Planning Committee | The American Library Association Archives

Delineation of Association goals and of appropriate objectives and projects to meet those goals are the main tasks of the standing Council Committee on PLanning (COP), which was established June 1971 on recommendation of the standing Council Committee on Organization (COO) (1).  Its full statement of responsibility is as follows:

    "To provide the Association with a structured and identifiable mechanism for determining future trends and needs; to provide information and recommendations to assist in the periodic selection of priorities by the Association; to establish methods of evaluating Association progress toward the accomplishment of its priorities; to identify priority areas  which are not being effectively addressed and to recommend appropriate action; to provide information and guidelines for program evaluation necessary to COPES (Committee on Program Evaluation and Support) in its budgetmaking process; to identify organizational issues related to Association priorities and (to) refer such issues to COO” (2).

    1.  "COO Recommendations Relating to COP"; "COP".  Committee Files of ALA Executive Director, 1950-78.  Series No. 2/4/11, Box 2, Folder 1971-75 ALA Archives; see also:  ALA Handbook of Organization, 1971-72, p. 17.

    2.  ALA Handbook of Organization, 1985-86, p. 19; this revision, which represents a shift towards an advisory function, appears in Handbook, 1984-85, p. 20; cf. original statement in Handbook, 1971-72, p. 17.