NCLA President's Report - July 18, 2003

Much is happening since we last met.

We've elected officers for the new biennium. They are Robert Burgin, vice-president/president-elect; Connie Keller, secretary; Dale Cousins and David Paynter, directors at large; and Evelyn Council, SELA representative. Congratulations to our new officers, and a huge thank-you to all the candidates.

I was pleased to have the opportunity to attend a Conference Committee meeting that was held in Asheboro. Everything is on track and as you will hear in more detail later, you can expect an exciting conference. Registration information is forthcoming in Tar Heel Libraries, and it already is on the web (be sure to check out the Conference website - Bao has done an outstanding job with it).

Speaking of the website, a redesign of the main NCLA site incorporating the new logo will be posted in the very near future. Again, Bao has done some great work and you will be very impressed.

The PATRIOT Act resolution has drawn a lot of attention. Both Mike and I have been interviewed by the press, and I've been interviewed by the North Carolina News Network (the radio news service). Shortly after we sent the resolution and after our delegation to ALA Legislative Day visited Washington, three of our Congress members - Price, Watt and Etheridge - signed on as cosponsors of the bill to repeal the part of the act in question.

On a related issue, the North Carolina Library Association has been invited to be a part of the newly-formed North Carolina Open Government Coalition. Organized by editors at the News and Observer and the Charlotte Observer, the group will seek to educate journalists, elected officials and state residents about their rights and responsibilities under the state's open meetings and public records laws, and advocate for improved citizen access to government decision-making. I attended a general meeting in June in Chapel Hill which included some 60 representatives from the state's newspapers, legal and library communities, city and county associations, public policy think-tanks, and others; the organizers are in the process of creating a steering committee.

The Advocacy Tack Force met in May, and by conference call in June, and formulated a plan for expanding NCLA's reach in the area of public policy. It's based on the NC LIVE model of "Communities of Interest;" more from the task force in its report, and more as this intriguing idea develops over the next few months.

Finally, we have a couple of goodbyes to say: Intellectual Freedom Committee Chair Mike Sawyer will leave to take over a library system in Colorado, and Robert Canida reports that he is leaving the profession. You'll hear more from them, but I want to extend my gratitude for their service to NCLA. Working with Pauletta, I have appointed Jim Kuhlman, University Librarian at UNC-Asheville, as Intellectual Freedom Committee Chair. As we have directors-elect due to take office at the conference, I'm inclined to leave Robert's position vacant for the next couple of months.