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Membership Advisory Group – September–March 2020 Report


The group met 1 time this reporting period.

Recent Activities

First Activity
The group was formed in August of last year and our liaison sent the first group of new PLA members. We divided the list of 430 new members up among the committee members and I created a template of a welcoming email for committee members to send to their assigned new members. This was completed in October and the emails were sent out. I received several emails back from those I sent emails to thanking us for the personal welcome.
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Organizational Excellence

Second Activity
The group received a second list of 410 new members in November and followed the same procedure. The template was revised and the emails were sent.
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Organizational Excellence

Third Activity
We received a list of 430 new members in February and followed the same procedure. Each of the new members received a personalize email welcoming them to PLA.
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Organizational Excellence

Fourth Activity
Four of the committee members, plus our liaison, were able to meet on Feb 25 @ 3:30 at the PLA conference.
Attendance: Helen Rigdon (chair), Trisha Burns, Kim DeNero-Ackroyd, Nicole Wilhelms, Samantha Lopez (PLA staff liaison)

Helen started off the meeting discussing the member welcome emails.
Response to welcome emails is low (5-10%), but those who do respond seem appreciative.
The group agrees that welcome emails should continue, but need to have updated talking points to stay relevant. Helen will get from Samantha, and Helen will update the templates when sending out the email assignments.
The group discussed continual emails with same new member assignments, but after discussing how a manual drip campaign would work, it was determined it would be too time-consuming, hard to track, and new committee members would be left with residual emails from committee members cycling off.
Samantha presented limitations with manual email drip marketing campaigns. Have been trying to launch since 2018. ALA is going through an email software clean-up Spring 2020, and is hoping to launch automated drip campaigns once completed.
Challenges of committee cycles means limitations with consistency and continuity with work.
The group proposed chair should have 1 more year to term to help transition new chair.
Group asked where is the value of the membership committee if there's no investment in membership within ALA/PLA tech, etc.?
The group voiced frustration with ideas not going anywhere, and limitations of PLA/ALA
The group should only tackle tasks or ask questions of members where action can really be taken
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Organizational Excellence

What will your group be working on for the next six months?
We will be setting up a post-conference conference call with the committee to discuss our ideas from the meeting. Some of those are listed below.

The group brainstormed engagement topics for post-PLA Conference:
Non-conference year discounts? "Bridge rate" or 2-year discount
Increasing PLA presence at ALA Annual
Barriers include limited number of program slots for hundreds of PLA proposals
Financial limitations
Post-conference survey for new members – what can we do to get you coming back? Emphasis should be on engagement/what they want from the committee (more communications? Etc) and not what do they want from PLA (assumption is free, or discounts)
Follow-up email linking to membership videos? Where will those live?
PLA will post on website, Samantha to follow up
Where do small libraries fit in? Association for Rural and Small Libraries (ARSL)?
PLA and ALA have had a long history of not being able to reach or recruit small and rural libraries
PLA supports ARSL Conference (exhibitor & sponsor), emphasizes free products and services they can utilize
Overall, hard to reach population and assumption is they can't afford ALA+PLA membership
How to target non-members who attended conference?
About 60% of regular conference attendees are members
List is easy to pull for non-members
Curating content that's a member perk for people who couldn't make it to conference
Question should be – Is PLA actually offering things that engage members?
Should the committee also serve as ambassadors of PLA?
Previously, this committee would go to local conferences to promote PLA
How can committee members use their own networks to be ambassadors for PLA?
State conferences?
PLA ads in library state or association conferences?
ALA's New Member Round Table – ask them what they do that works for them? Best practices?
Follow-up from conference – contact last 6-months, "did you know PLA does/has…", ask how we can better support them?

Does the group have any policy recommendations, ideas with financial impact, or other items to bring to the PLA Board for discussion or action
Group asked where is the value of the membership committee if there's no investment in membership within ALA/PLA tech, etc.?
The group voiced frustration with ideas not going anywhere, and limitations of PLA/ALA. We feel that we cannot make promises to new members without there being definite follow through from ALA/PLA.

Do you have any suggestions for future products or resources (excluding conference programs) to be developed based on your group’s work?
PLA and ALA have had a long history of not being able to reach or recruit small and rural libraries
PLA supports ARSL Conference (exhibitor & sponsor), emphasizes free products and services they can utilize
Overall, hard to reach population and assumption is they can't afford ALA+PLA membership. We would like to see some more outreach with smaller public libraries, if possible.

