At the 2012 American Library Association Annual Conference, adopting recommendations of the Advocacy Task Force chaired by Mary Beth Weber, the ALCTS board of directors agreed in principle to establish two groups to address advocacy issues within the context of ALCTS. This year, we implemented the groups, which made considerable progress on their charges.

First, to assist members in demonstrating and articulating the value of library functions in ALCTS’s areas of interest, we formed a temporary group, the Technical Services Advocacy Resources Task Force. This task force, chaired by Louise Ratliff, compiled a collection of facts, websites, “elevator speeches,” and other resources for members’ use in their libraries, which are available on the ALCTS website.

Second, the board established a division-level standing committee, the Advocacy Coordinating Group, to enable ALCTS to play a proactive, effective role in policy development and legislative influence. The new committee, chaired by Olivia M. A. Madison, will scan the environment for policy discussions and decisions falling within ALCTS’s areas of interest, recommend positions and prompt action, and provide coordination with other groups. Through the activities of the Advocacy Coordinating Group, we hope to bring ALCTS expertise to a variety of pertinent policy discussions.

Preservation Week, now an ALCTS signature event, provided opportunities for libraries to connect with members of their communities by helping them preserve their personal, family, or community heritage. Held April 21–27, Preservation Week 2013 featured noted author Steve Berry as a spokesperson; Berry’s enthusiasm for the event has helped raise its profile. Registration at free webinars on family photographs, archives, and personal digital archiving totaled 2,500 individuals. An event tracker listed sixty-four events held by sixty-one organizations. Online flyers provided new content targeted to military families. “Dear Donia,” featuring an ALCTS member giving preservation advice, launched with a live Facebook chat session. In these activities and more, Preservation Week explained what we are about by demonstrating it.

ALCTS continually reviews its structure and operations, and it seeks members’ input regarding ways to improve. This year, in response to member concerns about travel while enhancing committee effectiveness, we implemented a new appointment cycle requiring members of most division committees to attend face-to-face meetings only at the ALA Annual Conference. We hope the new cycle enables more individuals to serve on committees, and frees members who attend the ALA Midwinter Meeting to participate in interest group discussions and other educational and networking events. With committee membership overlapping at the ALA Annual Conference, the new cycle should also provide greater continuity for effective virtual functioning throughout the year. We will continue to explore organizational changes and new types of committee structures—such as the Continuing Education Committee’s Technical Support Group for webinars and virtual meetings—that enhance members’ ability to participate in delivering ALCTS programs and services.

In response to member suggestions, we adopted a dues category for retired members, sent additional reminders to solicit volunteers, and worked toward automatic follow-up of non-renewing members. We implemented a review process for sections (our major organizational unit), and “tweaked” a new position, the Interest Group Coordinator, to take further advantage of this successful innovation. ALCTS Executive Director Charles Wilt conducted a survey of current award jury chairs to gather their thoughts about our awards process. Along with information from other parts of ALA, we used jury chairs’ observations to clarify our awards procedures and make them more consistent. ALCTS members, the board is listening to you!

ALCTS led the way within ALA in proposing a digital repository for preserving and providing access to association documents. This year ALCTS participated with other divisions in contracting with the University of Illinois for a digital archive. During the coming year, ALCTS members will provide their expertise as we undertake its implementation.

In July 2012, the ALCTS Publishing Review Task Group, chaired by Mary Case, submitted its final report, which includes a scan of our publishing environment, a proposed mission and vision for the ALCTS publishing program, and fifteen specific recommendations to revitalize it, on topics ranging from organizational changes to open access policy development. The board, the Publications Committee, ALCTS staff, and others reviewed this comprehensive report. All recommendations of the task group have now been implemented or are at some point in the implementation process. To add further data to the discussion, an Emerging Leaders project identified three possible financial models for Library Resources & Technical Services (LRTS); and in summer 2013, the division surveyed division leaders about their attitudes toward open access policy for ALCTS publications. Though full implementation of the Publishing Review Group’s recommendations will take time, we are already seeing positive results in our publishing program and are moving toward adopting a division policy regarding open access and ALCTS publications.

ALCTS’s continuing education program was busy and successful. Web courses on topics such as acquiring electronic resources and collection assessment were offered throughout the year. The Continuing Education Committee presented more than twenty webinars on topics ranging across ALCTS’s areas of interest, with total registration of 3,000 individuals and 465 groups. Webinars offered at reasonable cost generated an important stream of revenue for ALCTS; nonetheless, after just a few months, ALCTS webinars continued to become available at no charge on the ALCTS YouTube site. The popular E-Forum series, always available at no charge to participants, provided opportunities for diverse library staff to discuss e-book acquisition, RDA training, the role of the professional in library technical services, and other current topics of interest to technical services professionals.

ALCTS presented both face-to-face and virtual preconference and conference programs. A conference highlight at the Annual Conference was the ALCTS President’s Program, “Confessions of a Digital Packrat,” presented by Erin McKean, founder of Wordnik.com, former editor-in-chief of American Dictionaries for Oxford University Press, and blogger on sewing and dresses.

The Transforming Collections Task Force continued to offer microgrants to support innovative projects involving emerging technologies and collections in libraries. The microgrant project will continue through 2015.