Any association faces two choices:(1) respond to members' changing needs, or
(2) die. In an association as varied as AALL, in times as volatile as the
present, it is no easy task to be sure we are positioning ourselves for (1)
instead of (2). For the past eighteen months, the Executive Board has under-
taken a careful, thorough, sometimes painful strategic and financial planning
process. Member input was solicited at every step and in many different ways
in an attempt to get broad-based information about what AALL members regard as
the most important benefits AALL offers, what members believe AALL should
offer, and what members believe AALL should quit doing.
What came out of that process was the realization that AALL cannot continue
to do everything it has always done AND add the new benefits members say they
want (i.e., "respond to members' changing needs"). Unless we want AALL to
continue operating at ever-increasing deficits, we have to find ways to use
our scarce resources to maximum advantage.
The proposed amendment to remove LLJ as a benefit of membership grew directly
out of the comments we, the board, heard from AALL members. Over and over,
members told us in focus groups, surveys, and casual conversations that LLJ
is less important to them than the Newsletter, the Washington Affairs Office,
the Annual Meeting, or a long list of other benefits. Most members found some
value in LLJ and hoped it would continue, but many commented we were wasting
money by sending a copy to every member, and some said they resented paying
for something they don't want or use. They had some good ideas about new de-
livery options too (e.g., one free copy per institutional member; or one copy
for each x number of members in an institutional membership; or a two-tiered
membership, with and without LLJ; or a Chinese menu membership, with members
selecting the benefits they want.) The By-laws as they exist do not permit
any flexibility to try those creative solutions to a very real dilemma: what
to do about an activity that costs us $99,000 a year (4% of our operating
budget) but benefits only some of our members. No one on the board relishes
the idea of removing LLJ as a benefit. We all believe AALL must maintain the
scholarly record of our profession, and we all have some trepidation about
putting LLJ on its own feet. The only thing we feel sure about is that continu
ing to subsidize LLJ at its present level is not the way to use our scarce
resources to maximum advantage. The LLJ amendment will give the board flex-
ibility to seek creative ways to serve ALL our members.
Ann Puckett
Director of the Law Library and Professor of Law
University of Georgia School of Law Library
Athens GA 30602-6018
Phone (706)542-5078
Fax (706)542-5001
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