College & Research Libraries News vol. 85, no. 6 (June 2023) C&RL News June 2023 223 Association governance continues to take place, for the most part, virtually. The one exception for the period reported here was the ACRL Executive Committee, which was able to meet in person October 10–12, 2022, at Indiana University (IU), thanks to the generosity of our IU hosts. That meeting included a hybrid meeting with the full Board of Directors on October 11, 2022. The ACRL Board of Directors also met virtually in January and February 2023, including an informal Board Update session on January 18 and full Board meetings on February 3 and 17. In addition, the Board and Budget and Finance Committee convened for their annual joint meeting on February 6, 2023. An overview of those meetings appears below. During its October update meeting, the Board heard from Andrew Pace, chair of the ALA Committee on Organization (COO) and past co-chair of the ALA Operating Agreement Working Group. COO has been charged with shepherding the revised ALA Operating Agree- ment to completion, and Pace provided an update on the status of the operating agreement (OA). Financial concerns and some operational policies have been removed from the OA and will be handled by separate groups. Financial matters, such as indirect cost rates and net asset balances, are being addressed by a committee led by ALA Treasurer Peter Hepburn and ALA CFO Dina Tsourdinis and comprising division leaders and member representatives. The committee plans to make some preliminary recommendations at the June 2023 ALA Annual Conference. Operational policies are under consideration by a committee of ALA staff led by ALA Executive Director Tracie Hall. The Board also discussed the proposed revisions to the ALA Bylaws, conducted by the ALA Bylaws Revision Committee led by Brian Schottlaender. ACRL members and staff were heavily involved in making comments on each of the four drafts of the ALA Bylaws. In its attempt to simplify and streamline the Bylaws, the committee removed items such as evalu- ation and establishment of standards; representation and interpretation of its type-of-library in contacts outside the profession; and conduct of activities and projects for improvement and extension of service in its type-of-library when such projects are beyond the scope of type-of-activity divisions, among others. ACRL staff and members expressed concern that items removed from the Bylaws and moved into operational policies, as was the intent here, would not allow members a say in future revisions. The committee took this concern under consideration. At the February 4 meeting, ACRL Councilor Kara Whatley provided an update on the constitutional convention held at LibLearnX in New Orleans. Whatley proposed several amendments to the fourth (penultimate) draft of the Bylaws. The final version was presented to ALA membership for a vote in spring 2023. ACRL Board of Directors’ actions Highlights of the Board’s fall 2022 and LibLearnX 2023 meetings June 2023 224C&RL News Following up on the Board’s decision to transform the existing Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Committee into a fifth goal-area committee, the Board established a work- ing group to develop draft language for the new EDI Committee. The EDI Committee met numerous times to refine the draft language, and the Board discussed that draft at its October meeting, charging a subgroup to finalize the goal and objectives. The Board, at its fall meeting, discussed the Nominations and Policy Task Force’s charge to make service for ACRL more transparent and more inviting. There was recognition that any changes to ACRL’s Bylaws would need to wait for the outcome of ALA’s Bylaws revi- sions, which have been presented to the ALA membership for a vote. The task force’s final report was presented on February 17, 2023. The Board heard reports from the chairs of the five Goal Area Committees—EDI, New Roles and Changing Landscapes, Value of Academic Libraries, Student Learning and Infor- mation Literacy, and Research and Scholarly Environment. The Board received an overview of the just-completed Library Advocacy Toolkit for academic library workers, located at http://acrl.libguides.com/advocacytoolkit. The toolkit contains six primary themes: student success, faculty support, EDI, employment status, affordability, and strategic goals. The Awards Process Implementation Task Force, co-chaired by Lori Goetsch and John Lehner, provided an oral report. The work of the task force is well underway and has di- vided into three subgroups to focus on the recommendations—funding, achievement, and research and scholarship. An interim report is due at the ALA Annual Conference in June 2023 and a final report at LibLearnX in January 2024. The Member Accommodation/Compensation Task Force, co-chaired by Trevor Dawes and Anne Casey, provided an oral update. Trevor Dawes gave the report, mentioning that the difficulties in assembling the task force members resulted in the delay of the final report. The Board expressed its appreciation for the task force’s thoughts on how and when members are recognized for their time and effort in advancing the association and the profession. The Board also voiced its approval of the task force being mindful of potential effects on the ACRL budget regarding any recommendations. The Nominations and Policy Task Force, chaired by Matthew Weirick Johnson, provided its final report at the February 17 meeting. The task force presented numerous recommenda- tions divided into what can be accomplished in the short term and