ALA Presidential Candidates Archives | Page 2 of 3

ALA presidential candidates for the 2022–2023 term, from left: Stacey A. Aldrich, Ed Garcia, and Lessa Kanani'opua Pelayo-Lozada

ALA Presidential Candidates Announced

October 26, 2020

“Stacey A. Aldrich, state librarian, Hawaii State Public Library System, Honolulu; Ed Garcia, director, Cranston (R.I.) Public Library; and Lessa Kanani’opua Pelayo-Lozada, adult services assistant manager, Palos Verdes Library District in Rolling Hills Estates, California, are candidates for the 2022–2023 presidency of the American Library Association (ALA). Aldrich currently serves on the ALA Center for the … Continue reading ALA Presidential Candidates Announced →

Meet the Candidates for ALA President: Steven Yates

By Steven Yates | March 2, 2020

This year has already been historic for ALA. We have a new executive director and soon a new home in Chicago. These changes, along with the organizational review process, call for all of us to lend a hand. As a dedicated volunteer with leadership experience, I would like to work alongside you as your 2021–2022 … Continue reading Meet the Candidates for ALA President: Steven Yates →

Meet the Candidates for ALA President: Patricia “Patty” Wong

By Patty Wong | March 2, 2020

America’s libraries are the cornerstones of social democracy. We face many challenges as a nation: changing demographics and how to provide equitable access and service to all differing views about public support for public services privatization challenges to the freedom to read, write, and speak barriers to access shifting landscapes for publishing and digital access … Continue reading Meet the Candidates for ALA President: Patricia “Patty” Wong →

Meet the Candidates for ALA President: Julius C. Jefferson Jr.

By Julius C. Jefferson Jr. | March 1, 2019

It is an exciting time to be a member of the American Library Association (ALA). ALA can and will play an important role at this critical juncture in the history of our profession and our country, and it must stand united to speak with one voice: to advocate for the education of an informed citizenry; … Continue reading Meet the Candidates for ALA President: Julius C. Jefferson Jr. →

Meet the Candidates for ALA President: Lance Werner

By Lance Werner | March 1, 2019

The American Library Association (ALA) and libraries are in a unique position to help, heal, and lead. We must bring more civility and critical thought into the world through kindness, empathy, and love. Libraries are on the front line, doing an outstanding job of serving the underserved. But there is also an opportunity to bring … Continue reading Meet the Candidates for ALA President: Lance Werner →

Meet the Candidates for ALA President: Peter Hepburn

By Peter Hepburn | March 1, 2018

To thrive, libraries and library workers need a strong and healthy professional association that advocates for us and for those who come to our facilities or who use our online resources, enabling them to benefit from the wide range of services we offer. Within our library community, we must have an association that is itself … Continue reading Meet the Candidates for ALA President: Peter Hepburn →

Meet the Candidates for ALA President: Wanda Brown

By Wanda Kay Brown | March 1, 2018

Many of our funders and constituents do not understand the role of the modern library and the tremendous impact we have on the communities we serve. As members of a profession that has so much influence and shares in the dissemination of information, librarians and library workers need to demonstrate the value and relevance of … Continue reading Meet the Candidates for ALA President: Wanda Brown →

Meet the Candidates for ALA President: Scott Walter

By Scott Walter | March 1, 2017

Given this reality, every one of us faces choices about the work we want to do, the institutions we hope to save, and the world we wish to build for our friends, family, neighbors, and children. Libraries, archives, museums, and schools have a special role to play in the coming years in defense of informed … Continue reading Meet the Candidates for ALA President: Scott Walter →

Meet the Candidates for ALA President: Terri Grief

By Terri Grief | March 1, 2017

Strengthening relationships. Together we can more productively advocate for libraries across the board. The relationships we can strengthen within ALA will create opportunities for advocacy outside the Association. ALA has been described as having silos that prevent divisions and units from working together. My plan is to encourage joint projects and support them financially. The … Continue reading Meet the Candidates for ALA President: Terri Grief →

Meet the Candidates for ALA President: Loida Garcia-Febo

By Loida Garcia-Febo | March 1, 2017

I serve as an advocate for libraries every day. Why? Because libraries change lives in every community in our nation. Our strong value system propels us to create new ways to do such things as help children read, assist job seekers, support first-generation college students, and connect battered women and children with shelters. As confirmed … Continue reading Meet the Candidates for ALA President: Loida Garcia-Febo →

