MJG writes “Dorothea Salo, author of the Caveat Lector blog, adds to the continuing discussion of ALA’s relevance to librarians of Generations X and Y:
Yes, it is assuredly a problem that ALA is a behemoth without a welcoming public face. My fear, though, is that we’ll get a shiny makeover of the public face without the slightest attention to more substantive issues. ALA needs to be more than Librarian Kaffeeklatsch Central, and no, the lobbying arm (which, I note with annoyance, has barely noticed the CURES Act) is not enough to grant relevance.If ALA is smart, ALA will see the writing on the wall too. Librarians are finding valuable and congenial ways to network that have nothing whatever to do with ALA. Being Librarian Kaffeeklatsch Central will be less and less a draw as time passes. ALA will have no choice but to do more and look deeper if it wants to capture Gen-X and Millennial librarians.
Read the full article.”
CURES Act
I wonder what parts of ALA that Dorothea Salo monitors. I have heard about the CURES Act from several groups, committees, publications, etc. originating from within ALA. Here are just a few examples of groups monitoring, sharing information, and getting involved (1, 2, 3, and 4.