what can be done in the long term, with a list of the advantages and disadvantages of each recommendation. These included revising the ACRL Bylaws to make the language more welcoming, involving more student members in Board activities, and providing suggestions for diversifying the Board beyond institutional representation. At the joint Budget and Finance and Board meeting, Karen Schneider, chair of the ALA Budget Analysis and Review Committee (BARC), described the key elements of ALA’s FY24 budget, which included a 3% salary increase for ALA staff, no furloughs, 26.5% overhead, membership at 18% of market share (ALA’s current market share is 15% while ACRL’s market share is 25.4%), in-person conferences, and a continued push for continu- ing education. She was joined by Melissa Walling, ALA’s director of Offices and Member Relations, to discuss the ongoing plans for restructuring ALA’s membership dues and the possible effects this will have on divisions. http://acrl.libguides.com/advocacytoolkit June 2023 225C&RL News Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion • The Board reviewed the revised language for the EDI Committee as a goal-area commit- tee, and during a virtual vote held November 2, 2022, to November 8, 2022, approved the following for the fifth goal area of the ACRL Plan for Excellence: Fifth Goal Area: Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Goal: Academic and research libraries will practice cultural humility, promote com- munity accountability, and be unwavering in their ongoing, iterative commitment to remedy systemic inequalities in their contexts. • Objective 1: Enhance members’ capacity to acknowledge, interrogate, and dismantle white supremacist structures and other systems of oppression. • Objective 2: Provide professional development and resources to attract, hire, support, retain, and promote workers from marginalized communities, which helps build inclu- sive working environments that center trust and belonging. • Objective 3: Build relationships and coalitions to cultivate “collective ownership, ac- countability, and responsibility.”1 The confirmation of the virtual vote was postponed. Enabling Programs and Services: Member Engagement • The Board approved a request that the ACRL Research Assessment and Metrics Interest Group be transitioned to the ACRL Research Assessment and Metrics Discussion Group. • The Board approved the dissolution of the ACRL Learning Commons Discussion Group; ACRL Philosophical, Religious, and Theological Studies Discussion Group; and ACRL Undergraduate Librarian Discussion Group. • The Board approved six recommendations for candidates for nomination to stand for election for IFLA standing committees. • The Board approved a maximum term limit of six consecutive years for ACRL Liaison Assembly liaisons. • The Board approved the appointment of Diane Dias De Fazio as Editor-Designate and then Editor of RBM: A Journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Cultural Heritage. • The Board approved the Science and Technology Section’s recommendation that Andrea Pritt serve as liaison to the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s section committee on Computing and Communication (Section T) for a three-year term. This recommendation was also approved by the ALA Board at its March 21, 2023, meeting. • The Board approved the following motion: “During virtual or hybrid Board meetings, any chat functionality will be limited and available only to members of the ACRL Board of Directors and ACRL Staff. Non-members or guests will have access to the chat function during open mic sessions or at the invitation or recognition of the Board’s presiding officer.” Enabling Programs and Services: Publications • The ACRL Standards Committee submitted a revision of ACRL’s “Standards for Distance and Online Learning Library Services,” which the Board approved. June 2023 226C&RL News • While meeting September 22–29, 2022, the Board, in an asynchronous virtual vote, approved the following motion from the Budget and Finance Committee: “to purchase in FY23 the Threshold Achievement Test of Information Literacy (TATIL) for $200,000 as $66,000 for re-developing TATIL as an ACRL product in FY23 (depreciated over FY23–FY28).” Enabling Programs and Services: Operations • While meeting December 5–15, 2022, the Board voted asynchronously on the recom- mendation from the Budget and Finance Committee to approve the FY23 budgets for ACRL and Choice. The vote was unanimous in favor and was confirmed at the Febru- ary 3, 2023, meeting. • The Budget and Finance Committee and the Board approved an increase in dues of 4%, (Personal: $74, Retired: $48) following the Higher Education Price Index, but kept student dues at $5. • Upon the recommendation of the Budget and Finance Committee, the Board voted to end funding to the chapters to help offset budget deficits. • Rachel Hendrick, Interim Editor/Publisher of Choice, presented 5-year projections for Choice to the Budget and Finance Committee and to the Board. The Board endorsed a recommendation by the Budget and Finance Committee to commit financially to Choice, a unit of ACRL, for the next five years. This was a necessary step before secur- ing a permanent publisher/editor. Note 1. Joint ALA/ARL Building Cultural Proficiencies for Racial Equity Framework Task Force, “Cultural Proficiencies for Racial Equity: A Framework,” August 2022, https://www .ala.org/pla/initiatives/edi/racialequityframework. https://www.ala.org/pla/initiatives/edi/racialequityframework https://www.ala.org/pla/initiatives/edi/racialequityframework