ALA BARC fall meeting 2011

This was my third trip to Chicago this year. I was able to kick it off by having dinner with Peter Hepburn at Yoshi’s Café. Peter is more than a regular at Yoshi’s. If you’ve followed his food and travel blog and photos on Flickr, then you more than likely have experienced some food envy.


Me with my Wagyu Beef Berger with Wasabi Blue cheese

I attended the ALA BARC fall meeting. This is my second year on BARC, and with these fiscal oversight matters also in the purview of the Executive Board, I work with this information a lot. It means that I am really starting to feel like I know what is going on and how the ALA budget and budget process work.

There is always an orientation for new BARC members on the first day before the committee begins its work. I decided it would be a good idea for me to attend that meeting. I felt it would be helpful in reinforcing my knowledge and I knew I would learn something new. I want to do my best to be engaged fully in the process.

Our meeting agenda included a fiscal year 2011 budget review, a final fiscal year 2012 budget review, a new business development update (closed session), and ALA Council referrals. We also discussed and assigned liaison assignments. I'm pleased to be the liaison to the new Games and Gaming Round Table. We met for about forty-five minutes as ALA-APA BARC, now under the leadership of Lorelle Swader, to discuss the budget.

We also discussed moving forward with four BARC webinars. These will be available by the end of the year. I hope these create opportunities for increased member engagement around the ALA budget process. They are a step in the right direction for what I proposed at our spring 2011 meeting.

I had the good fortune to eat breakfast one morning with Trevor Dawes. He was at ALA HQ as a member of a search committee. Trevor is also becoming well known as Mr. August from the Men of the Stacks calendar. All proceeds for the sale of the calendar go towards the It Gets Better Project™ project.

ALA BARC spring meeting 2011

I attended the ALA BARC spring meeting. During this meeting we worked through the ALA budget and requests from all units (divisions, round tables, offices). A significant portion of this information I'd worked through during the ALA Executive Board's spring meeting two weeks ago. I'm glad it was somewhat fresh in my mind, This made what is still a somewhat new to me process a bit easier.

Another great part of being on this particular committee are the academic library leaders with whom I've had the privilege to serve. Committee members Winston Tabb, Joan Giescke, and ALA Treasurer Jim Neal are three of the most highly regarded deans in academic libraries. They really know their stuff.

I encouraged the committee to consider moving the Budget session to an online event. There is clearly a need for this type of training and refresher for all division and round table members with budget responsibilities. We noted some of the challenges included conflicts due to the compressed midwinter meeting schedule, a perceived lack of new information for experienced divisions/round table treasurers or budget administrators, and travel constraints (especially budgets and time) for members. As a result, I'm working with ALA Finance Office staff and the Treasurer to put together some modules we hope will be available by the fall. In my mind this supports the Association's 2015 strategic plan goal area of organizational excellence.

ALA BARC

I was appointed to ALA's Budget Analysis & Review Committee (BARC) as an Executive Board liaison. It is a two year term. September 30 and October 1 I attended the orientation and meeting at ALA Headquarters in Chicago. I learned about the other members of the committee and our ALA liaisons, the committee's role in the association, and the budgeting process. Thankfully there are a wealth of wonderful documents to help me including the Orientation Manual and Important Financial Terms. One of the most important things we did after the orientation part of the meeting was plan the Midwinter Financial Workshop. We are taking a slightly different approach for San Diego and putting together a session we hope will be more interactive and offer more in the way of best practices.

I am the BARC liaison to LITA, NMRT, and the newest round table RMRT.

October is for travel

I have several trips this fall, similar to last year. It's not nearly as ambitious, but it's an equal amount of work. This year's trips include:

ALA Budget Analysis Review Committee - Chicago
Georgia Council of Media Organizations (COMO) Conference - Athens GA
ALA Executive Board Fall Meeting - Chicago
Penn State Commonwealth Campus Libraries Fall Meeting - University Park/State College

These trips are all between September 30 and November 10. I'm a seasoned traveler at this point, so to add to the challenge I'm trying to figure out how to avoid checking a bag for the first three trips. Like last year, I'll attempt to update more and take plenty of photos. Fewer trips might actually lead to some success.