PRESIDENT & 1ST VICE PRESIDENT/ELECT / JOAN WEBER:

The unexpected resignation of Sharon Hammer as WLA President effective at the end of the 1996 conference, catapulted me into the Presidency a year early, just as Randy Hensley's resignation had moved Sharon's term forward. I vowed that for the sake of getting WLA back on track, I would complete her term and my own. I am one-third through my promise, and at the end of the OLA/WLA conference I begin my actual term as WLA President.

In addition to the above commitment, I pledged to complete the reorganization process begun by Sharon. The importance of this effort was confirmed by the overwhelming acceptance of the bylaws ballot measure by the WLA membership. These commitments were the basis of my 1996-7 goals for WLA. Thanks to the tireless effort of Kristy Coomes we have newly drafted position descriptions. Thanks to the energy of ARGH!, Mike Wirt, and Martha Parsons we have a WLA homepage. Thanks to every person appointed to chair or serve on a committee by Sharon, every officer of WLA, and everyone involved with an interest group WLA has been strengthened.

I performed the duties of vice president/president elect as well as that of president for 1996-7. In that role I attended the Washington Advisory Council for Libraries (WSACL) and co-chaired the Legislative Planning Committee. WSACL is working closely with the Washington State Library Commission and the Washington State Library to develop a long range state-wide plan. The change at the federal level from a Library Service and Construction Act (LSCA) to a Library Service and Technology Act (LSTA) mandated the development of a state-wide plan for Washington State's use of the funds. This development process has just begun, and Cindy Cunningham will become the WLA representative.

The Legislative Committee was immediately involved when property tax bills were introduced at the start of the Washington State legislative session. This is the first year in many that we have not been extensively involved in intellectual freedom issues. Although several bills were introduced, other organizations were key players in voicing their concerns allowing us the opportunity to advocate less visibly for a change. No intellectual freedom issues came out of any committee!

As president I am a member of the GSLIS Visiting Committee at the UW. It is an exciting time to serve in this organization because of the new direction and focus they proposed to the Administration.

Read the accomplishments and activities of the officers, committees, and interest groups in this year's annual report. WLA has embraced a new organizational structure, enhanced the skills of members through workshops and the annual conference, and has made its voice heard in the state and federal legislative arenas.

As I begin my term, I am once again impressed by the outstanding members we have in WLA. Every individual asked to run for office or to chair a committee said yes. Being the WLA President is a pleasure because of the dedication of our members. I am looking forward to my "real" term as President.

SECRETARY / CAROL GILL SCHUYLER:

In the position as secretary of WLA, I attended the Fall Planning Retreat in September, the December Board Meeting, and the February Board Meeting. My responsibilities at each of these meetings were to take minutes and then present them to the Board for approval. Following Board meetings, I have prepared summarized reports published in LINK to keep the Association membership informed of Board actions.

TREASURER / PATTY DUITMAN:

The treasurer's report is appended to this document. [Not available online]

COORDINATOR OF CONTINUING EDUCATION / MARY CAMPBELL:

The first WLA Continuing Education Council was formed during this 1996/97 fiscal year. Its assignment was to monitor and facilitate CE offerings from Interest Groups and others throughout the association, and to administer grant funds for educational projects.

During 1996/97 the following projects were funded:

1. Printing and mailing of the 1997 Statewide Summer Reading Program manual, submitted by Carol Gill Schuyler (Kitsap Regional Library), for a total of $1600 (all of which is expected to be reimbursed through income).
2. Hands on Book Mending - a free program offered at the WALE conference in Oct. '96, submitted by Ruth Poynter (King County Library System) for a total of $650.
3. Bibliorama: The Best 100 YA Books - So Far, held in Ellensburg on March 7, 1997. This program request, submitted by Kate Carter (Kitsap Regional Library), was approved for $1,312 and is expected to break even.
4. WLA/ILL Interlibrary Loan 1997 Spring Conference, held in Leavenworth on April 11, 1997. This conference request, submitted by Christine Kernick-Fletcher (King County Library System) was approved for $454 and is expected to break even.
5. An all day Hands on Book Mending workshop, submitted by Ruth Poynter and held in Seattle on February 7, 1997, was approved for $395, and is expected to break even.
6. A Workshop on Workshops is planned for the morning of June 5th (prior to the WLA Board Retreat), in hopes of attracting some new and incoming Interest Group chairs.

In addition to continuing education projects, the CE Council chair has been apprised of planning for upcoming conferences and Scholarship Committee activities.

