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2006 Annual Report
Last year, I told you that I chose Raise Our Voice as the 2006 Conference theme because our focus would be centering around advocacy, public relations and intellectual freedom, three areas that are key in our long range plan.
In the arena of advocacy, we had a very successful Legislative Day in April. Aside from learning the library cheer, all of our attendees, and I think all of our legislators, became better informed about those strange initials, PLF and TBR. Our visit to the Governor's office was so educational, in fact, that we received $7 million increases to Public Library Fund and Transaction-Based Reimbursement. School libraries also won, receiving a one-time $100 million in Prop. 98 funds for purchasing instructional and library materials. The Legislative Committee worked diligently on a number of other issues as well. RFID, the Cable Franchise Bill, and a host of other bills were reviewed and monitored.
The Dillons were instrumental in our success, and we are grateful for their continuing expertise and efforts on our behalf. But we played an important role. Our success is the direct result of repeated advocacy, repeatedly raising our voice. We have a host of newly elected legislators as of Tuesday, and I encourage all of you to become acquainted with yours and let them hear from you.
We were deeply disappointed by California voters' failure to pass a second library bond measure. Everyone on the Proposition 81 committee, Legislative Committee, and CLA staff worked extremely hard and they are now working on strategies to increase funding for library construction in the state.
In the area of Intellectual Freedom, our IF Committee responded to several challenges in the state. Our other committees, including Membership, Mentoring, and all the awards committees were also very active. Several sections presented mid-year programs this year, and other sections have been posting news and ideas to the CLA webblog.
The number-one rated priority in our Long Range Plan is the development of a statewide public relations campaign. We worked on trying to identify funding for such a project, but we needed to face the fact that it is beyond our resources to mount a multi-million campaign. At the Public Library Director's Forum this year, we received suggestions for what types of PR resources libraries would find useful, and the Public Relations Committee is in the process of developing a toolkit that will be available for libraries to easily and cheaply mount grassroots local campaigns.
Lastly, I want to mention our very successful statewide summer reading program, which CLA was able to coordinate thanks to an LSTA grant from the State Library. Our first year had 88% participation, and I'm hoping all of you are going to be on board and "Get A Clue" in 2007.
The successes and the activity we have seen this year are a direct result of those members who have gotten involved. I want to thank each of you who helped make a difference in the direction that CLA is taking. I encourage all of you to continue raising your voice to ensure that the California Library Association remains a dynamic, exciting and successful organization!
Margaret Miles
2006 CLA President
- 2006 Annual Report (149k)
Posted on November 20, 2006 2:02 PM | Permalink