Oregon
Library
Association PO Box
3067 La Grande OR
97850
October 30, 2009
Ms. Samantha Hines
Mansfield Library
University of Montana
Missoula, MT
59812-9936
Dear Samantha,
As I mentioned in my email to you, the OLA Executive
Board has debated the benefits of our membership in PNLA on and off for many
years. We spent many hours
examining the various pros and cons of our membership in PNLA and did not reach
this decision quickly or without a great deal of soul searching. A summary of our discussion points,
both pro and con, and our concerns follows:
Membership:
- Member
states include OR, WA, ID, MT, AK, B.C. and Alberta.
- Currently
there are about 250 members in PNLA.
- As
of January, 2009, there were less than 30 individual members in PNLA from
Oregon.
- Most
of the Oregon members are academic libraries who subscribe in order to receive PNLA
Quarterly.
- Membership
in a state goes up to take advantage of conference registration discounts but
library staff do not consistently maintain membership in subsequent years.
- The
historic mission for PNLA to nurture networking among the states and provinces
is not needed in this day and age of electronic and telecommunications.
- PNLA dues
expire each June; the Gift Tool systems did not facilitate renewal reminders.
- PNLA
web site is inconsistently available.
Young Readers Choice
Awards (YRCA):
- OLA
has a state representative on the YRCA Committee.
- Public
libraries across the state make suggestions for YRCA nominees.
- Public
libraries across the state have ballots available for voting each spring.
- Only
a few Oregon public and schools libraries collected ballots for YRCA in
2009 - a majority of libraries did
not participate in the "children's choice" voting.
- Many
public libraries have multiple copies of YRCA titles available even if they are
not actively promoting ballots; they may continue to participate at this level,
and could without membership.
- OLA,
ORA and OASL will be meeting in November 2009 to discuss forming a partnership
that would establish state Juvenile and Young Adult Awards. Currently ORA sponsors the Patricia
Gallagher Picture Book Award and OASL sponsors the Beverly Cleary Award (first
chapter books).
- Schools
throughout Oregon have shifted their emphasis from YRCA to the Battle of the
Books.
- Other
states, which also belong to PNLA, offer state awards.
LEADS Institute:
- OLAŐs
membership in PNLA allows participation in the institute.
- Para-professionals
and professionals from Oregon may apply to attend.
- OLA
pays part of the cost of attendance (overall cost is approximately $1800 per
person/part grant money, part state organization money).
- Past
LEADS institutes have been partially funded by a grant that is no longer
available.
- Library
systems will likely need to contribute more money for future participants due
to a lack of grant funding.
- The
LEADS Institute has a good reputation based on feedback from its participants.
- LEADS
Institute trainers are not exclusive to PNLA - there are other reputable
leadership trainers available across the nation.
- Several
other options for LEADS Institutes exist – examples are 3-5 day
trainings, monthly trainings, on-line training and webinars.
- Several
other states offer leadership conferences which are open to Oregon
participants.
- The
Western Council of Libraries is discussing options for leadership conferences -
all PNLA states belong to the Western Council.
- OLA
could consider offering leadership training as a pre-conference or conference
within a conference.
- Several
OLA members have participated in the LEADS Institute - this has benefited
Oregon libraries.
- Only
a few LEADS Institute attendees have become active officers and members of
PNLA.
- Almost
all Oregon PNLA Leads participants do not join PNLA following leadership
training.
PNLA Jobline:
- Currently
access is open to anyone.
- Could
possibly be blocked for PNLA members only.
- Several
other job lines are available, including OLA Hotline.
PNLA Conference:
- The
PNLA Conference appears to offer an income opportunity as a summer conference
that could appeal to academic and school library staff region-wide, with
overlap interest for public library staff; a different business model could
maximize that opportunity.
- Attendees
experience a small conference with dynamic speakers, local authors and regional
networking opportunities.
- This
yearŐs conference was in Missoula, MT - approximately 300 people attended.
- The
host state or province representative serves as the conference chair.
- Most
attendees are from the host state/province.
- Oregon
is slated to host the PNLA Conference in 2013 - this is possibly the same year
Oregon co-hosts the OLA/WLA Conference.
- Too
many conferences in same place may compete with one another.
- Libraries
have limited budgets particularly for out-of-state and out-of-country travel.
Representation on the PNLA
Board:
- OLA
has state representative on the PNLA Board.
- The
PNLA Representative attends three board meetings a year as well as the annual
conference.
- The
state representative submits a state organization summary for the PNLA website
twice a year.
- The
state representative is charged with sharing information about PNLA member
events.
- A
duplication of information services exists between PNLA, Northwest Central and
Libs-OR.
- Total
expenses for PNLA representative travel in 2008-09 were $2027.
Feedback from Oregon PNLA
members:
- Results
of a PNLA Questionnaire issued to Oregon members in 2008 overwhelmingly
recommended discontinuing our membership for a variety of reasons.
To conclude, the prevailing sentiment of our board is
that the cost of our PNLA membership, in time, travel, services and low
participation and interest, is simply too high when measured against benefits
to our members. This is particularly
acute during the 2009-10 fiscal year when we have reduced conference income due
to the Public Libraries Association location in Portland. The current state of
the economy has forced us to reduce costs and eliminate duplication in order to
remain a viable organization. We
recognize PNLA is in the process of reinventing itself; unfortunately OLA
cannot continue to put its resources toward that effort. Thank you for all you have done over
the years in support of Oregon libraries and best of luck in the future.
Dana Campbell will be
attending the PNLA Board meeting in November and can clarify our position if
something is confusing. I am also
available to answer any questions you may have. Thank you for your time and attention to this important matter.
Sincerely,
Connie Anderson-Cohoon
OLA President 2009-10
541-552-6820 (office)
541-488-0799 (home)