A major change in continuing education policy was approved by the WLA Board in February, 1997. All continuing education activities will henceforth be ADA accessible, with special accommodations made for individuals with disabilities when necessary. This will be facilitated through a small surcharge added to each registration fee, to form a pool of money which can be drawn on to conform to ADA requirements. Notice of compliance will be included on all advertisements and registration forms for WLA sponsored events.

COORDINATOR OF COMMUNICATIONS / MIKE WIRT:

In its first year, I think the value to the association of the new Coordinator of Communications position was demonstrated in having someone overseeing and coordinating activities being done as a joint effort of more than one individual or group. It also demonstrated how much there is to do, both with activities already underway and issues and opportunities that came up during the year.

Accomplishments include coordinating Legislative Planning and Public Relations Committee efforts to provide written materials supporting legislative activities, standardizing WLA informational materials, facilitating development of WLA On-line, the association's web site (including obtaining approval for a paid webmaster position, writing a webmaster position description and web site guidelines), and fine-tuning the Coordinator of Communications position description.

Next year's plans include initial meetings of the Publications Council and Home Page Advisory Committee, further development of the WLA web site, and creation of general publication guidelines.

COORDINATOR OF STRATEGIC PLANNING / JILL JEAN:

During the Board Planning Retreat in June, 1996, the process of updating the strategic plan for the Washington Library Association was undertaken. At this time, it was decided that this document would be updated at the planning retreat each year instead of recreating an entirely new document every two years. Not only will this make the process of developing the strategic plan less arduous, but it will also allow for a smoother administration of tasks as shifts in personnel take place on the WLA Board.

In developing this Strategic Plan, the WLA Board established five major themes to be focused on during the 1996 to 1997 time period. These are library services, continuing education, library advocacy, membership and association management. Within these themes, the Board also established a number of major tasks to be accomplished as the Board moves through its work plan. Some of the broader areas of work have included the development of an equitable dues structure, the review of position descriptions and standing committee charges, the establishment of appropriate association archival control and increasing the communication with Washington's library community by establishing several new mechanisms for interacting electronically, including the establishment of a WLA homepage.

COORDINATOR/CONFERENCE 1997 / NEEL PARIKH:

Over the past one and a half years, the nine-member Washington 1997 Conference Committee has been hard at work with the seven-member Oregon 1997 Conference Committee planning a joint conference in Jantzen Beach, Portland. Our goal was to create an interesting and exciting conference program which would attract a large number of both OLA and WLA members. In addition, we hoped to accrue a profit of about $43,000. Passage of Measure 47 in Oregon may have an impact on conference attendance. This has been an enjoyable experience, with a hardworking committee, working in partnership with our colleagues to the south.

ALA CHAPTER COUNCILOR / JAN WALSH:

(A more detailed draft of this report has been reproduced to be available to ALA members in attendance at the ALA Breakfast or through request to the WLA Office)

Executive Director's Compensation: The fact that Executive Director Elizabeth Martinez received a $50,000 bonus via negotiation with the ALA Executive Board.

Search Committee Progress: The list of candidates has been pared down to 34 names, 14 of which have MLS degrees. Finalist for the position will be interviewed in May and the name of the ED should be announced in June.

Diversity: A three year initiative will enlist five library schools to select 50 minority students of the MLS program each year; those selected would receive ALA funded scholarships of $5000.

Fund for America's Libraries: The first year goal was to raise $4 million; actual amount raised was $8.4 million, almost all of which is supporting programs in libraries throughout the country.

Intellectual Freedom: ALA awaits the Supreme Court's landmark decision on the Internet and the parameters of free speech on access to electronic resources.

ALA Strategic Plan: The draft version of "ALA Goal 2000 and Beyond: A Strategic Path to 2001" was unveiled. Initiatives included: Diversity, 21st Century Literacy; Intellectual Freedom; Equity of Access, Education and Continuous Learning.

PNLA REPRESENTATIVE / CINDY CUNNINGHAM:

(An expanded PNLA report will be produced for distribution at the PNLA breakfast and will be available from the WLA office)

PNLA spent 1996/1997 grappling with some significant organizational issues. These included creation of an editorial board for the PNLA Quarterly, and a revision of the association's manual which is expected to result in some by-law changes for the membership to vote on this year.

Membership has been another concern getting a lot of attention, especially as Oregon is considering withdrawal from the association. Incoming president Gordon Ray, from British Columbia, promises to make his term's theme looking at PNLA and what it can offer its membership.

