Comments on: Virtual Participation in ALA: A Civil Disobedience Approach

By: Why virtual participation in ALA must be legalized, not decriminalized

Why virtual participation in ALA must be legalized, not decriminalized — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 00:00:45 +0000

[...] I am suggesting is that civil disobedience — which I promoted in an earlier post — is an interim [...]

By: K.G. Schneider

K.G. Schneider — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 15:27:26 +0000

Hillary, I can think of a few places for such an article. I’d love to read it!

By: Hillary

Hillary — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 02:10:54 +0000

Thank you Karen! You articulated why I have failed to contribute anything to every ALA/PLA/CLA committee I have ever been on, yet feel the drive to articulate myself and work for something larger for the profession on other forums like Publib. When I got appointed to my first PLA committee as a young newbie librarian I was so thrilled, until I received a list of rules first, then something to sign, then an order to appear at the conference … and nothing to do with my energy when I had inspiration at 2 a.m. (I’m a chronic insomniac who is generally most brilliant in the middle of the night).

If I could have made wiki pages, or posted to an electronic forum then, or asked a question of my colleagues, or sent out a draft of something without it being vetted by 18 people, I could have contributed. An uncomfortable meeting at the end of a conference when my feet hurt and my brain is full isn’t where my best work emerges.

I may join an ALA committee again … maybe. I the meantime, Publib will get my best work for the profession, with the occasional actual article when I feel like it. (I’m working on one about why women dominated service professions are in a quandry of their own making on salary and power and I don’t even know where to send that one).

Hillary Theyer

By: Jenny Levine

Jenny Levine — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 16:56:56 +0000

Bill, there’s a general recent changes feed for the wiki as a whole, but I haven’t been able to add article-level feeds to our wikis.

I found the WikiArticleFeeds extension but I can’t get it to work. I’ve talked to two wiki experts and emailed the developer (who hasn’t responded), but no luck. If anyone knows of another way to add article feeds, I’d love to try it. You can email me at jlevine@ala.org or catch me on AIM as cybrarygal .

By: Bill Drew

Bill Drew — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 16:47:54 +0000

Thanks, Jenny. Now if it just had RSS feed.

By: Jenny Levine

Jenny Levine — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 15:55:58 +0000

In order to make such a list readily available for everyone, I've started a new page on the nascent Get Involved wiki. I'll see what information I can corral on our end, but this would be a great resource we could all build and maintain together.

By: Bill Drew

Bill Drew — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:39:10 +0000

What are some committees I can volunteer for that are willing to do as Karen suggests?

I have served on LITA committees as a virtual member. In fact, the scholarship committee I was on last year did all of its work via e-mail and even voted via e-mail.

By: K.G. Schneider

K.G. Schneider — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 03:16:22 +0000

Chris, that would be my response to Pete as well. The reality is that these policies have outcomes. In the end our marriage was invalidated and our civil disobedience didn’t matter. Change must follow action.

Chris, I am honored to support you! You’re a great candidate and all I can say is do not get discouraged. Some of us are on your heels.

By: Christopher Harris

Christopher Harris — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 01:12:04 +0000

@Pete: In New York, we ran into a problem in that having votes via e-mail or some other electronic means is not recognized by the laws and regulations that govern public meetings of groups chartered by the state department of education (namely our school library system group). As such, it was recommended that we remove e-mail voting as an option from our bylaws and replace it with faxes. I e-mailed my no vote (and then faxed it just to make sure I was playing by the rules so my statement wouldn't be voided). Greg, change will come. It may take a while, but with every person who stands up and says change is necessary the day gets a bit closer. I was recently asked to be a part of a task force looking at AASL 2.0 and so was thinking about this last week. Some of the things I wrote about mesh nicely with Karen's excellent insights about the need for changes. And let me state very publicly that if elected to ALA Council I would vote to change the rules to fully support virtual membership on committees. Even if I have to fax in my vote. And thank you, Karen, for your endorsement. I am greatly honored.

By: K.G. Schneider

K.G. Schneider — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 21:15:41 +0000

Greg, I think change will happen. Really I do. But it requires in part getting The Membership to wake from its deep slumber and take action along many fronts. It’s happened before… it can happen again!