Leaving no one behind in the information age --
Building tomorrow’s libraries today
During the ALA Midwinter meeting in Boston,
I met with many of you to learn more about your
concerns, share my ideas, and shape a platform
that will ensure Americans the best network of
library service in the world. You and I can’t
do this alone. By working together, using the
collective power of ALA, and mining our wealth
of resources, we can deliver premier library
services so that no one, regardless of geography,
ability, or social position, is left behind in
the information age.
As ALA President I will commit myself to:
We can do this is several ways.
Setting a National Policy Agenda
We need to create an information-rich society by proposing national and state
legislative agendas that reflects our shared vision for libraries and the
resources we need.
Too often we are defending ourselves against someone else’s ill-conceived ideas about what will make libraries better or legislation and laws designed to make us act more “responsibly”. We’ve had a patchwork of legislation over the years that have left many libraries out of the picture when it comes to improved funding, better service and skilled staff. It’s time to put our heads together to decide what we need to make every library—school, public, academic, and special-- the best it can be for the community it serves. It’s time for us to develop OUR legislative agenda, seek legislators who want to transform library service for all users and to get the agenda adopted.
Recruiting the Best and the Brightest
and Paying Them Well
We must act now to recruit the best and brightest to our profession and to
develop tomorrow’s leaders.
With 50% of our workforce ready to retire in the next 10 years, we face a critical labor shortage. I will step up our efforts to attract an ever-more diverse work force, well equipped to represent our values as community and association leaders. I will use my role as ALA’s chief advocate to speak out to improve salaries for all library workers, implement the ALA-APA Certification program, and ensure that our members have access to quality continuing education.
Every Library Worker a Leader
Strong, focused and visionary leadership is the key to successful libraries.
The power to transform our libraries rests with all of us. ALA can play an important role in ensuring that all librarians and library workers are confident and competent leaders within their libraries. I will commit ALA resources toward structured opportunities for ALA members to develop their leadership potential through intensive training workshops, focused conference programming and ALA’s committee, roundtable and division structure.
Grassroots Support
Advancing our national policy agenda will require us to build a broad coalition
of advocates willing and able to speak out on behalf of libraries.
We need to make libraries an epidemic as well as the topic of conversation in supermarkets, board rooms, class rooms, cocktail parties, barbeques, churches, synagogues and mosques, and in chat rooms and living rooms throughout the country. This will require us to grow our existing advocacy groups to include people who have not traditionally spoken out for libraries. ALA must play a leading role in helping us build this broad-based network of advocates through the @your library campaign and other promotional efforts designed to increase our visibility.
Transforming ALA for the Next Generation
of Leaders
Many of us love ALA and the way it works. Nevertheless, we must continuously
assess our Association’s strengths and weaknesses.
Will today’s practices work for the next generation of librarians? We must act now to attract and retain the next gen librarians, provide them with opportunities for meaningful participation in ALA, and plan strategically to incorporate the needs of these future leaders of our profession.
I welcome your feedback on my campaign platform and invite you to send me more information about issues of concern to you.