PNLA President Karen Hatcher was able to purchase a domain name for the web page; we are now pnla.org. Much cleaner and easier to find.

The 1996 Conference was held in Fairbanks with the Alaska Library Association. It was a success, and attracted nearly 300 participants. The 1997 conference will be at the Bell Harbor Conference Center on the Seattle waterfront, August 6-8.

WLFTA REPRESENTATIVE / KATHLEEN ARDREY:

(A more complete report will be submitted to the WLFTA membership at the WLFTA breakfast meeting at conference)

At the WLA Conference '96 in-coming board chair Kathleen Ardrey was elected. Several new members also were elected. The WLFTA Board met on September 20, 1996. Also in September, the Chair and the out-going Chair, Athalie Kirschenbaum, attended the WLA retreat. The member's newsletter, The Advocate was published three times. the on-going project of a Trustees' Manual will be wrapped up for the WLA annual meeting in April, '97. Many Friends' groups recognized the Friends of the Library Week in June '96 proclaimed by Governor Lowry. WLFTA has planned and put together two programs for the joint WLA/OLA Conference in '97.

Library Legislative Day '97 successfully show-cased the recipients of the WLFTA Distinguished Service Awards. What was done due to time-constraints in the conference resulted in a successful event. WLFTA will pursue the position with WLA of maybe making this an annual event. September '97 will find WLFTA working on the WILL conference, and also, possibly, on the exciting National Small & Rural Library Conference.

INTEREST GROUP COORDINATOR / DONNA MCMILLEN:

WLA Interest Groups planned an exciting year of workshops, conference programs, and pre-conference programs, including the WALE annual conference, a mending workshop (WALE), a computer network literacy workshop (ARGH!), a reader's advisory workshop for YA librarians (CAYAS), a pre-conference on outsourcing (TSIG and CDIG) and many others. Newsletters were published by IFIG, ILL, CAYAS, LIT, SRRT, WLFTA, and WALE. All IG chairs worked on revising their IG bylaws and position descriptions to conform with the new WLA bylaws. Several Interest Groups applied successfully for funds from the CE Council for workshops and other activities.

As IG Coordinator, I attended five WLA Executive Board meetings, one 1998 conference committee, four CE Council meetings, and the IG training sessions in June, 1995 and 1996. I sent several mailings to IG chairs to keep them up-to-date on deadlines and activities. I completed the dissolution of two Interest Groups "media" and AARL, for lack of activity. Two other groups are in the process of reforming, LAIG and User Education. I have worked on the final revision of the new IG Handbook, started by Jonathan Betz-Zall, which will be given out at the June 1997 IG training. I set up a time at 1997 annual conference, "The Secret Lives of Interest Groups" for new and old IG chairs to meet and to begin planning for the 1998 conference.

WLA STANDING COMMITTEE ACTIVITIES 1996-1997

WLA committees had a very active year. A common activity for all committee chairs was the revision of descriptions mandated by the WLA reorganization and rewritten bylaws. Kristy Coomes as Organizational Structure Chair oversaw these activities. The Awards committee responded creatively to the challenge of a joint conference that offered no Awards ceremony time and a single annual business meeting time slot by splitting the awards and presenting all the Friends and Trustees awards during a highly successful Legislative Day and incorporating the other Association awards into the business meeting. The Nominations and Elections committees met their timelines and bylaws amendments were duly passed and new officers elected. Former ALKI editor Louise Saylor stepped graciously into the ALKI Editorial Board chairmanship when it became vacant mid-term. Current and future Conference committees worked hard planning exciting conferences for the membership. The Fiscal Impact Committee shared its expertise in helping assess the feasibility of a revised dues structure as well as giving input to the general budget planning process. All scholarship activities for the association have been gathered into a single Scholarship committee with broad representation from groups affected. The Legislative Planning Committee worked closely with our Legislative Liaison to prioritize legislative concerns for the most efficient advocacy. The Intellectual Freedom Committee monitored the proposed harmful to minors legislation for the 1996 session with consultation to the Washington Coalition Against Censorship. The IF chair participated in an ALA sponsored Intellectual Freedom Workshop and was a presenter at the Kitsap Regional Library Staff Day. The Public Relations Committee had a very active year producing materials for the Library Friend's Week activities statewide and producing fact sheets and issue briefs used in our legislative efforts. PR also oversaw the dues structure change, an interim change in the new member packets and prepared and oversaw a booth at the Pacific Northwest Book Fest.