Pacific Northwest Library Association

PNLA Quarterly, Vol. 62 No.2 Winter 1998

President's Message: Crisis and Renewal

In my last column I referred to the fact that the conference at Bell Harbor had lost money. I want to take this opportunity to give you more details on that loss and tell you what actions your board has taken to address the situation.

While there are still a few minor items to be accounted for, Conference Treasurer Jim Taylor reports that the 1997 Conference lost some $16,000. This is a very serious loss for the Association and the board addressed the situation at its November meeting. As $7,000 had been advanced to the conference to pay up front costs, the actual indebtedness stood at $9,000.

The board had discussions via e-mail prior to the November meeting and decided that three courses of action were necessary:

  1. Create savings through budget cuts
  2. Seek short term loans from other associations
  3. Establish a Fund Development Campaign for the long term
I am pleased that we received a very quick and positive response to our request for assistance from the American Library Association. They have provided PNLA with a gift of $5,000 to help us through this difficult period. This support enabled us to reduce the indebtedness to $4,000. Further budget paring reduced it to $2,500. All bills are being paid, and we will be seeking ways in the coming year to cover the shortfall. We have asked the Canadian Library Association for assistance and, while we have not yet had a response, we hope to be able to manage without such assistance.

Jim Taylor, Systems Coordinator, Seattle Public Library, has agreed to be Fund Development Coordinator for PNLA. He will function as a committee chair and will report to the board. Jim is available at jim.taylor@spl.org and would be interested in receiving your fund development ideas and offers of help.

This issue of the Quarterly is to some extent a victim of our current situation. We were unable to make a decision on whether or not to publish the regular issue, because of the financial situation, until it was too late to publish the full issue. This somewhat smaller issue will also cost slightly less to produce. This fits in with the whole approach of your board at this time, that of fiscal conservatism.

A further money saving decision was made at the August board meeting with the cancellation of the Jobline. The operation of the Jobline has been in the hands of students at the University of Washington Library School since 1982. I want to take this opportunity to thank them publicly for their work over the years in offering this very useful service to the library community. The jobline is now accessible through the listserv archives with the job announcements button on the PNLA Homepage. The Homepage has recently been updated by Elizabeth Felt and now includes links to PNLA member associations.

The last few months have been very difficult ones for PNLA and its board as we dealt with both the renewal of the association and the financial crisis. I have been very encouraged by the many people who have offered us their support and counsel, believing as we do that there is a strong future for PNLA. I am in no doubt that we have turned the corner and are well on our way to a renewed PNLA.

Gordon L. Ray may be reached at Gordon_ray@bc.sympatico.ca or at 604-852-6731

See also the president's open letter in this issue of the PNLA Quarterly.

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