Meet the Candidates for ALA President: Jim Neal

By James Neal | March 1, 2016

As your president, I will build on the Libraries Transform focus of current ALA President Sari Feldman, and the Expert in the Library theme of President-Elect Julie Todaro. My vision projects that we are: virtual, engaged with our users and in our communities in ever more rigorous and effective ways; we are virtuoso, smart but … Continue reading Meet the Candidates for ALA President: Jim Neal →

Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe, candidate for ALA president

Meet the Candidates for ALA President: Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe

By Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe | March 1, 2016

By joining together as a community of colleagues, we accomplish more than we can alone. We raise the visibility of the impact that libraries have in our communities. We challenge each other to innovate and transform our practices. We support each other. We are strong. But we can be stronger. ALA is the oldest and largest library association … Continue reading Meet the Candidates for ALA President: Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe →

Latest Library Links

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The Library of Congress’s 2024 Literacy Awards recognized four top honorees on September 8, International Literacy Day: The LaundryCares Foundation, an Illinois-based nonprofit that installs learning spaces in laundromats across the country; New Zealand’s Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori Inc., a network of schools working to preserve and promote the Māori language; We Need Diverse Books of Bethesda, Maryland, which helps authors and illustrators with diverse backgrounds get their books published; and the Alsama Project in Beirut, Lebanon, which educates Syrian refugee youth frequently left out of Lebanese schools.

Library of Congress Timeless, Sept. 9
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Michael Rodriguez writes: “In the first half of 2024, institutions of higher education in the United States closed permanently at the rate of one per week, according to one estimate, with little sign of slowing down. Where the author lives in Pennsylvania, eight colleges have closed, consolidated, or announced plans to do so since January 2024 alone. These closures directly impact small private colleges and the communities built around them, but closures also ripple throughout the academy, disbanding libraries and archives and endangering access to and preservation of the scholarly record.”

The Scholarly Kitchen, Sept. 5
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Daniel M. Rothschild writes: “Discussions of reading habits typically break down, at least in the first instance, along the binary of fiction and nonfiction. If you ask most people what they read, they’ll give you some version of ‘mostly fiction’ or ‘mostly nonfiction.’ I write today in praise of a third genre that few self-respecting intellectuals admit to reading regularly, though many do: the reference book. Real reference books are unpretentious, which is part of their charm. You as the reader can make them comply with the demands of your knowledge, intellect, and time constraints, not vice versa.”

Discourse, Aug. 30
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Kurt Schlosser writes: “All tech-enabled systems and services are back up and running at Seattle Public Library this week, roughly three months after a ransomware attack impaired services at the institution and its 27 branches across the city. Cybersecurity experts are praising some of the steps taken to protect against future attacks. The breach over Memorial Day weekend affected access to staff and public computers, online catalog and loaning systems, ebooks and e-audiobooks, in-building WiFi, the library website, and more.” The library said it will issue a public report later this year but it has revealed some steps taken to prevent future attacks.

GeekWire, Sept. 5; Seattle Public Library, Sept. 3
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Matt Hudson writes: “Great Falls (Mont.) Public Library Board of Trustees voted September 5 to approve a counter-proposal to a city plan to [cut seven mills of library funding that have been in place since 1993]. The board’s proposal would reduce funding by 2.5 mills, or about $300,000 annually.” The city had proposed reducing funding from seven to 3.5 mills for two years and eliminating it after that. This funding is separate from an increase approved by voters last year, but “library representatives have said that the 2023 campaign was based on keeping the seven mills in place.”

Bozeman Daily Chronicle, Sept. 8; American Libraries feature, Jan./Feb., 2024
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Caitlyn Byrd writes: “Last year, Angelina Davenport ignited a firestorm in Berkeley County (S.C.), launching a sweeping challenge that targeted 93 books in the district’s school libraries—all in a single day. Now, with an open school board seat up for grabs, Davenport is making her next move, complete with a campaign logo that features a stack of six books.” In Nebraska, Gov. Jim Pillen appointed Terri Cunningham-Swanson, who was recalled from the Plattsmouth Community School District Board in January after she attempted to have more than 50 books removed from school libraries, to the Nebraska Library Commission.

Post and Courier (Charleston, S.C.), Sept. 5; KOLN-TV (Lincoln, Neb.), Sept. 6
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Steve Tetreault writes: “Educators face more pressure and push-back than at any point I can recall. Decision-makers at the national, state, and local levels resist the idea of educators as trained professionals. Too many parents feel entitled to dictate every second of students’ lives, both in and out of the classroom. Even students exhibit widespread attitudes of disrespect and disdain for school. In short: Education is in a dark age. But within that darkness, there are points of light. We are each a star. And if we are willing to connect with others, we can create fabulous constellations.”

Knowledge Quest, Sept. 9

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