[CASL-L] What has ALA done for you?

[IRENE KWIDZINSKI]

FYI

PS These links are on the CASL ning for your reference needs.


----- Forwarded Message ----
From: "Maureen Sullivan, ALA President, 2012-2013" <jwright at alawash.org>
To: kwidz at sbcglobal.net
Sent: Tue, January 15, 2013 10:04:50 AM
Subject: Presidential update on ALA digital content & libraries work

Presidential update on ALA digital content & libraries work 
A Message to All ALA Members from ALA President Maureen Sullivan 
As we mark the halfway point of the 2011–2015 ALA Strategic Plan, the American 
Library Association (ALA) has made significant strides towards its goal to 
provide leadership in the transformation of libraries and library services in an 
increasingly digital information environment. I am proud to be part of this 
important work with ALA Immediate Past-President Molly Raphael and 
President-elect Barbara Stripling. At the highest levels and across the 
organization, ALA has mobilized around ebooks and larger digital content 
issuesaffecting libraries of all types. A great deal of work was accomplished 
earlier this year under Molly’s leadership and with the very good work 
accomplished by the Digital Content & Libraries Working Group (DCWG) that she 
appointed. This continues to be a priority for the Association.
As ALA President, I am encouraged by where ALA has positioned itself. Though 
there has not been enough progress with publishers and distributors, ALA has 
made many contributions to library advocacy. I know through my professional work 
in organizational consulting that revolutionary change is difficult and takes 
time to work through, and that paths forward are not clear cut. I’m pleased that 
ALA is making a good effort to navigate this revolution with, and on behalf of, 
our members. For their contributions to ALA and the library community, I 
particularly thank the co-chairs of the DCWG, Robert Wolven and Sari Feldman; 
the members of the DCWG; and the ALA staff who support the DCWG.
As we head into the 2013 ALA Midwinter Meeting, I thought it would be useful to 
“round up” and share highlights from the past year, say something about some 
next steps, and invite you to join our efforts. A strong foundation has been 
laid, and there is much more work ahead in this dynamic sphere. In order to 
create real change, we will need to deepen and go beyond historical 
relationships, rethink how we leverage technology to best serve readers, and 
even shift paradigms—for instance, from repository to creator. There is no doubt 
that “transformation” is the right frame of reference for the work before us.
Relationship-building and communication with publishers
The first major milestone for DCWG and for me, personally, was a set of meetings 
in New York with several “Big Six” publishers in January 2012. ALA needed to 
make our case directly at the highest levels in order to establish direct 
channels of communication and develop a better understanding of publisher 
concerns and misconceptions.
One issue that became clear from those meetings is the influential role of 
intermediaries—aggregators and/or retailers—in library ebook lending. 
Examination of the issue of library ebook lending involves a much broader look 
at the entire ecosystem, including not only publishers and libraries but also 
intermediaries, authors, and even literary agents. These first meetings also 
introduced us to a central point of negotiation: how much “friction” is 
acceptable in order for libraries and publishers to do business together? While 
our patrons love 24/7 access to our digital content, publishers are concerned 
this easy availability might hurt sales. Of course, we librarians know that our 
waiting lists already constitute quite a bit of “friction.”
As a result of these meetings, we widened our net to include more players. We 
participated in new research and had deeper internal conversations about what 
“friction” means for libraries and our patrons and how this might translate into 
different business models. More information about these meetings—and those from 
subsequent visits to New York by the ALA delegation in May, September and 
December, and meetings during the PLA National Conference in March—can be found 
on the American Libraries E-Content blog:
• Ebook Talks: The Details
• Ebook Talks Continued: ALA Meets with Distributors
• Ebooks: Promising New Conversations
• Focus on the Future
• On the Road for Ebooks: How ALA Advocated This Fall
Increased media outreach
In any negotiation, leverage matters. From the first news story about 
HarperCollins changing its library ebook licensing terms, outreach to media has 
been part of our strategy to raise public awareness of the issues and to 
increase accountability. Over time, ALA communications have become more 
immediate and more proactive. As we found some publishers taking steps backward 
(with increased prices or eliminated access), we responded more quickly and 
aggressively. We reached out to editorial pages and news reporters to make our 
