Comments on: ALA rhymes with “Pay”

By: ALA before and after – My 2010 MidWinter « Library Hat

ALA before and after – My 2010 MidWinter « Library Hat — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 01:23:49 +0000

[...] some other interesting observations about ALA, see Agnostic, Maybe, and Opinions of a [...]

By: Bohyun Kim

Bohyun Kim — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 17:44:53 +0000

Great post! I agree that the benefits of ALA membership seems to be nebulous at least so far to me. I just joined it a year ago and am still trying to find out and make some tangible benefits materialized for me. While I wonder if it would have been better if I had a colleague already experienced in ALA as a mentor, I feel that an organization should make it clear what a member can expect and participate in order to reap benefits from the organization particularly. I also would love to see more activities take place online, so that more members can join without physically being at meetings etc, which seem to be often a precondition for participation.

By: Jill

Jill — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 03:42:08 +0000

I quit ALA in 2007 when I found out that student membership only lasts five years – at least two years too little to cover a typical MLIS-to-Ph.D student. I felt that by not building us into the structure, ALA wasn’t being particularly thoughtful toward doctoral students/future academics in the field. And as a doctoral student living on a stipend, I couldn’t even afford the “unsalaried member” level.

(Of course, I’m now neither a doctoral student nor an ALA member, and I have some serious criticisms of both of these, and of a number of related areas. But I agree with you that ALA is pricing many of its prospective members out of their market.)

By: ALA also rhymes with “astray” « Agnostic, Maybe

ALA also rhymes with “astray” « Agnostic, Maybe — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 07:28:22 +0000

[...] 27, 2009 by Andy When I was writing the previous post about the ALA, there was something else that was sitting in the back of mind that was bothering me. I had written [...]

By: Andy

Andy — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:00:22 +0000

Very true. There are lobbying efforts that the ALA engages in and rightfully so as a national organization. I was disappointed by their response to the Ohio state budget battle, personally, but I could understand a rationale that they are looking at the national picture.

I don’t have any experience with their legislative action alerts or anything similar. I would be curious to see how it works compared to my NJLA alerts.

By: Andy

Andy — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 17:58:10 +0000

The benefits of ALA are not immediately apparent. I don’t know why they are not more explicit about the benefits, but if I have to root around to the website to find a hint of them, there may be an issue.

Now, the real flip side argument for the prices would be that the ‘higher’ echelon librarians have made their bones, so to speak, and have shown a commitment to the profession and the organization. As such, they are being rewarded for their efforts by having their trips subsidized by their institutions (having seen their commitment) or the organization. We all want membership benefits for customer loyalty and that this is one of them.

As for room sharing, it all depends on whom you are sharing a room with. =D

By: John Kirriemuir

John Kirriemuir — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 17:31:32 +0000

Ah – it’s not just me who struggled to figure out the fee structure, then

By: Andy

Andy — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 17:27:48 +0000

I didn’t touch the conference fees. I have an idea of what it takes to get a conference going, so yeah, you can’t take away those fees. There is a very apparent quid pro quo for it.

Have you seen the worksheet for the personal membership? It should have a Sherpa to guide you through the different types.

By: Jim Peterson

Jim Peterson — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 17:15:37 +0000

I’ll have to halfway agree with the perception of limited benefit for amount spent argument. I keep up with lots of professional folks through Twitter & Facebook – that’s how I found this post – which helps me stay up with what’s happening in the library world.

On the other hand, with membership comes the benefits of a semi-annual conference, a legislative voice and support from many other libraries in our common causes.

Full disclosure: Neither my library nor I are members of the ALA, mostly due to the cost. We serve a small population of 16,000 and simply don’t have the resources to spend on the membership. We see what we would gain & actually believe some of the marketing pitch, but it’s just too much.

By: John Kirriemuir

John Kirriemuir — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 13:57:41 +0000

From a UK perspective, I actually find the ALA a relatively cheap, and good value, organisation to join and the conferences tend to be fairly cheap for what you get too. Though my view is possibly tainted by the relatively extreme cost of UK library events (e.g. several hundred pounds for a half day “Introduction to Twitter for librarians” course – seriously), and air fare taking up the bulk of costs to attend library events in the USA. As an attendee and a (previous) conference organiser – something I’ll never go back to – can appreciate the costs involved on both sides. The true cost of putting on an event i.e. if all the unpaid overtime was included would often be a heck of a lot larger than the charged cost.

But yes, it doesn’t seem fair that those who can afford it personally the most can often get their trip to ALA general paid for, but those who can afford it least either pay their own way or don’t go (hmmm, parallels with healthcare affordability). As a side point, I’m still horrified by the fact that librarians in the US share rooms – even worse, with their co-workers – at conferences to save costs.

I do like your “Adopt-a-librarian” pay it forward idea for meals. Will do this at ALA 2010. At the least, it’s good karma.

JK / Joe_Librarian