On our second day of council we considered a number of resolutions including a Resolution Opposing the Research Works Act; a Resolution Opposing the Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011 (PIPA) and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA); Resolution on the Loss of Crucial Government Information. All three resolutions passed. If you want more information about these resolutions you may look at .http://www.ala.org/aboutala/governance/council/council_actions.

We are also passed the Resolution on Publishers and Practices Which Discriminate Against Library Users. This resolution opposes the discriminatory policies of publishers and distributors which adversely impact access to digital content by library users and will be used to clarify the ALA stand when speaking to publishers of digital content.

As my final mid-winter draws to a close I would like to thank you for the opportunity to work as your ALA Councilor. if you think this is a position you would be interested in please speak to me or any VLA board member. The first conference our new councilor would have to attend takes place in Seattle during January 2013.

Respectfully submitted,
Nancy Wilson

Posted on Tuesday, January 24th, 2012 at 10:09 am in the ALA, Councilor's Report category.

Hello from Dallas. I am very happy to again be reporting on activities at the midwinter meeting of the American Library Association. In this, my final year of serving as your councilor, I will continue to monitor national issues that impact Vermont.

At this conference we are considering a resolution taking a stance against the seemingly secret and arbitrary distribution of ebooks, video, and audio formats by publishers and distributors. The resolution is in draft form now but I hope to report today or tomorrow that we have crafted a strong national response to this practice that withholds content from our customers.

As far as regular ALA business goes, while revenues are down ALA recently purchased Neal- Schumann Publishing in order to expand the ALA publishing arm of the organization, which is actually a good revenue maker for the organization.

Please let me know if you have questions at readmorenow@gmail.com or 802-999-8391

Respectfully submitted,
Nancy Wilson

Posted on Monday, January 23rd, 2012 at 12:25 pm in the ALA, Councilor's Report, Uncategorized category.

My third day representing Vermont at the ALA conference in Washington, DC was  busy and fun. I began the morning early at the Sunrise Speaker session featuring Dennis Lehane. He gave an interesting presentation about books to film and the writing life. He seemed like the kind of guy you would like to have a beer with; witty and self-deprecating. Because I had to attend my second council meeting a friend stood in line at the exhibit hall to score me an advanced reading  copy of his new Partick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro mystery!

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Posted on Tuesday, June 29th, 2010 at 7:52 am in the ALA, Councilor's Report category.

I am pleased to report on my second day at ALA in Washington, DC. Our first Council meeting was held in the morning and we heard reports from committees and officers. We adopted a resolution Reaffirming Equal Employment for GBTL library workers. We also passed a resolution on Non-Discrimination in Conference Contracts. These resolutions will be posted to the ALA website soon.

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Posted on Monday, June 28th, 2010 at 9:56 am in the ALA, Councilor's Report category.

Greetings from hot and sunny Washington, DC! I am happy to report on American Library Association activities for Vermont. After a long train ride I made it to DC last evening.

I attended my first meeting of the Chapter Relations Committee this afternoon. The Chapter Relations Office at ALA in Chicago  is the office that helps state associations  work with the ALA office. At this meeting various board and committee members report on their initiatives and activities  that benefit state chapters. Joseph Egan, a member of the executive board mentioned that there is a virtual ALA conference on July 7^th and 8^th. More information may be found at the ALA website. This is a good opportunity for folks who can’t make it to national conferences.

Keith Michael Fiels, executive director of ALA, mentioned that the organization may be very close to getting funding to states for advocacy. ALA has made a huge commitment to training library advocates.

I will have more to report tomorrow.

Nancy Wilson, Vermont Chapter Councilor

Posted on Saturday, June 26th, 2010 at 3:01 pm in the ALA, Councilor's Report, Educational Ops category.