1. Why did you decide to run for ALA president?

The challenges to American libraries have never been greater than in these times of shrinking civil liberties, limited budgets, emerging technologies, and expanding responsibilities for library professionals. This new century of opportunity calls the American Library Association and its members to lend their expertise to helping libraries reach diverse patrons and help all citizens to be informed, fully literate, lifelong learners and information users.

As president, I would work tirelessly to lead and support ALA's membership to fulfill our professional mission and call everyone to improve literacy and enrich lives through libraries and library services.

2. If you are elected, what will be your prime focus?

My candidacy is premised on the belief that librarians and libraries are an essential foundation for 21st Century literacy. We provide the information people need to live, learn, work and succeed in their communities. ALA divisions are helping librarians prepare preschoolers to read, promoting family literacy, reducing adult illiteracy - including that of ESL adults - and teaching information literacy. ALCTS members are instrumental in developing and organizing collections to facilitate literacy efforts.

As educators, researchers and advocates, librarians have led local, national and international efforts to allow all people to better access, evaluate, use and appreciate the full spectrum of information from various media. If elected, my presidential initiative would be “21stCentury Literacies: libraries = literacy = learning = liberty” because I believe ALA has a central leadership role in advancing reading and emerging literacies of the Digital Age.

3. What do you hope to accomplish during your term?

An individual’s legacy is measured in terms of what that person has done to advance the group. My candidacy is centered on identifying expertise within our group, leading the membership, and serving the Association’s interests.

I hope that my colleagues will recognize my high ethical standards, tireless work ethic and total commitment to the profession and Association. I shall commit myself to identifying and working with leaders within our association so we might broaden our outreach. I also will work to cultivate future leadership.

The legacy of ALA should be that the Association builds successive generations of consistently effective and visionary leadership and workers who promote libraries, learning, literacy, and liberty

4. How do your ALA goals and philosophy relate to ALCTS, and what role might ALCTS have in helping you achieve your goals?

All libraries collect, organize, manage, and make information and materials available to library users. By knowing and understanding the needs of their community’s library users, ALCTS members play an essential role in finding, identifying, selecting and obtaining materials of interest and use to the entire community. Thanks to the work of ALCTS members library users without strong information literacy skills are able to find and use the materials they need.

5. What do you see as the greatest challenges facing those engaged in the areas of work represented by ALCTS (acquisitions, cataloging, serials, preservation, and collection development) in the near term future. How can ALA assist these members in meeting those challenges?

Recruitment of a new generation of diverse, well-educated, and professionally dedicated technical services librarians is one of the most pressing issues facing the profession today. We must cultivate a better appreciation in the profession for the valuable work done by staff in the area of technical services. Libraries without vibrant well-organized and managed collections cannot survive. The profession and society need librarians who are skilled and committed to doing this important work and recruiting successive professionals to continue this vital service.

In addition to attracting people to the profession, we need to ongoing continuing education opportunities to our members. ALA needs to be more tech savvy and supportive of ALCTS’ efforts to provide forward-thinking continuing education opportunities for members.

6. How can ALA make certain that members, whose primary affiliation is to a "type of activity" division, feel connected to the concerns of the organization as a whole? How might ALA's awareness of their concerns be increased? How might their involvement be increased?

I believe that most ALA members find their ALA home within a division. This also is where most of the association’s work is accomplished and where ALA members’ have the clearest voice. As a past division president, I believe that divisions’ representatives should have a more important role in developing the path that ALA is taking and that ALA’s organizational goals should more effectively reflect issues that are important to the divisions. As ALA President I will work closely with the division presidents to ensure that division concerns are heard and supported.

7. In recent years ALA has engaged in a variety of public relations and visionary activities such as Goal 2000; Libraries: an American Value; and task forces on core values, core competencies, etc. In some of these efforts it has been difficult for ALCTS members to "see themselves" or to see that the Association embraces issues that are critical to ALCTS. What steps will you take to increase ALA's inclusiveness within its own ranks?

ALA is a membership association and needs to care about helping its members to successfully perform on the job. That means we need an effective website where we can find, identify, select and obtain the information that we need to do our jobs better. We also need to provide continuing education opportunities that address the needs and concerns of members. That CE should be available electronically and ALA should provide the technological infrastructure to support those activities. ALA should be able to capture programs and then be able to broadcast them over the Internet to members who cannot afford to attend conferences.

Different people will react and interact differently with ALA, but whether members are able to participate in-person or remotely we are all members first. As a membership association ALA needs to focus on its members’ needs and issues that directly affect the profession.

As your president, I will represent the Association in all forums. My past and present leadership experience at the local, national and international levels allow me to effectively serve as the voice of the Association on a full spectrum of issues. ALA is fortunate to have an active and committed membership. As president, I would listen to, value and work with the diverse expertise, vision, and energy of our membership. I ask for your vote to lead the American Library Association.