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Annual Reports
October 12, 2009
2009 Annual Report
Beyond Intuition - Planning For Transformation
Whenever there is need for change within an organization, several choices of action are available. One would be to react in panic and revert to past practice. Another would be to jump headfirst into the new situation and build upon the weak foundation of the old structure. However, the best practice for instituting lasting change is assessing, evaluating and careful planning for the organization's future. This process also includes preserving best practices and enhancing core programs that provide value to members.
With the number of significant changes experienced by CLA in this past year the best choice was to hold, assess, evaluate, and manage - sometimes one day at a time. Consider the major changes to our organization in the last 12 months: a supporting membership vote to change the bylaws and governance structure of the organization; the departure of our Executive Director; searching for, hiring and orienting an interim Executive Director; the loss of 1.75 of the 2 remaining office staff; the completion and resultant ramifications of a first ever business assessment report; the sale of the downtown building and moving of the CLA offices; two full recruitments for a permanent Executive Director; a RFP process to select an association management company; and a nationwide economic recession. All of these changes had a significant impact our organization's short-term fiscal health.
Yes, this year has been a very tough one for the organization. Yet what an amazing opportunity these challenges have provided for CLA to become stronger. The old adage, "When the going gets tough, the tough get going" can certainly be applied to all of us in CLA this year. Yet we have not only maintained the services members expect from CLA, we've actually launched some new ones. This report summarizes the advocacy, educational and innovative activities that have filled the CLA community this past year on behalf of our members. Here are highlights from the report:
- Continued and coordinated the statewide summer reading program and, "Spring Fling" workshops sponsored by CLA Interest Groups; and received a grant invitation from the prestigious David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
- Continued a strong legislative presence at the state and local levels that included retaining current levels of the PLF and TBR while assertively lobbying for ARRA stimulus dollars for broadband connectivity.
- Completed a Transition Tool Kit to help members better understand the new CLA governance structure
- Debuted the monthly electronic newsletter "California Libraries", published two editions of the CLA magazine "Clarion", and established our presence on two social networks, Facebook and Twitter.
- Joined the Urban Libraries Council as an institutional member providing CLA with access to critical forecasting and research information.
- 2009 Annual Report (914k)
- 2008 Annual Report (97k)
- 2006 Annual Report (149k)
- 2005 Annual Report (158k)
All of this activity happened simultaneously with the completion of a thorough business assessment of CLA. This assessment gave your leadership guidance for growing our organization in the best way possible.
And the reason CLA could withstand all the change and still operate and produce is a direct result of YOU, the members. You kept volunteering, working, and supporting your leadership. And all of us have been supported by our Interim Executive Director, Claudia Foutz, our new Membership, Marketing and Communications Manager, Richard Berta, and the continuing assistance of Laura Fisher our prior long time Administrative Director. As President this team provided me and the Board with the performance, information and advice we needed to advance through this year of challenges.
I believe that with the information we now possess about our finances and organizational structural needs, we are perfectly poised to enter into the next phase of CLA's growth-planning for a strong future. The next couple of years will entail a strategic planning process that will "Reach Out!" to all our members, other library organizations, and incorporate some of the best practices from other state library associations.
I am proud of the way we embraced major change and chose to reassess our association in the strongest possible light. CLA is now prepared for a transformation into an organization that will be exciting, relevant and flexible. We will be an organization whose decisions are based on knowledge, data and our rich history.
I can't think of a more exciting time to have had both the honor and humbling experience of being your President.
Barbara Roberts
2009 CLA President
Posted by claadmin at 10:55 AM
November 21, 2008
2008 Annual Report
At the beginning of my presidential year, there were several activities that I knew we would be involved with most of the year. Fortunately, with the help of the CLA Office, the members, and the staff in Richmond, I believe it was a successful year.
Perhaps the biggest project this year was the Bylaws changes, which were approved overwhelmingly by the membership in the recent election. Approval of these changes indicates your desire for a new way of reaching members, providing value, and making CLA a flexible organization. However, our work is not yet done! During this upcoming year, the Assembly, the Executive Committee, all the Committees and Round Tables, and the members themselves will experience a year of transition work. Some changes will be implemented fairly quickly so that we can begin developing leaders for the next 20 years. I urge you to participate as much as you can, because your input will be invaluable.
Technologically, there were changes and improvements this year as well. The CLA website continues to grow with the additional Forum Message Boards and a President's Blog, among other resources. I was especially excited about the special project for mentoring that took place in Second Life. I know that some of you were very excited about this opportunity to mentor new members and new librarians in a virtual space. Because of geographical limitations, many of you had never mentored. Second Life gives you the opportunity even if you are a distance away from your mentee. Additionally, CLA has an office in Second Life. If you've never visited it, please take a moment to drop by.
Before I leave office, I am appointing a task force to look at return on investment for libraries in California. I am charging a task force to examine whether or not it is feasible for ROI to be calculated for California. ROI can be a useful tool when advocating for libraries and funding. This is potentially a leadership area for CLA, and in our role as advocates for libraries in California, it makes sense. I don't want to commit resources to this task, however, unless it is something that will be useful, thus, the task force. Barbara Roberts is supportive of this idea and feels that it's something I should continue during my year as Immediate Past President.
Last, the departure of Susan Negreen as Executive Director for CLA provides us with the opportunity to evaluate the day-to-day activities and operations of the organization. We wish Sue the best in her future endeavors. During this interim period, the Executive Committee has retained the services of Claudia Foutz, of the Foutz and Young Group, to serve as Interim Executive Director. Claudia will work with the elected representatives of CLA to examine exactly what CLA's goals and objectives are, especially in terms of the revised Bylaws. Based on her analysis of our operations, she will make recommendations that will allow us to choose the best management structure for CLA.
