Response to CLA Executive’s Draft Mission Statement

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The latest CLA Digest contains a new draft mission statement. If you want the CLA to be an active voice supporting the profession, this is a huge step backwards. Beyond the vague, uninspiring language, notice the lack of any mention of librarians or library workers:

“CLA is the national public voice for Canada’s library communities.

We champion library values and the value of libraries.
We influence public policy impacting libraries.
We inspire and support learning.
We collaborate to strengthen the library community.

Executive Council is looking for your ideas and suggestions as to how CLA can best implement this draft mission to make it a reality.  Comments welcome!”

That the executive can be so self-congratulatory given the issues that surround the profession shows how disconnected they are from the activities of librarians and from those of us entering the field who are worrying about the perceived value of librarianship in the 21st century.

You can’t promote libraries without promoting the people who work in and run these libraries (including administrators). Institutions are just lifeless buildings; it is people that animate them, innovate within them, advocate for them, and give them meaning and purpose. By turning their backs on people, the CLA ignores what libraries are really about, and the people who make them function.

But looking beyond the content of the draft mission, the CLA executive should have communicated to its members BEFORE drafting the new mission to ask for input. This is token representation and it should trouble any active CLA member.

Note that the executive asked only for comments on the new mission and suggestions on how to implement it. This implies that the executive has already decided on the mission and that the role of members is merely to accept it and support its implementation. Comments are welcome, but this language does not show real interest in input from membership. Instead of asking for comments after the fact, why not collect some data by polling members to see what they really want the organization to be? Why not have a forum discussing the issue at the CLA conference this summer? Why not ask librarians who are not currently members of the CLA for their views in order to increase membership and strengthen the association?

Two answers jump to mind: perhaps the executive thinks that this process would take too much time and effort, or perhaps the executive is uninterested in creating a mission that reflects what it’s members and potential members want. Neither of these is acceptable. These are our leaders: we should expect more from them. CLA could strengthen the library community by demonstrating democratic values and operating in a more ‘bottom-up’ fashion. Good leadership involves modeling the way for others. CLA should be teaching new librarians how to lead in this new century, and they should be an example of making decisions based on sound data.

Of course, if the membership was properly consulted, maybe those of us advocating for change would be drowned out by those who want to maintain the status quo (we hope not), but until CLA actually collects some data, how can they presume to make decisions about the mission and goals of the organization? Why not try to create something that librarians across the country actually want to be a part of?

We strongly suggest that CLA members voice their displeasure with this new Mission Statement and demand more from their association. Please share your thoughts on the CLA listserv and ensure that the CLA’s mission reflects the values and role that you believe CLA should have, and that it inspires new librarians to join and help develop the association and the profession.

Andrew Lockhart and Peggy McEachreon, PLG London.

Western and U of T Sign Agreement with Access Copyright

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On January 30 2012, UWO and U of T announced they had signed copyright agreements with Access Copyright, the collective responsible for reproductive rights in Canada.  The move to sign this agreement is cause for concern and will have potentially serious repercussions for the post-secondary community in Canada.

Below, I have tried to summarize some of the notable responses, blogs, and objections that have arisen in reaction.

While several post-secondary institutions declared they would not sign the licence and would end their relationship with Access Copyright, UWO and U of T announced two weeks ago that they had signed agreements.  Howard Knopff, Sam Trosow, and the Canadian Association of University Teachers explore the recent decision here:

The text of the agreement signed by U of T can be found here.

The decision to sign the agreement was carried out without consultation of the Western student body and provoked rebuke from the Western USC here and from the Canadian Federation of Students here.

When the tariff was initially submitted to the Copyright Board of Canada in March 2010, it provoked immediate concern.   It features large royalty increases, attempts to rollback user rights, and claims compensation for uses not covered by the Copyright Act.  Over 100 objections were filed with the Copyright Board in August 2010 from groups including the CLA, the Canadian Federation of Students, the Canadian Association of University Teachers, and the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations.  Some of these objections can be found here:

Notable bloggers including Michael Geist and Howard Knopf summarize and break down the objections to the Access Copyright tariff here:

Additionally, Professor Sam Trosow provides background and explores the problems associated with the tariff in two detailed video presentations below:

Occupy Display

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Discussion at the PLG meeting today included how to reach out to the library/information community outside the university. We discussed an article that profiled a librarian who created a book display at the London Public Library related to the Occupy movement. The librarian, David Caloren, was quoted as saying:

“What we try to do through displays is to bring awareness to different issues and to allow people to educate themselves through access to our collection. We try to do topical displays of various sorts and something like the Occupy movement allows us to bring material from different bits of the collection together into one cohesive place.”

The article continues: “Caloren stressed this wasn’t LPL taking a stand on the movement, but rather only about raising awareness. “That’s sort of how I saw it,” he said. “I tried to make it so it was sort of obvious and that it had a large amount of material that people could, if they wanted to, educate themselves.”

Read the full article here: http://www.londoncommunitynews.com/2011/10/occupy-by-the-books/

 

Additional discussion

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Steven Chabot wrote a post on the CLA listserv that is worth sharing:

There has always been a tenuous argument for the professional status of librarians. This was the case in 1876 and it is still the case now. When your teacher is not professional the youth suffer, and when nurses are not professional seniors suffer. But the powers that be don’t really see how professional librarians benefit everyone. I’ve always felt that professional organizations were there to advocate for the professionals they represent.

It is perfectly clear that the CLA is not a professional organization, or an organization of professionals. The Canadian Medical Association is an association of physicians, while the ALA’s mission is “to promote library service and librarianship.”

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