ALIA Board and January
January sees the start of the ALIA financial year and by the end of the month our auditors have arrived to do the analysis of the previous year’s accounts. Our Annual Report financials in 2008 were clearly affected by the GFC. At the end of the first full ALIA financial year after the financial squashing our investments received, we are starting to bounce back slowly. ALIA House continues to be a major (but aging) asset with the next 3-year-annual re-valuation to be reflected in the 2009 figures. Salaries and staff movements continue to be our major expense, as would be expected in an organisation where providing professional services and facilitating the many groups, committees, events, campaigns and activities to members is our priority. A restructure of ALIA National Office management staffing began in December 2009 and will continue though the first half of 2010. Positions will be advertised during coming months.
The Board of Directors election nominations closed on 13th January 2010 and the unusual situation of having the same number of nominations for available positions occurred. This means that the Association is not required to conduct an election this year. A number of members considered nominating this year (and discussed their intentions with our current board members) but indicated that it was just not quite the right time for them either personally or professionally. A director position not only comes with significant responsibilities (ASIC and AICD give good summaries) but also a great time commitment. To enable greater effectiveness for board processes, the ALIA Board has implemented a few changes how the company’s board started out in the early 2000’s in regards to meetings and board decisions. The board meets more frequently than in the past – with teleconference meetings (as official board meetings) in between the face-to-face meetings often held in Canberra or other capitals (as I write this I am on the plane to a board planning meeting in Brisbane, the closest location for three of our current board members). We also have 6 Standing Committees of the Board, which a board member chairs. The focus of these SC’s is high level discussion, research, reports and recommendations also using key expert member input, for that board member Chair to bring to board meetings. It allows a board member to focus on one or two area of strategic importance for the Association – while at the same time getting the summaries and overall picture by hearing from other board members and the Executive Director. Our congratulations to Margaret, John, Andrew and Julie and we look forward to working with you all and getting ready for your official terms from May2010 to May2012. We also acknowledge their employers and staff and families who will be supporting them in their role as a board member (it really is a combined effort).
Other members expressed their interest in nominating this year, but after further information realised that they may need more background in finance or governance, or just learning more about the wide scope of work of the Association to become a more productive board member so that they might get the best out of their 2-year term on the board. The ALIA Boardroom Bound program will continue and you can sign up for a board buddy. Some potential board members have considered nominating for an ALIA Advisory Committee in the meantime. We need quite a few more members to assist with these committees – nominations are being called again in the March edition of inCite, so keep a look out for that.
Advocacy will be a great focus for us at ALIA in 2010. Over the past few weeks it has centred on the ISP filtering proposals and RC Classification and the ACMA blacklist. Your case studies so far on examples of how library-related enquiries and research work can be inhibited by ISP filtering have been very useful for our submission – please continue to send your comments and responses to advocacy@alia.org.au by 10th February so that we can finalise the submission by the due date.
Following on from the ALIA Public Libraries Summit we are also continuing on with the discussion around the social inclusion contribution that libraries make to society. It’s sometimes interesting to see who reads blog posts – including comment from the Social Inclusion Minister these past few days (thanks Ursula for taking the time). We are very much looking forward to working with DEEWR, the Social Inclusion Board and Senator Stephens’ office on continuing to place libraries at the centre of our community contributions in this area. Her comments on literacy and reading and the national agenda comes at a time when our third ALIA Summer Reading Club is coming to an end and the announcement of the book for National Simultaneous Storytime for 2010 is made. ALIA members should feel proud of the contribution that these national reading campaigns contribute to the nation’s literacy agenda – and they are great fun too. We hope you have enjoyed ‘Reading on the Wild Side’ and are now placing your order for ‘Little White Dogs Can’t Jump’ and putting the date of 26 May 2010 into the diary to organise a reading session in your library – no matter what type it might be. The importance of reading and literacy, and how literate citizens improve our society, can be highlighted by library staff everywhere.
Sue Hutley, ALIA Executive Director