PNLA Quarterly, Vol. 63 No.2 Winter 1999
Washington Annual Report, 1997-98
Linda Pierce, Washington Representative
Association News
It has been an exciting year for the Washington Library Association (WLA). New initiatives in membership and organizational structure as well as continuing development of our web presence have proven to be highlights of the year. WLA has 1997 membership figure of 1095. While this up slightly from 1996 the Association knows that there is room for growth and is looking at ways to increase membership throughout the state. Interest group membership is high with CAYAS (Children and Youth Services), WALE (Washington Library Employees, an interest group for support staff) and WLFTA (Washington Library Friends and Trustees Association) all having over 150 members.At the September board meeting the Board voted to ask the membership to approve two bylaws changes supported by the board. The results of the vote in October resulted in the acceptance by the membership of board restructuring efforts and consequent by-laws changes and a rejection of the Board proposal that the WLFTA representative be a non-voting member of the WLA Board.
Other by-law changes were sent In June to WLA members. Members were asked by the Board to approve the following bylaw changes: 1) To amend the by-laws to expand sustaining membership definitions to include not-for-profit and for-profit categories with their benefits to be determined by the WLA Board. 2) To change to association dues structure for personal and sustaining members and 3) To change the dues structure for Academic and Special Library members. Insert sentence here regarding election results, I will email that sentence on Friday 7/17.
In the fall the Board adopted a resolution supporting the new Statewide library plan being presented by the State Library. The new plan establishes a common vision for Washington libraries with elements that include universal access to information, customer centered services and resource sharing. More information about the plan can be obtained from the Washington State Library.
At the February meeting the Board received the results of a survey on conferences that was included in the membership renewal packages. Tom Moak, Tri-Cities, Coordinator of the 1999 Conference, presented the results to the Board. The survey pointed out once again that there is not one thing that is essential to a good conference but it did provide the conference planning committee with some highly relevant information to use in their planning. As a result the 1999 conference will not have a name key note speaker but will focus it's resources on a greater number of strong, small programs. Details of the conference survey can be found at the WLA website. The Board also approved a significant change in conference procedure in that there will be no formal exhibit hall due to space limitations. The Conference Committee will work with the vendor community to integrate vendors into the conference.
The WLA Board also received the new revised version of the Washington State Public Trustee Manual which was published by the Washington State Library. The new manual covers all areas of concern for library trustees.
The Association has also extensively developed it's web presence this year. Web guidelines are now in place and a new feature "Member's Voices" has been established. This is an interactive discussion forum that allows members to discuss WLA policies, share news of interest to the membership, state opinions about library issues and get feedback. The WLA website can be found at http://www.wla.org.
WLA held its annual conference in Wenatchee, WA, April 15-18. The conference was a rousing success with members and with vendors. The Wenatchee Convention Center was a wonderful venue and topics covered at the meetings ranged from discussion of the personality types of library workers to e-rate workshops. The key note speaker, Shelia Bethel Murray was inspiring and Joy Neal, conference chair did an outstanding job of coordination and planning.
At the conference the following awards were also given: CAYAS Award for Visionary Library Services to Youth: Eva Lusk, Spokane County Library ssociation; Distinguished Service as a Library Trustee, Ann Elliott Pend Oreille County Library District; Distinguished Service by Library Friends Group, Toni Savalli, Spokane Public Library; President's Award, Michael Wirt, Spokane County Library District. The WLA Scholarship for Graduate Study was given to Kathy Bullene, distance education student, Library and Information Science, University of Arizona.
New members of the WLA Board were also introduced at the Annual Meeting. The new board members are; Secretary, Carol Gill Schuyler, Kitsap Regional Library; Coordinator of Communications, Mary Carr, Spokane Community College Library; Coordinator of Continuing Education, Diane Cowles, Seattle Public Library; and Conference Coordinator, 2000 conference, Susan Odencrantz, Tacoma Public Library. Joan Weber, Yakima Community College, is serving in her second year as President and Cindy Cunningham, Amazon.com, is continuing to serve as vice president/president-elect.
In other conference business the Board approved May 17-19 as the dates for the 2000 conference to be held in Tacoma, WA and April 4-6 for the 2001 conference to be held in Spokane, WA. The 2002 conference will be a joint WLA/OLA conference and will be at Jantzen Beach, OR April 17-19. The 1999 WLA Conference will be held in Pasco, WA April 28-30, 1999 the conference theme is, Fond Farewells, Bold Beginnings.
The other conference highlight of the year was the annual WALE (Washington Association of Library Employees) which was held in Spokane, WA October 1998. Over 250 people attended the conference which had Jess Walter, Kathleen Weibel and Nancy Pearl as main speakers with an additional seven breakout sessions. The next WALE conference will be October 22-24, 1998 at Lake Chelan, WA. The conference theme is "Catch the Spirit: 25 Years of WALE".
Legislative news
It was a quiet year for library legislation in Olympia. Library Legislative day was held February 17th and in the absence of pressing legislation librarians, trustees and friends from across the state were able to work on educating state legislators regarding libraries and library issues.Two bills were brought up that affected intellectual freedom, the Harmful to Minors Act and an act that would have dealt with person who knowingly display sexually explicit material on a viewing screen that could be viewed by a minor who is not trespassing. Both bills were dead by the end of the session.
A number of property tax bills were also introduced that could have unpleasant ramifications for libraries. All of those bills were also dead by the end of the session.
Good legislative news includes the fact that Senate Bill 6599 was passed, it takes effect July 5, 1998 and exempts fundraising by Friends groups from taxation. The legislature also supported the State Library by approved funding for the GILS (Government Information Locator Service) project, a one time collection enhancement boost of $100,000, continuation of the database licensing project for an additional year, support for E-Rate and state-wide planning activities as well as the "Connectivity" project. From the Judicial front the Washington State Supreme Court up-held the Capital Facilities Act. This is a major victory for many library systems across the state.