91´«Ã½

SRRT Action Council Virtual Meeting Notes*October 27, 2020

Attending: Sherre Harrington, Julie Winklestein, Tom Twiss, Al Kagan, Ed Garcia, Charles Kratz, Mark Hudson, Tara Brady, Melissa Cardenas-Dow, Olivia Scully, Jane Cothron, 91´«Ã½ ODLOS/ Monica Chapman

Call to Order

Status of Membership and Financial Reports

1. No financial reports as yet; hope to have reports by next week. Membership report just released. Charles Kratz: not acceptable, March membership report is not adequate, where are the reports for the rest of the year—it is almost November. This is incredibly frustrating.
2. Tom Twiss: had a question on paying honoraria on program on Native American treaty rights; speakers have not been paid, ODLOS staff now off furlough and is working on signing off payments, have had to wait to transition to new system (!) and can now begin to process payments—should be corrected in the next week or two and will receive notification on receiving a check by the end of the week. Tom: since this has taken so long, it would be appropriate to send a note of apology for the long delay. He will send notes (agreed by OLDOS staff) Al: When we get the financial report, can ODLOS make sure that we get a report on the Herb Biblo fund. Ed: who do you contact about financial information? Monica: will check with the person in the financial office or the director (will copy Ed on the correspondence) Al: concerned about the balance in the Herb Biblo fund. Al: Monica, the membership report should go to the SRRT Membership committee

Executive Council Update (Ed Garcia)

Ed:just finished fall executive board meetings. Highlights: positive: endowment trustees have now gotten ESG portion to 59.7% and committed to grow that percentage. Asked them to check to make sure that no investments are in for-profit prisons; assured that none are. Frustrated about lack of financial information; problems because people who are no longer with 91´«Ã½ outsourced financial control, but that is now coming back in-house. Reports are drastically delayed, but reports have to be closed before they can be released; next report will be for April 2020. EB approved budget for next fiscal year (3 scenarios for Annual Conference, no information on conference format virtual/in-person/other. Bringing up lack of reports in EC Budget committee meetings. Frustrating. Charles Kratz: We are being asked through the Moving Forward process to think about how to restructure based on percentage of membership, but the information is not available. Working on resolutions: opposing facial recognition in libraries, carbon-offsets, policy on sustainability. Forward Together: changed calendar, next meeting November 6, working group is compiling report on feedback. Email for feedback: forwardtogether@ala.org

Tom: combatting race and sex stereotyping resolution on Trump executive order. Ed: EB talked about that Oct 20 meeting; passed statement against Trump executive order unanimously. Council called to have report of Council feedback on Forward Together and meetings were rescheduled to allow feedback sessions to happen before Council decision.

SRRT Newsletter Editorial Board Nominations – Jessica Costello and Mark Winston (resumes attached) (Melissa)

1. Newletter board nominations: Mark Winston, Justin Costello (add letters of interest and CVs) Unanimous vote agreeing to appointments.
2. Julie: Attended American Indian Library Association Award webinar. Thinking about the reasons for the awards (bringing issues to awareness); have been looking at children’s books and how homeless persons are portrayed (dirty, no teeth, observations that would not be made of housed persons); proposing an award on portrayals of homeless persons, respectful portrayals. Suggests biannual awards. Mark: Ryan Dowd book that was so problematic is still in the world and is being used and pushed as good information. Julie: will have a book out next year from Libraries Unlimited. Jane: difference between an award and a book list. Check with ODLOS for 91´«Ã½ requirements, check RISE for process for a booklist. Mark: how do we get resources intot he hands of the people who are not a part of 91´«Ã½. Julie: wants to do this under the aegis of the Hunger, Homelessness, and Poverty task force. Monica: please send questions about book awards, works with both CSK and Stonewall.

Julie: attends a lot of non-library conferences. Wants to know if she can present as a member of the Hunger, Homelessness, and Poverty Task Force to bring libraries to the attention of non-library groups. Sherre: probabl y need to check with 91´«Ã½ on whether this is appropriate under the One Voice policy. Monica: can say representing Task Force, but cannot represent as 91´«Ã½.

Sponsorship of 91´«Ã½ Memberships

Julie: talked about gift memberships, sponsorships, still working on this. Not on the Midwinter registration rate page, but the information is not available. Have contacted Conference Services, but so far, no response. Would like to involve the ethnic round tables in this initiative, but don’t know who to contact.

[chat]April’s note about sponsoring memberships: Amounts that we had originally pledged to sponsor 91´«Ã½ memberships for 91´«Ã½ Virtual. These are the amounts I show (This is just a FYI. No task force is expected to give this go around or to pledge the same amount.):

• SRRT Emerging Leaders Fund $500

• MLKJHTF ?*

• HHPTF $500

• FTF $500

[chat:

the form is in the FAQ page]

Sustainability RT Carbon Offset Resolution (attached) – SRRT Endorsement? (Al moved, Charles seconds)

Al: sent resolution to the list. Endorsed in principle, vote unanimous.

