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From the President: My Legislative Day(s)
This week, I was involved with CLA meetings and Legislative Day. On Tuesday, April 15, the CLA Assembly and the CLA Executive Committees met. Then, on Wednesday, April 16, I participated in the annual Legislative Day activities. It was a lovely, cool day in Sacramento, and while the legislative news is not great, I feel that the visits were successful.
But first, let me talk about the Assembly and Executive Committees meeting. Assembly met first, beginning at 10 am. A high point was a report and demonstration from Sandy Vella, who showed the Assembly the CLA Office located in Second Life. As you may remember, Sandy is working on a pilot project with Connie Costantino to mentor new CLA members in Second Life. You'll be happy to know that the project is going well, with one of the largest cohorts of members and mentors participating! In addition, CLA's office space is very nice, and can serve as a new communication tool for us to advertise programs, services, and conference. The Assembly members were very interested in the potential for CLA and many wanted to learn on the spot!
One of the big issues was the discussion about the reorganization proposal. After the membership at large had commented on the proposal, I had asked committee chairs and section leaders to initiate discussions about reorganization and how it might affect their groups. After much discussion, taking into consideration all of the comments from both members and the volunteers groups, the Assembly voted to send the reorganization proposal (with a few tweaks based on the comments received) to the Executive Committee. In essence, the Assembly agreed that the reorganization proposal was a good idea and should go to the membership for a vote.
At the Executive Committee meeting, the vote actually took less discussion because all of the members had been present at the Assembly discussion. The Executive Committee also voted to send the proposal to the membership for a vote. This was a somewhat ironic twist because among many members there is the idea that the Assembly is a "rubber stamp" for the Executive Committee. In this case, it was the Assembly who approved this to move the item along to you for a vote.
Now what? When the normal balloting takes place this summer, a major Bylaws overhaul will be included to reflect the reorganization proposal. I want to thank Cindy Mediavilla, the chair of the Organization & Bylaws Committee, and her committee, for their work on a Bylaws revision. They have a little more work to do, to incorporate the ideas that came from all of you who submitted your thoughts, but I'm very happy that they've been busy working on this task. They have done a great job. Thanks to them!
Information will be made available to you about the tweaks. They are primarily small changes, but I think significant ones, which will help create a flexible organization that will be able to make decisions, take action, and change more easily in response to the membership's needs. I have offered to come to CSLA meetings or other library-related meetings around the state to present the information, so if you are interested, please e-mail me. I will be happy to arrange to come visit you and talk about the reorganization.
Legislative Day began, as always, with a presentation by the CLA and CSLA lobbyists about the different issues and messages that were important to mention to the legislators. Even if you weren't able to attend, please be sure to take a look at the position papers and information, which may be helpful to you at home. Then, it was off to meet with representatives from our districts. School librarians, board and commission members, friends and foundation members, and other library supporters, including students, were among the many groups vying for time, attention, and money. I always enjoy the energy level at the Capitol! While the outlook for the budget this year is, let's face it, grim, I did appreciate the fact that libraries are viewed so positively. Maybe now is the time for us to strategize about ways to give libraries more clout with our representatives. I know that the Legislative Committee works hard with Mike and Christina Dillon, our lobbyists, to plan our message and our strategy each year. I thank them for it! But perhaps we are not collectively contributing to the effort in the same way that teachers, nurses, prison guards, or other groups do. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts and ideas for giving the library message to the legislature a bit more bite. Post here or e-mail me.
If you weren't able to participate in Legislative Day this year, make plans for next year! Or, plan to participate in the next Legislative Days in the District. It's important for us all.
Posted by Monique le Conge, 2008 CLA President on April 18, 2008 12:19 PM | Permalink