Are there other PLA/ALA committees your group might collaborate with to benefit the work of all?
New Member Round-Table

Have there been any issues related to meeting participation/attendance for any of the group’s members?
Yes (if yes, PLA will contact you for more information)

Is there anything PLA could have provided during this time that would have helped your group with its work?
More information for first-time committee members on hos this all worked – that we would be in a big room. Also there was no signage for our committee.

Submitted by Helen Rigdon on 03/11/2020

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Continuing Education Advisory Group – September–March 2020 Report


The group met 0 times this reporting period.

Recent Activities

First Activity
We reviewed and rated webinar submissions for the second half of 2019.
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Advocacy and Awareness, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice, Leadership, Organizational Excellence, Transformation

Second Activity
We created a strategy for rating and reviewing archived webinars for future review.
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Advocacy and Awareness, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice, Leadership, Organizational Excellence, Transformation

What will your group be working on for the next six months?
We will be reviewing and rating webinar submissions for 2020 as well as rating archived webinars available currently.

Does the group have any policy recommendations, ideas with financial impact, or other items to bring to the PLA Board for discussion or action
Not at this time.

Do you have any suggestions for future products or resources (excluding conference programs) to be developed based on your group’s work?
Not at this time.

Are there other PLA/ALA committees your group might collaborate with to benefit the work of all?
Not at this time.

Have there been any issues related to meeting participation/attendance for any of the group’s members?
No

Is there anything PLA could have provided during this time that would have helped your group with its work?
We have all of the support we need.

Submitted by Sarah Tansley on 03/09/2020

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Advocacy and Strategic Partnerships Committee – September–March 2020 Report


The group met 1 time this reporting period.

Recent Activities

First Activity
Activating and supporting engagement in the online Legal Issues in Public Libraries forum with Misty Jones serving as our moderator.
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Advocacy and Awareness, Leadership

Second Activity
Working on raising awareness of the government association (NLC, NACo, ICMA, etc.) landscape through the development of a blog/webinar or some other communication/training piece for public librarians
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Advocacy and Awareness, Leadership

Third Activity
Reviewing and providing recommendations on partnership requests to PLA, while working on a framework or list of guidelines to assist with determination
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Advocacy and Awareness, Leadership, Organizational Excellence

What will your group be working on for the next six months?
Raising awareness of the local government association landscape, to enhance communication and advocacy for all public libraries

Starting a Legal Issues Forum on ALA Connect

Working on developing and refining a process for review of partnership requests.

Does the group have any policy recommendations, ideas with financial impact, or other items to bring to the PLA Board for discussion or action
Not at this time

Do you have any suggestions for future products or resources (excluding conference programs) to be developed based on your group’s work?
Perhaps a webinar or a blog on issues related to advocacy at the local government level, through the local government association landscape.

Are there other PLA/ALA committees your group might collaborate with to benefit the work of all?
Advocacy overlaps with Legislative advocacy, so there may be potential for collaboration.

Have there been any issues related to meeting participation/attendance for any of the group’s members?
No

Is there anything PLA could have provided during this time that would have helped your group with its work?
Larra was great and very helpful. I think we got off to a good start at our meeting at PLA and hope to have further progress to report after ALA Annual in Chicago.

Submitted by Stephanie Beverage on 03/05/2020

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Digital Literacy Committee – September–March 2020 Report


The group met 4-6 times this reporting period.

Recent Activities

First Activity
Delivered session at ARSL Conference.
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Advocacy and Awareness, Leadership, Transformation

Second Activity
Delivered half-day pre-conference session at PLA Conference.
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Advocacy and Awareness, Leadership, Transformation

Third Activity
Presented work of committee and PLA at various conferences and on webinars.
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Advocacy and Awareness, Leadership, Transformation

Fourth Activity
Committee members contacted state and local congressional leaders to oppose MacMillan Publishing’s eBook embargo.
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Advocacy and Awareness, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice, Transformation

Fifth Activity
Continue to work with Microsoft and Google to expand our existing partnerships.
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Organizational Excellence

What will your group be working on for the next six months?
Creating a plan to update the online courses in DigitalLearn.org

Does the group have any policy recommendations, ideas with financial impact, or other items to bring to the PLA Board for discussion or action
A digital services internship with PLA would be wonderful. Our idea is to work with the ALA accredited library schools to create a “virtual” internship where students could get course credit for helping to vet, update, and manage content on DigitalLearn.org. This could include both the eLearning modules as well as the instructor materials.

Create a DigitalLearn.org Technology Competency learning and evaluation module to add to the Tools for Trainers site for library staffers’ to be able to acquire and test technology competencies.

Do you have any suggestions for future products or resources (excluding conference programs) to be developed based on your group’s work?
See above.

