AALS May Workshops & Future Workshops

We were very busy in the Month of May. Workshops that AALS hosted included topics such as Teen Film Festivals, Records Management and Audits, Government Docs, Trends in Children's Literature (online), Advanced Google, Interlibrary Loan and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Technology (online). Thank you to everyone who participated in these programs. We know we are making an impact on our libraries and their communities when we see you eager to learn and ask questions and share your thoughts at these programs.

At the recent AALS Advisory Council meeting last week, we heard from our member libraries that workshop topics that our system office offers each year are extremely important to our library directors, their staff & volunteers. AALS has consistently offered library-specific continuing education programs that have been instrumental in strengthening our area libraries.

Although we don't have an alternative proposal, we will not be able to provide training on many popular workshop topics in the future, mainly those that directly help library staff. Due to LSTA restrictions the Texas State Library and Archives Commission has been instructed to comply with, many workshop topics that the AALS librarians requested will not be allowable. This could begin as early as September 2008. The State Library is reviewing our proposed workshop schedule for FY09 and will be communicating with systems offices which workshop topics are allowable and which ones aren't. Unfortunately, the scope of the AALS workshops appears to be slowly evolving into a narrow pool of topics still TBD. The 10 system offices' CE consultants are going to meet with the State Library this summer to discuss what is allowable under the LSTA goals we are required to comply with.

Library System offices will need to align their CE workshops with 3 specific LSTA goals:

Goal 2 "Provide assistance to libraries to support literacy and educational
attainment in their communities."
Goal 3 "Assist libraries in providing programs and services to meet the needs of
their populations."
Goal 4 "Assist libraries with technology to serve the information needs of Texans."

Some of the examples of workshop topics that AALS will probably not be able to provide training on broadly include:

Administration (budgeting, policies, planning)
Marketing
Management of library staff
Library Buildings
Legal issues for librarians
Fundraising /grant writing (applying to Tocker or other foundations)
Safety
Records Management & Audits
Nonprofit Management
Book Repair
Friends & Boards

This is not an all-inclusive list, but it gives you an idea of how some types of valuable training may be eliminated. Would you be willing to pay to take similar workshops, for example, through Amigos or a university? Most libraries don't have the funding available to pay for staff to take a class that costs anywhere from $150 to $200, plus travel expenses. It's too early to know the solution to this, but that's my 2 cents.

What workshops would you like AALS to sponsor? Does it fit in with any of the three required LSTA goals above? Post your comments/questions/opinions here.