APABD # 12.1
2012-2013
TO:
ALA-APA Board of Directors
RE:
2012 Fall Report
ACTION REQUESTED/INFORMATION/REPORT:
No action requested.
CONTACT PERSON:
Lorelle R. Swader
312-280-4278
lswader@ala.org
DATE:
October 15, 2012
BACKGROUND:
The ALA Allied Professional Association (ALA-APA) is a nonprofit professional
organization established “to promote the mutual professional interests of librarians and
other library workers.” To that end, the ALA-APA is focused on two broad areas:

Certification of individuals in specializations beyond the initial professional
degree.

Direct support of comparable worth and pay equity initiatives, and other activities
designed to improve the salaries and status of librarians and other library workers.
APABD #12.2
2012-2013
2012 Fall Director’s Report
CPLA Program
The Certified Public Library Administrator (CPLA) Program currently has 148 active
candidates and 58 graduates.
APA recently received notification from PLA that following discussion it was moved and
approved that:
“until such time as the program is financially sustainable for PLA, they will
suspend development of new course content and offerings of existing CPLA
(Certified Public Library Administrator) courses. They also indicated that PLA
reserves the right to offer courses in a cost neutral manner upon appropriate
request.”
This will substantially impact APA’s ability to recruit new applicants to the program.
(Currently, the University of Illinois, Urbana- Champaign (UIUC) is the only approved
provider of coursework for the program.)
LSSC Program
As of October 15, 2012, the Library Support Staff Certification (LSSC) Program has 311
active candidates and 22 graduates.
Over the last couple of months, the Library Support Staff Certification (LSSC) Review
Committee (CRC) has been hard at work preparing newly revised draft competency sets
for ALA-APA Board approval next month. The sets were reviewed by subject matter
experts and suggested changes were made regarding the statements. To date, the
following divisions and round tables have reviewed these drafts and endorse them:
ACRL, ASCLA, LLAMA, LSSIRT, PLA and RUSA.
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APABD #12.2
2012-2013
In August 2012, a planning meeting was held in where staff, project consultants and the
chair of the LSSC (CRC) discussed transition of activities to support the certification
program after the IMLS grant draws to a close in June, 2013. After reviewing the
financials, it was noted that there may be enough of the funds remaining to solicit a
fourth year extension of the current grant from IMLS through 2014.
New IMLS Grant Proposal
ALA submitted a grant application for the FY2013 of Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian
Program funds. The new grant will fund a newly-created Library Practitioner
Certification Program and the target audience will be public library directors without an
MLIS. (To distinguish them from professional public library directors, this target
population is designated “library practitioners.”)
To establish a context for the program, IMLS data show that 52% of public libraries in
the United States are directed by librarians without an MLIS. In libraries serving
populations of less than 10,000 people, 75% of the library directors do not have an MLIS.
Twenty-five states have over 50% of their public libraries directed by non-MLIS
librarians. Thus, public libraries in rural America are overwhelmingly directed by
individuals without professional library education.
This three-year project will 1) research what kind of training already exists in the area of
leadership and management for public library directors without an MLIS; 2) create one
recommended set of competencies that states can adapt or adopt for this population; 3)
develop or contract for a model curriculum to teach the competencies; 4) test the
curriculum with a cohort group from multiple states; 5) assess the impact of the training
program on the initial individual candidates and their libraries, and 6) establish an
ongoing program to support this target population.
Salary Survey
The 2012 edition of the ALA-APA Salary Survey: Librarian – Public and Academic online
version went live in late July.
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APABD #12.2
2012-2013
Fundraising and Promotional Activities
The APA Promotions & Fundraising Committee is in the midst of planning "The
Networking Reception" to be held during the 2013 Midwinter Meeting in Seattle, on
Saturday night, January 26, 8:00 - 10:00 pm. Tickets went on sale with the launch of the
conference bundled registration promotion. Letters will be sent to the boards of
divisions, round tables, chapters and affiliates to promote APA and in solicitation of
support for the event. Additionally, personalized individual letters will also be sent to
previous APA donors and leadership encouraging them to purchase tickets. Although the
primary focus of the event is fundraising, it will also be used as an opportunity for
volunteers of the various APA committees to market its programs and services.
Sponsorship opportunities are still being sought to underwrite the event activities as well.
National Library Workers Day
Additionally, the Promotions and Fundraising committee is working with staff on
developing promotional materials for National Library Workers Day (NLWD). First
celebrated in 2004, the next event will be April 16, 2013. The purpose is to recognize all
library workers, including librarians, support staff and others who make library service
possible every day. Materials will be made available in time for Midwinter, so that
libraries can purchase items in the NLWD store in support of their efforts to host
celebrations throughout the country.
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