Are there other PLA/ALA committees your group might collaborate with to benefit the work of all?
LITA

Have there been any issues related to meeting participation/attendance for any of the group’s members?
No

Is there anything PLA could have provided during this time that would have helped your group with its work?
No.

Submitted by Monica Dombrowski on 02/24/2020

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Task Force on Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice – April–August 2019 Report


The group met 2-3 times this reporting period.

Recent Activities

First Activity
Our primary focus has been on the 3 regional trainings in Denver, Charleston, and Chicago. Each training's first day has been led by Mia Henry followed by a 2nd half day led by various practitioners from the GARE network. The content on the 2nd day has been refined over the last 2 convening.
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice

What will your group be working on for the next six months?
Transitioning in our new co-chairs and setting new TF priorities. We are hopeful the new members of our group will add to our overall capacity.

Does the group have any policy recommendations, ideas with financial impact, or other items to bring to the PLA Board for discussion or action
N/a

Do you have any suggestions for future products or resources (excluding conference programs) to be developed based on your group’s work?
Organizational assessment tool
Online library/portal for policies, interview questions, etc.

Are there other PLA/ALA committees your group might collaborate with to benefit the work of all?
2020 Census
Health Literacy

Have there been any issues related to meeting participation/attendance for any of the group’s members?
No

Is there anything PLA could have provided during this time that would have helped your group with its work?
You all are awesome!

Submitted by Amita Lonial on 09/06/2019

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Technology Committee – September–March 2019 Report


The group met 1 time this reporting period.

Recent Activities

First Activity
PLA technology committee met at ALA 2019 midwinter in Seattle as well as at ALA Annual 2019 in Washington, D.C. During the meeting at MW the committee decided to sponsor a presentation at Annual 19 about Code for America and the Public Library. Chair Henry Bankhead and Anastasia Diamond-Ortiz submitted a proposal entitled "Code for America and Your Public Library: How to Harness the Awesome Power of the Collective Will Using Open Data" that was accepted. https://www.eventscribe.com/2019/ALA-Annual/fsPopup.asp?Mode=presInfo&PresentationID=496228. The committee had a lengthy discussion on https://connect.ala.org/pla/ to organize and support the presentation.
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Transformation

Second Activity
We are planning a program on Privacy issues for the 2020 ALA Annual conference. Anastasia Diamond-Ortiz and a number of other committee members are collaborating on https://connect.ala.org/pla/communities/community-home to organize a presentation, recruit speaker and submit a conference proposal.
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Advocacy and Awareness

What will your group be working on for the next six months?
Conference proposal for ALA Annual 2020 and planning for meeting before PLA conference 2020.

Does the group have any policy recommendations, ideas with financial impact, or other items to bring to the PLA Board for discussion or action
no

Do you have any suggestions for future products or resources (excluding conference programs) to be developed based on your group’s work?
program on Privacy and the Public Library

Are there other PLA/ALA committees your group might collaborate with to benefit the work of all?
no

Have there been any issues related to meeting participation/attendance for any of the group’s members?
No

Is there anything PLA could have provided during this time that would have helped your group with its work?
Steve Hoffman's assistance is priceless.

Submitted by Henry Miller Bankhead on 09/03/2019

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Measurement, Evaluation and Assessment Committee – April–August 2019 Report


The group met 2-3 times this reporting period.

Recent Activities

First Activity
Spring 2019 Virtual Meeting: Updates on all work relevant to committee activities (Project Outcome – new health survey added, discussed results of University of Michigan study of existing PO data, ACRL's launch of Project Outcome for academic libraries; PLDS – how the pause for 2019 will be communicated to the field as well as overview of all-day meeting at Annual to discuss changes to the PLDS; Impact Survey – PLA will now manage this initiative).
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Advocacy and Awareness, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice, Leadership, Organizational Excellence, Transformation

Second Activity
2019 ALA Annual Committee Meeting:

Discussed the following Project Outcome topics:

1) How to bring more libraries on and how to support the 10% of US public libraries already using the tool. Suggestions included an in-person presentation for COSLA, and targeted outreach to certain types of libraries that are less likely to be using PO, such as large city libraries.

2) Requests from public libraries to use some of the academic Project Outcome survey topics – in particular, space, and digital & special collections. At this time, the committee decided not to add these topics to PO for public libraries because some members thought that it was inappropriate to be measuring outcomes for space, and that if we tackle collections on the public side, we need to think more broadly than just digital & special collections.

