At the 2005 Midwinter Meeting Boston, January 14-19, the ALSC Board:

VOTED, that the Public Library-School Partnership Discussion Group be dropped from Priority Group I (Child Advocacy) and remain on Priority Group VII (Partnerships).

VOTED, that the membership of the Quicklists Consulting Committee be changed as follows (proposed changes in bold):

"Membership: Two co-chairs appointed in alternating years, plus fifteen members; two members are bilingual (Spanish/English).

VOTED, that the ALSC Bylaws be changed to incorporate a new fiscal officer position, as follows:

ARTICLE IV, Sec. 1: The Board of Directors shall consist of the officers of the Association; the immediate past-president; the ALSC/ALA Councilor; the fiscal officer; eight additional directors, three to be elected each year for a term of three years each….

ARTICLE V, Sec. 1: The officers shall be president, a vice-president who shall also be president-elect, a fiscal officer , and an executive director. The vice-president (president-elect) shall be elected annually. The fiscal officer shall be elected beginning in 2006 and every third year thereafter for a term of three years…

ARTICLE V, Sec. 3: In the event that the office of president becomes vacant….(snip)…. In the event that the office of fiscal officer becomes vacant, the Board of Directors shall elect from among its members in the second or third year of service a person to assume the responsibilities of fiscal officer for the remaining of the three year term.

ARTICLE VI, Sec. 1: The Executive Committee shall consist of the president who serves as chairperson, the vice-president (president-elect), the past-president, the ALSC/ALA councilor, a fiscal officer , and the Executive Director of ALSC.

ARTICLE VI, Sec. 5: The Fiscal Officer shall oversee and track the budget, attend BARC/PBA meetings, and serve as a liaison between ALSC and ALA on financial matters.

VOTED, to change the name of the Preschool Services and Parent Education Committee to Early Childhood Services and Programs Committee.

To change the function statement to:

"To identify and disseminate information on effective, cooperative, or innovative programs for young children to libraries, childcare providers, and community agencies serving young children (birth to school-age). To develop training workshops on early childhood programs and services and present them at conferences and institutes and for other institutions serving youth. To cooperate as appropriate with other ALSC committees and other associations working with the young child to initiate activities and projects.

Note: the Board requested that the committee revise the proposed function statement to include the second sentence of the existing School-Age Programs and Services Committee.

VOTED, to accept, at the recommendation of the Publications Committee, the proposal "A Place for Poetry," and to accept in concept the proposal "Management by the book: Lessons learned from the best of Children’s Literature."

VOTED, that the ALSC "Policy on Membership on Awards and Media Evaluation" (committees) be amended as follows (changes in bold):

An ALSC member may not accept nomination or appointment to a committee if:

Employed by or advisor to any trade publishing house or any company that produces children’s films, filmstrips, recordings, software, and/or other types of non-print media to be evaluated by a committee.

Under "Eligibility," Delete the fourth item, "Serving as an advisor or consultant for producers of backlist print and non-print media."

VOTED, that the Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award’s PURPOSE be changed to read (changes in bold):

"The Sibert Award honors the most distinguished informational book published in English in the preceding year for its significant contribution to children’s literature. The award is presented to the author, author/illustrator, co-authors, or author and illustrator named on the title page of that book." [Effective with the 2006 Sibert Awards]

And, that the terms, definitions, criteria and manual for this award be adjusted as appropriate to reflect this change.

VOTED, that the criteria for the Geisel Award be amended by one word as follows (text to be removed in brackets; text to be inserted in bold):

"The award shall be given annually to the author and illustrator of the most distinguished contribution to the body of American children’s literature known as beginning reader books published in the United States during the preceding year. There are no limitations as to the character of the book considered except that it will be original, and must be [marked] identified and function successfully as a beginning reader book. Honor Books may be named. These shall be books that are also truly distinguished.

VOTED, that the ALSC "Policy on Membership on Awards and Media Evaluation" be revised to remove the text restricting members of Council from serving simultaneously on an ALSC award committee (or vice-versa).

VOTED, that a New Award Committee be formed to review proposals for new youth awards.

VOTED, that ALSC establish a Task Force to investigate and make recommendations for a system of mentoring and supporting ALSC members. The Task Force will sunset when the project is completed.

VOTED, that ALSC establish a Task Force to promote and encourage children’s service curricula in library schools and to develop an outline of excellent library school curricula in children’s services.

VOTED, that the United States Pony Club retain its status as a liaison organization.

VOTED, that ALSC move $5,000 from the Net Asset Balance into the Arbuthnot Endowment in FY 2006, to build the Arbuthnot Endowment to provide for a possible increase in the speaker honorarium in the future. This action will be reviewed annually by the ALSC Board and the ALSC Planning & Budget Committee.

VOTED, that an Ad Hoc Committee be formed for a three-year period to select the awardees for the Maureen Hayes Award.