case directly to the public, as well as to publishers. Not long after I began my 
presidential term, we published an open letter calling for more immediate action 
on the pressing issues facing libraries and our patrons.
In November 2012 with your help, we brought all of this experience together to 
launch the ebook media and communications toolkit to share what we have learned 
and extend our reach further. Among the tools are templates and guidelines for 
using them with editorial and news media contacts, news hooks you can use 
locally, tips for building relationships with media contacts, and links to 
examples of ebook-related editorials and news stories.
More information on this work can be found here:
• Press clips(pdf)
• Pew Internet Project research on libraries
• Ebook media and communications toolkit
Information resources and tools for libraries and library advocates
The principal leverage point, of course, is you. The influence derived from our 
58,000 members and the entire library community is powerful. ALA has stepped up 
its efforts to inform our members and to work collaboratively with our library 
partners. ALA’s elected leaders, DCWG members, and ALA staff have given 
presentations and updates at forums ranging from the Public Library Association 
and the Association of American Publishers to chapter conferences in Colorado, 
Indiana, and New Hampshire, and even to international conferences in Italy, 
China, and Russia.
We have published and shared more information and updates online. American 
Libraries kick-started the E-Content blog in fall 2011 and published two digital 
supplements in 2012 featuring contributions from many DCWG leaders and 
collaborators. For their part, DCWG subgroups have: outlined business models; 
initiated a series of tip sheets to provide librarians with clear definitions; 
developed examples of how digital content and digital formats impact library 
services; and identified resources for further information on the numerous and 
often complicated issues in providing digital resources to their patrons and 
students.
ALA is working collaboratively with other organizations on a range of efforts. 
One major initiative is a series of studies on e-reading trends and libraries 
being conducted by the Pew Internet Project with funding from the Bill & Melinda 
Gates Foundation. ALA is a partner in the Big Shift, an IMLS-funded research 
project through OCLC. ALA also participates in the ReadersFirst coalition 
initiated by New York Public Library, the Digital Public Library of America 
initiative, as well as in the International Federation of Library Associations 
and Institutions’ ebook workgroup.
More information on these tools and initiatives can be found here:
• Business models
•Tip sheets
• E-Content blog
• Transforming Libraries website
Next steps
As we start this new year, publisher merger talks are in the news and the 
landscape continues to shift. We must keep the pressure on large publishers, 
while also deepening existing relationships and building new ones across the 
ecosystem. For example, we will be connecting more with smaller and independent 
publishers, as well as with authors and literary agents. As we do so, we will 
keep you informed and create new tools for engagement along the way. We also 
will look more closely at increasing the possibilities for libraries to market, 
provide access to, and facilitate production of books. Self-publishing is an 
exploding area of growth.How might libraries play a role in this trend in 
furtherance of our goal to connect authors and readers?
DCWG members already are developing new resources related to ensuring ebook 
access for people with disabilities, as well as examining ebook business models 
for school libraries. Additional topics and goals are under consideration as we 
outline the work of the DCWG in 2013.
I have heard from many of our members across the nation on the critical 
importance of these issues, and I truly appreciate your interest and support. We 
have worked hard and well together over the past year, and there is certainly 
more to do in the year ahead. Please be assured that I am looking forward to 
this work ahead with all of you and our hard-working DCWG members and ALA staff 
to further advance our cause as we all work through the digital revolution.
Maureen Sullivan
ALA President
 
________________________________
 
Trouble viewing this email? Go to: 
http://maildogmanager.com/page.html?p=0000015Fu8vj4XQs9e0e3sk5O3bWUomCQ=&email=kwidz@sbcglobal.net
 
________________________________
 You gave The American Library Association permission to send you this email. 
The American Library Association
50 E Huron, Chicago, IL 60611, United States 
Review our Privacy Policy and Acceptable Use Policy.
One-Click Unsubscribe or manage your Subscription Preferences
 Crafted and delivered by the American Library Association's Mail Dog!   
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mylist.net/archives/casl-l/attachments/20130115/1e442591/attachment.html>