3) Accessibility issues: PO users have reported that some patrons have trouble understanding/completing the surveys. The committee discussed simplifying the question language and response scales. PPO will be using PO surveys for their American Dream program, and we will get feedback from them regarding respondents' survey experiences.

We also received an update from Counting Opinions about the 2018 PLDS data collection. At the time of the meeting, the survey was still open, and the response rate was on track with past years.
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice, Leadership, Organizational Excellence

Third Activity
MEAC members met for a special, full-day meeting during Annual to discuss the future of the PLDS. An external facilitator – GMMB – planned and led the meeting. Committee members discussed topics including the purpose of PLA data collection, future trends that may impact public libraries (facilitated by Miguel Figueroa – ALA's Center for the Future of Libraries), various target audiences' data needs and challenges, what types of data and data tools public libraries need, and how to engage the field in discussions about the future of the PLDS.

Based on these discussions, the committee has developed an agenda for a series of town halls that will be conducted during the fall to engage the broader public library community in discussions about the future of the PLDS.
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Leadership, Organizational Excellence

What will your group be working on for the next six months?
A primary focus will be the re-envisioning of the PLDS. The committee will conduct a series of in-person and virtual town halls to engage the field in discussions about this topic, and will work with PLA staff to develop a new data collection instrument/platform for public libraries.

Does the group have any policy recommendations, ideas with financial impact, or other items to bring to the PLA Board for discussion or action
Not at this time.

Do you have any suggestions for future products or resources (excluding conference programs) to be developed based on your group’s work?
Not at this time.

Are there other PLA/ALA committees your group might collaborate with to benefit the work of all?
ACRL Project Outcome, Committee on Research and Statistics

Have there been any issues related to meeting participation/attendance for any of the group’s members?
No

Is there anything PLA could have provided during this time that would have helped your group with its work?
No – thank you for your support.

Submitted by Linda Hofschire on 09/03/2019

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Advocacy and Strategic Partnerships Committee – April–August 2019 Report


The group met 2-3 times this reporting period.

Recent Activities

First Activity
Update our charge
1. ALA mid-winter conference
Advocacy & Strategic Partnerships Committee
Committee Charge
To inform and advise PLA Board and staff on strategic partnership opportunities with federal agencies and national organizations with shared values and alignment with public libraries; to develop and support strategic relationships that are beneficial to PLA and public libraries; to capture and share examples of strategic partnerships with public libraries that positively impact communities and advance national priorities; to serve as a liaison with the ALA Office for Library Advocacy, the ALA Washington Office, and others as needed to help ensure that the advocacy needs of public librarians are represented in their initiatives; to strengthen the advocacy skills of public librarians; to work with PLA Board and staff toward achieving PLA strategic planning goals.
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Advocacy and Awareness

Second Activity
 Finalize intake form(s) for requesting PLA collaboration. When complete, add to this web page: http://www.ala.org/pla/about/workingwith/partnerships
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Advocacy and Awareness

Third Activity
 Establish standing bimonthly committee meeting calls to discuss partnership requests (and any other business). Discussion of requests may also happen via email.
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Advocacy and Awareness

Fourth Activity
draft a proposal for PLA and/or public libraries to engage with US Chamber of Commerce and local Chambers.
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Advocacy and Awareness

Fifth Activity
 Discuss in future meetings how to partner and who to partner with: best practices for libraries.
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Advocacy and Awareness

What will your group be working on for the next six months?
Our group will be working on the action items listed above.

Does the group have any policy recommendations, ideas with financial impact, or other items to bring to the PLA Board for discussion or action
Not at this time, waiting for members to be confirmed

Do you have any suggestions for future products or resources (excluding conference programs) to be developed based on your group’s work?
not at this time

Are there other PLA/ALA committees your group might collaborate with to benefit the work of all?
This committee will work with any committee that will benefit PLA.

Have there been any issues related to meeting participation/attendance for any of the group’s members?
No

Is there anything PLA could have provided during this time that would have helped your group with its work?
waiting for members to be confirmed for the year so work can continue.

Submitted by Sara Charlton on 08/30/2019

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PLA 2020 Conference Program Subcommittee – April–August 2019 Report


The group met 1 time this reporting period.

