It has been a whirlwind day, but I’ll try to recount the events that took place as best that I can. Council II was primarily a variety of reports and a few action items. Nothing really that controversial. For instance, we bestowed honorary membership to Senator Jack Reed, D-RI and Betty J. Turock. We also approved changes to the policy manual and programatic priorities for the Association. Again, no big deal. BTW, the priorities are diversity, equitable access to information and library services, education and lifelong learning, intellectual freedom, advocacy for libraries and the profession, literacy, and organizational excellence. We did hear a lot from Treasurer James Neal (no relation to the Neal in Neal-Schuman) regarding the Neal-Schuman aquisition. The purchase price was $7,000,000 and was paid with a bank loan to be repaid in 5 to 7 years and will be taken out of operation proceeds. This was a long process that included intense study of their financials as well as doing budget model projections, in order to see if it would be a good fit or not. A number of budget models were looked at and there was both internal and external consultations. In the final analysis, it is believed that Neal-Schuman can add significant revenue and will enhance ALA’s mission and goals. It will be relocated from New York City to Chicago, and remain a separate imprint. All current contracts with the vendor will be honored. A statement from ALA should be available in writing, shortly.
The Committee on Organization gave it’s report and noted that new Library Boing Boing member interest group has had an impact on ALA’s membership. I’ve got to admit I know nothing about this group per se, but it sounds different, so maybe I ought to find out. 
Anyway, things have been quite civil so far, but something tells me that the fun will begin tomorrow at Council III. There is a resolution on the Tucson Public School controversy about the removal of a program and it’s textbooks. Also, there is a resoultion on discrimination against libraries by publishers when it comes to non-book media. There could be some additional resolutions brought to us, that haven’t been mentioned, so we’ll see how it all goes. Anyway, I’ll continue to tweet at @rsruss67, for those that use Twitter, and I’ll try to update my blog, when I get a chance. Until next time…
