PNLA Quarterly, Vol. 63 No.2 Winter 1999
Alaska Annual Report, 1997-98
Sue Sherif, Alaska Representative
For Alaska libraries and the Alaska Library Association, the last year has been a period of transition and celebration.
TRANSITIONS
At the Alaska Library Association Annual Conference March 4-8, 1998 in Ketchikan, Alaska, Charlotte Glover (Ketchikan Public Library) assumed the presidency of AkLA. Other newly elected officers are Bill Smith (retired, University of Alaska Fairbanks), vice-president/president-elect and Deb Kalvee (University of Alaska, Fairbanks), treasurer. Kay Myers (Anchorage Municipal Libraries) will be the new Alaska Representative to PNLA. Her term will end in August, 2000.In August and September of 1997, the Alaska Library Association faced dwindling membership and participation in the organization and responded with a strategic planning workshop, which formulated an action plan (viewable online at the AkLA web site [www.alaska.net/~akla]). The AkLA Executive Council addressed the plan at its autumn face-to-face meeting in Anchorage. Although all elements of the aggressive plan could not be addressed in a single meeting or in a year, the council instituted many of the suggestions concerning memberships, publications, and communications with new members. These steps combined with a member-approved revision of the dues schedule resulted in: revolving year memberships; a revision of the election schedule; a new plan for newsletter publication; a new look for library directory.
At the Ketchikan conference, Bob Andrel, AkLA's executive secretary, was able to announce an increase in personal and institutional membership.
While AkLA reworked its publication format, State Librarian Karen Crane instituted a new weekly online news bulletin for all subscribers to the AkLA electronic list.
SLED, the Alaska electronic doorway, sponsored by the Alaska State Library and the Rasmuson Library of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, also began to change its look and emphasis. The SLED Advisory Committee determined to revamp the online resource by bringing its Alaskan resources to the forefront. A design firm will create graphic changes that should give SLED [sled.alaska.edu] a new look in September, 1998.
Several building projects occupied the year, new libraries for Gustavus, Barrow, and the Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska Fairbanks made blueprints and interior design a major preoccupation of several librarians throughout the year, while staff at the Noel Wien Library in Fairbanks became adept at moving tons of books and breathing sheet rock dust as their library's $4 million renovation and expansion project turned their workplace into a construction zone for ten months. The communities of Dutch Harbor and Haines took the first steps toward new public libraries.
School librarians and the faculty of the University of Alaska Libraries watched the legislative session with keen interest as the funding formula for state public schools and the budget of the University of Alaska were subject to protracted and sharp debate in this year's session.
CELEBRATIONS
Alaska's librarians saw their lobbying and education efforts pay off when the State Legislature funded the State Library and SLED without cuts. In addition, the legislature added funds for statewide online database licensing. On June 23, 1998 Governor Tony Knowles signed the Public Library Law and gave Alaska a basic legal framework for the establishment and recognition of public libraries for the first time. The new law "both requires and reward local effort in the public library assistance program," according to George Smith of the Alaska State Library. The Arctic Slope Regional Corporation/Tuzzy Consortium Library in Barrow and the Central Council of Tlingit/Haida in Juneau were two recipients of only 12 grants nationwide awarded under the Title IV special grants. Library development in remote villages is the focus of the grant to Barrow; the development of a tribal library in the Southeast Alaska Native Employment and Training Center is the goal of the Juneau project. The culmination of several years' work and a dream of several decades is the memorandum of agreement for a cooperatively purchased online system for the North Slope Borough, the UAF Rasmuson Library and its remote sites, the Fairbanks North Star Borough Public Library and School District, the Juneau Public Library, Juneau-Douglas High School, Alyeska Central School, the University of Alaska Southeast, and the Alaska State Library. DRA was the vendor chosen after a cooperative, exhaustive, and exhausting RFP process.While 30-40 Alaskans and former Alaskans celebrated formally (but loudly) at the inaugural gala at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, librarians all over Alaska saluted Ann Symons as she became President of the American Library Association on June 30, 1998. The celebration of her remarkable achievement will undoubtedly continue when AkLA meets March 18-21, 1999 in Juneau.
Relevant web addresses: Alaska Library Association: http://www.alaska.net/~akla; Alaska State Library: http://www.educ.state.ak.us/lam/library.html; SLED (State Library Electronic Doorway): http://sled.alaska.edu
Other Alaska links: Alaska Library Association, PO Box 81084, Fairbanks, AK 99708; Email: akla@alaska.net; Membership Bob Andrel, Executive Secretary, boba@muskox.alaska.edu; List serv: SUBSCRIBE AkLA-L to listserv@galileo.uafadm.alaska.edu Alaska PNLA Representative 1998-2000 Kay Myers, Anchorage Municipal Libraries, 3600 Denali Way, Anchorage, AK 99503-6093; Phone: 907-343-2925; Email: kaym@muskox.alaska.edu