print copies of an infographic and executive summary available on‐site, with the full report online only.
1 of 2
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.60a
The PLA‐ALA‐OCLC team feels there is significant data that will prompt national, state and local discussions—particularly as it relates to how library leaders improve awareness of our services and value and better target market segments most likely to support library funding.
2 of 2
PLA Board of Directors Midwinter Meeting 2018 2018.61
TO: PLA Board of Directors RE: Inclusive Internship Initiative DATE: Janurary 24, 2018
ACTION REQUESTED/INFORMATION/REPORT: Information ACTION REQUESTED BY: Mary Hirsh, Deputy Director
BACKGROUND Over the summer of 2017, PLA supported paid internships for 51 interns at 35 libraries, with funding from IMLS. The Inclusive Internship Initiative (iii) is designed to introduce students from diverse backgrounds to careers in librarianship.
UPDATES Generally, the program was highly successful at encouraging young people to consider a career in librarianship and building stronger connections between libraries and diverse audiences. Additionally, intern/mentor projects were consistently of high quality and responsive to needs of their communities.
97% of participants responses that Interns gained tools to make decisions about the educational directions that will lead them to librarianship and leadership 97% of participant responses indicated that Interns better understand the ways that libraries positively impact their communities 88% of participant responses indicate that Interns view librarianship as a viable, rewarding and meaningful career path 82% of participant responses indicate that Interns understand the scope of library work and how their interests & skills match that work 74% of interns reported that the internship made them more interested in becoming a librarian
Based on this success, PLA worked with IMLS program officers to extend the project through 2018. An extension of $318,606 in funding with a PLA cost share amount of $315,132 was awarded in January 2018. These funds will support 50 interns over summer 2018
To reduce overall program costs, PLA made several budget adjustments. Student stipends were lowered to $3,500 from $5,000 based on actua 2017 numbers Travel savings were realized by longer planning lead time and room sharing among interns 2017 materials and processes will be repurposed in 2018 Consultant fees were greatly reduced due to longer lead time and repurposing on 2017 materials
NEXT STEPS PLA is working to update announcement an application materials. The application window will open in early February. Application preference will be given to libraries that did not participate in 2017. The basic structure of the program will remain the same, with a kick‐off event, summer‐long internship with learning project at its center, online learning and networking, and wrap up event.
1