Jessamyn West, newly elected ALA Councilatrix, suggested a low-income/retired fee category for conferences. Good idea. I wonder how she envisions the implementation. Would the definition of low-income (and/or retired) be spelled out plainly by the ALA or would individuals petition on behalf of their own circumstances (and interpretation of the term), as on page 3 of this example (.pdf!)?

If I understand correctly, retired ALA members already get a conference discount, so I'll suppose that Jessamyn is referring to non-members. Reaching out to non-members in this way would seem a small, positive step toward broadening the membership base in the long run. Low-income conference rates would definitely increase the feasibility of attendance for those who get no organizational support, particularly paraprofessionals. I'd like to see perhaps a sliding scale that can be applied on a petition by petition basis, but with some fairly specific guidelines to help people decide if they qualify.

I hope that Jessamyn plans to continue to circulate ideas into the community for us to consider and contemplate, as well as share tales from behind the Council doors. I'm not at all surprised that she was elected and hope her particularly strong showing (top 5!) reflects a high voter rate amongst the blogging community.