President's Message

It was a great honor for me to be invited, as President of PNLA, to meet with Canada’s new National Librarian, Roch Carrier.  Mr. Carrier is a nationally acclaimed author and a member of the Order of Canada.  He has now traveled across Canada to learn the issues that concern Canadian librarians and what role we think the National Librarian could play in improving “the situation.”  Almost every one of the issues raised and discussed and clarified could have been a session at the "Common Ground" conference in Calgary last August.  We talked about:

• the profile of libraries – often low

• funding – ditto

• postal subsidy for interlibrary loans – only for books, only for public libraries, always in danger of being removed

• the Internet – mostly telecommunications costs and regulations, a bit about content and filters, a bit about some perceptions that the Internet is making libraries redundant or obsolete.  We’re fortunate that Industry Canada is connecting public and school libraries, but we’re concerned about sustaining the service once the grants run out.  For rural libraries in Canada, line charges for the Internet run as high as 63% of library budgets!

• a federal conference on libraries

• GST – do my American colleagues know that when you place a value on a interlibrary loan that you send to a Canadian library, we have to pay the Goods and Services Tax of 7% on that value?

The meeting with Mr. Carrier was organized by the Library Association of Alberta and the University of Calgary Library.

Shortly after the last Board meeting in October, I reported to the list (typos and all – I apologize) some of our discussions and decisions.  I thank those who sent me comments, which I will take to the next Board meeting, February 25-27.  If you don’t subscribe to the list, send a message to majordomo@pnla.org. Leave the subject line blank; message is: subscribe pnla-l.  All members and subscribers (isn’t it interesting that 826 people subscribe while PNLA has fewer than 500 members?) are welcome to post messages to the list – a good way to raise issues of interest to library and information workers in the Pacific Northwest and open debate.

Ever since the Board presented a Bylaws amendment to eliminate the 2^nd Vice President position, primarily for financial reasons, we’ve struggled with the question of the how the membership responsibilities would be met.  It’s a bigger job than maintaining the database and printing the mailing labels for the Quarterly. The 2^nd Vice President implements whatever membership campaigns the Board approves and mails all renewal notices – up to three if necessary. 

The Board passed a motion to postpone the elimination of the 2^nd Vice President position until 2002 to allow further determination of PNLA’s financial position and the possibility of having an executive assistant in the future.  You will be asked to ratify this decision at the Membership Meeting at the Conference in Kelowna, B.C. in May.  An ad hoc committee was appointed to investigate accepting credit card payment for membership dues, as well as conference fees and YRCA products, and for handling credit card payments from the Web.

There was reasonably good response to our request for members to serve on three committees – Adult Book Award, Bibliography and Intellectual Freedom.  Thank you all.  However, there’s still room on these committees for more members – many hands make light work, or something like that.  Please let me know if you’re interested.

In Canada, we’re celebrating Freedom to Read Week, February 27-March 4, 2000.  Sponsored by the Book and Periodical Council, the theme is “We All Deserve a Choice!”  Our choice is protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which says that “Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms … thought, belief, opinion, and expression.”  Sounds a bit like your First Amendment, eh?

I’m looking forward to seeing all of you in Kelowna, May 25-27, 2000.  The sessions look interesting and relevant – leadership, communication, user fees, electronic document management, marketing, literacy, volunteers, filtering.  There truly is something for everyone.

I don’t think anyone can argue with Alfred Whitney, who said “Books won’t stay banned.  They won’t burn.  Ideas won’t go to jail.  In the long run of history, the censor and the inquisitor have always lost.”

Karen Labuik may be reached at klabuik@marigold.ab.ca or (403) 934-5334.

Return to PNLA Quarterly Winter 2000 Table of Contents