ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries COLLEGE & RESEARCH LIBßÄRffiS NEWS No. 6, June 1969 ACRE News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries, Vol. 30, No. 3 Report of the Subcommittee to Study the ALA Dues Structure At the Kansas City Conference the Program Evaluation and Budget Committee was con­ fronted with a budgeting situation that pre­ sented an overwhelming problem. The request budgets developed by the Division Boards and ALA Committees, including Advisory Commit­ tees to such offices as Intellectual Freedom, and supportive services, exceeded tire estimated funds available by $655,000. Several factors contributed significantly to this tremendous gap between requests and funds available. Among these were; (1) the balance remaining from the previous year was $160,000 less than the prior year; (2) 27.5 new positions were requested reflecting the growth of day-to-day operations as well as the implementation of new programs; (3) offices such as International Relations which were previously funded by grants were now ab­ sorbed into the general funds budget; (4) salary improvement ($108,000) was needed to bring staff salaries into line with the market; (5) division special requests were $64,000 more than the current year’s budget; and ( 6 ) operating costs, such as printing, postage, tele­ phone, supplies and Social Security, rose by more than 10 percent. Not only were all new program items denied, but existing programs, such as Recruiting, Re­ search, International Relations, National Li­ brary Week, and division office support, were curtailed drastically. After PEBCO dealt with the problem of recommending a 1968-1969 budget, it sought methods of providing increased revenue to sup­ port necessary programs at adequate levels. After learning that 10,232 Personal members were paying only $6.00 dues per year, PEBCO recommended to the Executive Board “that the ALA dues structure be revised to raise the lowest dues level to $10.00 or more.” The Executive Board in turn referred the rec­ ommendation to tire ALA Membership Com­ mittee for study. Both the Executive Board and Council de­ liberations at the Kansas City Conference in­ dicated that the entire dues schedule should be examined by the Membership Committee in order to keep that schedule in proper bal­ ance. To accomplish this purpose the Mem­ bership Committee appointed a Subcommittee to Study the ALA Dues Structure. To insure a wide expression of opinion, five hearings were scheduled at the Midwinter Meeting in Washington, D.C., an open hear­ ing in midweek and four closed sessions. Executive Board members. Association officers. Division presidents and Round Table and ALA Committee Chairmen were invited to speak at the closed sessions. At the open hearing close to 300 persons were in attendance. For those members who could not attend this meeting or who wished to express them­ selves at length, invitations to write the sub­ committee chairman were published by the ALA Bulletin and the professional press. Some 190 50 members wrote their considered opinions and recommendations. The dues schedule was developed after a careful review of the statements made at the hearings and in correspondence and is de­ signed to produce the monies necessary to sup­ port the programs and services now in effect as well as new programs and services the membership has indicated, through divisions and other units, it believes necessary. Each level of the dues schedule has been revised upward with a higher percentage upon the upper salary levels. At the other end of the scale, the minimum dues figure reflects the fact that it takes slightly more than $15 to maintain a single membership. The members of the subcommittee recognize that this is a sharp but essential revision of the dues schedule. In view of rising costs, ALA must continue to subject all of its programs and operations to the closest scrutiny. Fiscal improvements will no doubt be gained by the self-study of units recommended by tbe Committee on Or­ ganization and the Executive Board ( Spring 1968 meeting) and the revision of the budget­ ary process approved by Council at Midwinter in January 1969. Even these measures, how­ ever, cannot hold basic costs to the point where creative program development can pro­ ceed without such revision of the dues sched­ ule. The recommended dues schedule was sub­ mitted to the Constitution and Bylaws Com­ mittee with the hope that if Council accepts the changes, the proper amendments imple­ menting the dues increases could be acted on by Council and the Membership without delay. The Subcommittee recommendations must first be approved by Council. If approved, the Committee on Constitution and Bylaws will then present a revision of the Bylaws to imple­ ment the Membership Committee’s recommen­ dations. The recommended dues revision ap­ pears in the Committee on Constitution and Bylaws Report. The Subcommittee recommended that a pro­ vision be made in the Bylaws for continuous review of the ALA dues structure at least every five years, or more frequently when need­ ed. In conclusion, the Committee would like to thank everyone who contributed tbeir time and effort in helping to revise the ALA dues struc­ ture. ■ ■ NOTES FOR SSS AND ABSS MEMBERS The Subject Specialist Section and its Agri­ culture and Biological Sciences Subsection are cosponsoring a program meeting on Wednes­ day, June 25, at 4:00 p .m . during the Atlantic City Annual Conference. The speaker is John Sherrod, Director of the National Agricultural Library, who will give the fourth presentation in a series on science information networks with a paper on “The National Agricultural Library Network: A Progress Report.” The series began in 1966 with Foster Mohrhardt’s discussion of concepts for a network of bio­ logical-agricultural libraries. The next year Dr. Martin Cummings of the National Library of Medicine described the development of the national medical library network, and last year Joe Becker of EDUCOM spoke on the specific planning and initial implementation of the ag­ ricultural-biological information network. Mr. Sherrod’s paper, though focused on agricultural libraries, can be expected to re­ flect his broad experience, first as chief of the Science and Technology Division of the Li­ brary of Congress, 1957-63, then as the head of the Information Services and Systems Branch of the Atomic Energy Commission’s Division of Technical Information and later as the Division’s Assistant Director for Systems Development until appointment in February 1968 to his present post. Among his many special assignments are membership on COSATI, the Federal Library Committee, the National Research Council’s Committee on Chemical Information, and the Chemical Ab­ stracts Advisory Board. The Eunice Rockwell Oberly Memorial Award will also be presented at this meeting for the most notable bibliography published in the field of agriculture or the related sciences in the period 1967-1968. The award was established in 1923 by the friends and colleagues of Miss Oberly, Librarian of the U.S. Bureau of Plant Industry from 1908 until her death in 1921. It is given biennially in odd numbered years. Prior to this year the recipient was chosen by a committee of the Reference Services Division, but in 1968 RSD requested transfer of responsibility to the ABSS because of the subject orientation of the award. Fleming Bennett, Hume Library, University of Florida, is serving as the first ABSS Chair­ man of the Oberly Memorial Award Commit­ tee. Other members of the committee are Margaret Bryant, Wayne Collings, Sam Hitt and Cindy Woodruff. The list of distinguished winning bibliogra­ phies begins in 1925 with Max Meisel’s classic three volume Bibliography of American Natural History, 1769-1865 and includes Bibliography of Land Settlement by Louise O. Bercaw