Ohio libraries newsletter.

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of the OHIO L1BR.4•~. Y ASSOCIATION
PEOPLE- Our Na .... ural Resource
September, 1982
SEP 2 1 ;9821 ISSUES IN PHILADELPHIA
erald R. Shields, School of Information and Library
......... . ~~t udies , State University of New York at Buffalo and Presl-
Vol. 12, No.7
from the desk of .. .
JOHN WALLACH~ dent-Elect of the New York Library Association was the
It is with great pleasure that, before I step down as Presi­dent,
I can report a success story.
If you're a public librarian and specifically a Director
and/or ClerkfTreasurer, you're well aware of the consterna­tion
caused last fall at the Clerk Treasurers Workshops
regarding public library compliance with Section 5705.38
ORC. In October, OlA's legal counsel wrote an opinion
which stated that this section did not apply to a public
library or Board of Library Trustees. OlA further advised
libraries to continue to handle appropriation procedures in
the same manner as they had done in the past until an Attor­ney
General's Opinion was received.
The State Auditor received such an opinion, dated July
'0 1982 which stated that "the provisions set forth in R.C.
R05.38 do not apply to public libraries and boards of public
library trustees." The full text of the opinion was sent to
every public library director in early August and any in­terested
member may receive a copy by writing the OlA Of-fice.
It may have taken us a while to work through the proper
channels and st ill maintain a cooperative atmosphere with
all parties involved. The Association is fortunate in having
an extremely capable legal counsel in Norton Webster and
a tactful, persistent executive director in Chap Parsons
whose elforts resulted in an opinion which supported the
traditional appropriation procedure used by Ohio's public
libraries.
Finally, the leadership conference to be held at the
Bergamo Conference Center in Dayton convinces me that
the Association will be in very capable hands during the
coming year. The plans of President-elect White, the Divi­sions,
Committees, Chapters and Round Table for 1983 can
only promise success.
Good luck to you all, and GET INVOLVED.
speaker for the Chapter Conclave which was the first meet­ing
that I attended at this year's conference. This meeting is
ALA Councilor's
Report •••
attended primarily by chapter coun­ci
lors, presidents, executive direc·
tors and editors. It's planned by the
Chapter Relations Committee
which was chaired this year by Han-
Bonnie Beth nah McCauley, Ohio University-Lan·
Mitchell caster. Mr. Shields challenged each
of us to do a better job of reporting by addressing the issues
behind specific council actions and/or events atconferences
and to communicate actually what it is that the association
is doing. In essence he asked, "Do we communicate a mes­sage
which is meaningful enough to find an audience?" I
thought about his comments throughout the rest of the con·
ference and will try to organize this report so that it is mean­ingful
to you so that you indeed become an audience.
In my opinion, the most obvious aspect of the conference
was that of public relations. As this year's president, Eliza­beth
Stone said that she wanted to concentrate on visibility
and that she did! It was not coincidental that the lirst day
issue of the America's Libraries Commemorative Stamp (the
first U.S. stamp honoring libraries generally) took place on
Tuesday, July 13 during the conlerence. For a number of
years the Washington ALA Office has been doing ground­work
for such an event. Their preliminary work combined with
President Stone's determination brought it about at a time
when there was the greatest potential for generating enthus­iasm.
Librarians interested in stamp collecting were able to
purchase First Day Covers and everyone at the conference
was invited to a televised ceremony. Yes, televised; again
capitalizing upon the theme of increased visibility. It takes a
powerful effort to get a commemorative stamp approved and
issued by the U.S. Postal Service. This is just one way in
which ALA acting as a whole was able to serve librarians,
libraries and citizens.
continued p. 4
AlAO REGISTRATION FOR OlA/OLTA CONFERENCE
The Academic Library Association of Ohio is an Affliliate Member of OLA. AlAO members registering for the OlA An­nual
Conference should use the regular membership registration fee. AlAO is provided as a check·off on the registration
form but was inexplicably dropped from the registration fee column by the printer. OlA regrets the error.