Recent Activities

First Activity
Individual subcommittee members independently reviewed 588 program proposals for the 2020 PLA Annual Conference in May 2019. This was a record-setting total, and in order to have each proposal reviewed three distinct times, it required each member to evaluate approximately 150 proposals according a 5-point rubric system.
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Advocacy and Awareness, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice, Leadership, Transformation

Second Activity
Met at ALA Annual conference in Washington, D.C. to determine which session topics to advance to the final slate of conference offerings for the PLA Annual Conference in 2020. We deliberated for 6 hours and were able to identify 107 of our 120 program and preconference slots.
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Advocacy and Awareness, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice, Leadership, Transformation

Third Activity
The chair served as a panelist, representing the PLA Conference Program Subcommittee, at an ALA Annual program and spoke about ways to create a standout national-level program proposal.
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Leadership

Fourth Activity
Met virtually to debate approximately 15 remaining slots with special attention focused on filling in gaps in various programming categories, forecasting emerging trends or topics of interest in 2020, and advancing those speakers or issues that have been historically marginalized.
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Advocacy and Awareness, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice, Leadership, Transformation

What will your group be working on for the next six months?
The PLA Conference Program Subcommittee introduced two new initiatives with this year's program proposal form: asking the applicant if they want to receive coaching (if accepted) or feedback on their proposal (if rejected). 57% of the accepted speakers requested coaching or mentoring from an experienced presenter. 91% of rejected sessions requested feedback on their proposal. The subcommittee members, along with the PLA staff, have to develop an efficient and effective method to deliver the requested follow-up.

Does the group have any policy recommendations, ideas with financial impact, or other items to bring to the PLA Board for discussion or action
Not at this time.

Do you have any suggestions for future products or resources (excluding conference programs) to be developed based on your group’s work?
Not at this time.

Are there other PLA/ALA committees your group might collaborate with to benefit the work of all?
While we have worked closely EDISJ, I do not anticipate additional collaborations at this time.

Have there been any issues related to meeting participation/attendance for any of the group’s members?
Yes (if yes, PLA will contact you for more information)

Is there anything PLA could have provided during this time that would have helped your group with its work?
No, the support the PLA staff did offer was tremendous.

Submitted by Juliane Morian on 08/30/2019

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Web Content Working Group – April–August 2019 Report


The group met 4-6 times this reporting period.

Recent Activities

First Activity
Did an informal survey with committee members and other librarians. There was confusion about the purpose of the Professional Tools on the website, some content was very outdated, and many weren't even aware of the Professional Tools' existence. All agreed that unless Google pushed the PLA content to the top of the Results page, it wouldn't be found.
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Organizational Excellence

Second Activity
Looked at the Google Analytics from the last year to determine the use of the Professional Tools. 57 different tools got 149 or more hits in that time period. The heaviest hitters were Community Engagement Outreach, Marketing Strategies, Programming Resources, and Careers with 3000+ page views. Assigned sections for updating to 5 committee members.
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Organizational Excellence

Third Activity
Committee members worked on updating their sections and logged the hours they spent on the project. A rough estimate was 40 hours which did not include watching or listening to videos and podcasts to assess currency. Although much of the content was dated, it was hard to find anything current to replace it. This was especially true for the Technology and Virtual Reference sections. Our overall conclusion was that when an idea or service is new, there was lots of content. However, after a few years, there was nothing new on the topic. Did it just go away or was it institutionalized into library land?
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Organizational Excellence

Fourth Activity
Discussed the Hanging Sections. Careers in Public Libraries — needs constant care as a pdf on library jobs and a salary survey link was 10 years old — learned that current salary information is behind a paywall. Resources for Libraries Serving Persons Experience Homelessness — the group felt this didn't belong in the Professional Tools and thought it would fit better with the Social Worker Task Force. Post-Election Resources — very dated and another election has occurred since the page was posted — most of the content dealt with diversity and inclusion which would fit better with the Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Social Justice Initiative.
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Organizational Excellence

Fifth Activity
Created a list of the inconsistencies in style throughout the entire page for Steve to "fix" on the website. Recommended that next year's group go through the entire website and make recommendations for removing, revising, and/or merging sections. Debated whether the Professional Tools should be trend spotters or evergreen but came to no conclusion. Recommended a new section on Sustainability to align with ALA initiatives.
Meets PLA’s strategic goals for Organizational Excellence

What will your group be working on for the next six months?
Work in the next six months will be determined by the incoming chair.

Does the group have any policy recommendations, ideas with financial impact, or other items to bring to the PLA Board for discussion or action
No

Do you have any suggestions for future products or resources (excluding conference programs) to be developed based on your group’s work?
No

Are there other PLA/ALA committees your group might collaborate with to benefit the work of all?
If the Professional Tools want to capture library trends, it might be best to work with the various initiative groups to collect and curate content in a timely manner.

Have there been any issues related to meeting participation/attendance for any of the group’s members?
No

Is there anything PLA could have provided during this time that would have helped your group with its work?
No

Submitted by Theresa Jehlik on 08/27/2019

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