It's been an honor to be your president during such an exciting time. Thank you all for your support!
Monique le Conge, 2008 CLA President
Posted by claadmin at 11:47 AM
November 9, 2007
2007 Annual Report
Opportunity Knocks, this year's Conference theme reflects the work of our Association during 2007. Our financial status is good and membership remains stable with many students becoming members. In addition to our ongoing activities, CLA developed a number of new collaborations with the State Library and CALTAC. In addition, the Statewide Summer Reading Program received another year of LSTA funding.
The Legislative Committee continued their innovative work with a successful Day in the District, Legislative Day and podcast as well as participation in Federal Legislative Day. Senator Simitian introduced a new public library construction bond measure. Although it did not pass the Legislature in 2007, the bill is on suspense and will be considered again in January 2008. While the Association was shocked when the Governor reduced PLF and TBR in August, our lobbyists and the Legislative Committee immediately developed a campaign to ask the Governor to restore those funds. The campaign will kick off at conference. Please make a phone call or write a letter to the Governor asking for the restoration of PLF and TBR.
At the beginning of the year, I challenged our association with this question, "Is CLA well positioned for the 21st Century?" In September 2006, our leadership retreat determined that we needed to take a look at how CLA's governance affected member value. We hired a consultant, Paul Meyer from Tecker Associates, who is an expert in nonprofit associations to help us evaluate the governance of our organization. Paul conducted qualitative interviews with individuals who have knowledge of governance and an online survey of the membership. We discovered that members want a nimble, innovative organization. They envision an organization that can provide increased communication both for networking and member input as well as meaningful leadership opportunities. Our members want to use technology to allow more individuals to participate in the organization.
In order to address these findings, I appointed a task force who, with the assistance of our consultant, developed recommendations for ways we can adapt CLA to the needs of our members in the 21st Century. During Conference, these recommendations will be presented to both the outgoing and incoming Assembly for input. Immediately after Conference, these recommendations will be posted on the CLA website for your comments. All comments will be collected and provided to the Executive Committee at their meeting in January. I hope that you will find the time to look at these recommendations and provide comments by December 31, 2007.
Finally, I want to thank the CLA staff and all the members of our Association for a great year. It has truly been an honor to be the President of this organization.
Margaret Todd, 2007 CLA President
Posted by claadmin at 9:35 AM
November 20, 2006
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
Posted by claadmin at 2:02 PM
February 5, 2006
2005 Annual Report
What a year it's been! 2005 was a year of "firsts." The first news/blog, the first issue of our new magazine, the Clarion, our first LSTA grant award and a few more! We are also well on our way to a finalized long range plan that will lead CLA forward.
Our accomplishments this year were made possible by the ground work of previous presidents, committees, and our staff. Our news/blog and magazine came out of a study conducted by Cindy Mediavilla and completed under Susan Hildreth's leadership. Now you can log on to CLA's website and get current news and information from CLA Sections, Committees and the library world, or you can dive into the Clarion, CLA's magazine so ably edited by Anne Turner, for substantive information on library issues. Please join me in thanking all those involved who helped turn our communication plan into a reality.
We are very excited about our new partnership with the California State Library. Through an LSTA grant, we have joined the National Collaborative Summer Library Program as a state member; and CLA is facilitating this summer reading program opportunity for 2006. The National Collaborative Summer Library Program is a grassroots consortium of 32 state agencies and associations working together providing high-quality summer reading program materials for children and teens at the lowest cost possible for libraries. Some libraries in California have participated in this program previously and have found it to be quite successful and cost effective. The manuals for the 2006 program are now making their way into library branches.
CLA's legislative agenda continues to be vigorous. Our Legislative Committee and lobbyists worked with members of the Assembly and Senate Budget Committees to maintain the PLF at $14.3 million for the 2005-06 fiscal year, and worked with legislators on a number of bills that impact libraries, including one on RFID. CLA supported the Governor's appointment of Susan Hildreth as State Librarian, and packed her confirmation hearing with librarians from around California. Partnering with the California School Library Association and CALTAC, library legislative day in April and Day in the District drew active and enthusiastic participation. I urge all my colleagues to participate in this activity whether you represent public, academic, law or other types of libraries; getting the word out to our elected representatives on the importance of all libraries is imperative.
I would also like to recognize the work of the Bond Campaign Committee this last year. By only funding a small fraction of the submitted projects, the success of the previous Bond measure serves to highlight the continued need for new library construction. Please help support the Bond campaign through donations and spreading the word on the importance of this measure. You can find out more about the campaign through our website. Click on the link "support the library bond act" on the CLA home page, www.cla-net.org.
I would like to end with acknowledging a debt of gratitude that I feel for all my colleagues involved in the planning of the 2005 conference. They say many cooks spoil the soup, but with a giant casserole such as this year's conference, I think the many cooks added great flavor to the mix.
I celebrate the everyday heroes who help make, not only the conference, but our organization, the success that it is. How we are able to accomplish so much through a volunteer workforce and a paid staff of just three is amazing.
I want to emphasize that CLA is its members. Please get involved. Run for office. Volunteer to serve on a committee. Submit an article to the news/blog. When you receive an online questionnaire from CLA, answer it. This was the first time that the members were able to directly give their voice to the long range planning process through a Zoomerang online survey. I think that is a giant step in creating the type of organization that can respond directly to member's needs.
As we struggle with the vision of what the future of libraries will be, it is also our task to create a vision of what our professional organization will become. With your input, help and enthusiasm, CLA has a bright future.
Danis Kreimeier
2005 President
Posted by claadmin at 7:53 AM