[alacoun] Open Meetings -- questions from the e-participation task force

[Janet Hill <Janet.Hill@Colorado.EDU>]

(This is the first of the three "issue messages" that the Task Force on
Electronic Member Participation will be sending to Council to solicit
Council's input)

The Open Meetings policy was instituted ca. 1970, primarily in response to
requests from the library press to attend Executive Board meetings.  Neither
the policy, nor the one existing interpretation of the policy (from 1978)
defines "open" or "closed." There is no statement of what was to be achieved
by open meetings or what the specific benefits to members might be.
Historical documentation so far uncovered is also silent on these matters.

The Open Meetings policy was formulated at a time when meetings were carried
out face-to-face only, and it was generally (though never officially)
interpreted to mean "If you can get there, and if you pay the registration,
you can observe"--and that therefore, this met the standard of "openness."
However, there have always been limitations to the "reach" of the Open
Meetings Policy, deriving from physical, logistical, and financial factors.

Furthermore, the policy has never been applied to correspondence
(telephonic, written, or electronic) that may take place between official
meetings at Midwinter and Annual conferences--activities that are also a
part of the regular work of the association.

Electronic capabilities have expanded possibilities for official meetings to
be held outside of the twice-yearly conferences, and for meetings at the
twice-yearly conferences to be conducted at least in part electronically.
It is now at least theoretically possible for all meetings, whether at
conferences or between them, to be electronically accessible to all members
of the body holding the meeting, as well as to observers.  Some meetings may
lend themselves easily to electronic participation, and our survey indicates
that in fact, some ALA committees and other work units have been conducting
business electronically for a while. However, there are significant
logistical and financial issues that may make providing this kind of blanket
accessibility for all meetings difficult, awkward, or financially
unfeasible.  
 
The Task Force began with the assumption that open electronic meetings were
both desirable and achievable.   During discussion, however, it gradually
became evident that blanket implementation of the "purest form" of open
electronic meetings is not presently achievable, and that requiring blanket
on-line, real-time access to all meetings of all governance entities (which
would mean that no meetings could be held unless they were face-to-face
meetings at the twice-yearly conferences, or unless on-line, real-time
access could be made accessible to all), could actually deter increased
electronic participation.

Because of all of the above, the Task Force has concluded that expansion of
electronic participation in association governance requires not a new
policy, but a new Interpretation of the existing policy.  The interpretation
should include a statement of what is important about holding open meetings,
what constitutes "openness," and what kinds of notice and information might
meet the goal of openness.

Accordingly, the Task Force is asking for input from Councilors about what
they believe the benefits of open meetings to be, what we should hope to
achieve by having open meetings, and, if it is impossible at this time to
implement "the purest form" of open meetings, what the nature of "open"
means in an online environment, and what kinds of access to what kinds of
information would be sufficient to satisfy our desire for openness in
Association governance.

Please note that these questions are about Open Meetings .. That is,
providing a mechanism for people who are not members of particular
governance entities (committees, task forces, boards, etc.) to know what
those entities are doing. These questions are NOT about electronic
participation by appointed/elected members of those committees or boards.
And they are NOT about electronic access to non-meeting activities of
governance entities.  Those are separate questions whose answers are not
dependent on the Open Meetings Policy.

We thank you for your thoughts.  



janet swan hill
councilor at large
janet.hill@colorado.edu
*****
Tradition is the handing-on of Fire, and not the worship of Ashes.
- Gustav Mahler