HHPTF Book List/Award (Julie)**see previous discussion.

In case Trump tries to steal the election: Labor calls for general strike; SRRT to sign on?

See article:

91´«Ã½ planning to phase out Listserv emails by August 2021 and moving to 91´«Ã½ Connect by around May 2021. ODLOS will provide some training, Q&A, forum. SRRT currently has 3 listserv accounts, changing to 91´«Ã½ Connect would merge those to 2 groups. Possible to create a SRRT Alerts list? Monica to check.

Question about whether all SRRT AC members are on the email lists and 91´«Ã½ Connect.

Members should check 91´«Ã½ Connect groups to make sure to get proper notifications.

Charles: wanted to know where we are with grants and awards, are we proceeding with the Biblo Travel grant? There are costs to the conference even though there is no travel. What are we doing? Waiting for financial reports to proceed with consideration of new awards.

Resolution to Embed Carbon Offset Fee in Registration Fees for all 91´«Ã½ and Divisions Event Attendance

1.​ ​Whereas 91´«Ã½ Council adopted Sustainability as an 91´«Ã½ Core Value in January 2019 (​adopted , 91´«Ã½ CD #37​);

2.​ ​Whereas it is commonly recognized that conferences/events generate a substantial carbon footprint for in-person events and generate a technology-based carbon footprint for virtual events;

3.​ ​Whereas carbon offsets are one simple and effective way to reduce (by exchange) event-specific carbon emissions and thus address sustainability in conference/event operations;

4.​ ​Whereas the 91´«Ã½ Executive Board implemented a voluntary carbon offset fee for conference attendance beginning with Midwinter 2020 (in-person) and continuing for Annual 2020 (virtual);

5.​ ​Whereas there is no guarantee that the 91´«Ã½ Conference Committee will continue to offer a voluntary carbon offset program for future 91´«Ã½ conference events;

6.​ ​Whereas continuing to use carbon offsets for event attendance, but on a non-voluntary basis, would be a strong way to demonstrate 91´«Ã½’s and members’ commitment to sustainability;

Be it resolved that the 91´«Ã½ and its Divisions:

1. ​shall embed a carbon offset fee in the event registration fee for all future events;
2. shall choose a 3​ party certified carbon offset project as the recipient of the carbon offset fee funds;
3. shall verify the carbon offset project recipient remains 3​ party certified on a yearly basis.

David S says - I love this! We might want to consider adding terminology to include/specify conference ​travel ​in addition to event(s) in general. Was that the intent of the authors of this resolution? Conference travel to/from the event likely accounts for 90% or more of the conference footprint. Based on my experience, costs to offset conference and conference travel would be close to $5/person. (depending on the cost of the verified offsets) We could consider recommending a phase-in program over the next 5 years. $1 for 2021, $2 for 2022, $3 for 2023, $4 for 2024, $5 for 2025. Reaching full offset by 2025.

Al Kagan says - Using the Native Energy carbon offset calculators, my 91´«Ã½ flights in 2019 and Jan 2020 needed to be offset by around $10-$12. When we address transportation, I think we need a flexible form showing airplane, train, and car, and perhaps provide a link to 1 or 2 offset calculators. Folks should be able to figure out a reasonable cost and submit that amount. I don’t know how this might work bureaucratically and that needs discussion. Since this is more complicated, perhaps it is better to leave this out of the current resolution.

Chat transcription:

From Tara Brady to Everyone: 10:09 AM

From Ed Garcia to Everyone: 10:32 AM

forwardtogether@ala.org

From Me to Ed Garcia: (Privately) 10:33 AM

Thank you.

From Charles Kratz to Everyone: 10:40 AM

yes

From Harrington, Sherre to Everyone: 10:58 AM

April’s note about sponsoring memberships: Amounts that we had originally pledged to sponsor 91´«Ã½ memberships for 91´«Ã½ Virtual. These are the amounts I show (This is just a FYI. No task force is expected to give this go around or to pledge the same amount.):

• SRRT Emerging Leaders Fund $500

• MLKJHTF ?*

• HHPTF $500

• FTF $500

From Melissa Cardenas-Dow (she/her) to Everyone: 11:06 AM

the form is in the FAQ page

From Me to Everyone: 11:16 AM

If interested, there is an EDI Assembly Zoom meeting on Tuesday, November 17, from 11am-12pm Pacific Standard Time (please check the time zone--I have not been reliable on my computations)

From Me to Everyone: 11:22 AM