Greetings! Saludos! I’m Lucia Gonzalez, 2021-22 ALSC President, and I have a confession to make: I have never written a blog post. This is my very first post and I look forward to our future conversations about ALSC, children’s librarianship, or the world in general. I would like to dedicate my initial President’s blog post to the subject of engagement. The word engagement in Spanish is compromiso, such as when two people promise themselves to one another in the step before marriage. It also means commitment, undertaking, obligation, pledge and promise.
I have been an ALSC member since the 1990’s. Throughout the years I have had the opportunity to work on joint initiatives and to serve on numerous committees. It was a professional honor, and a dream come true, to have served as the Chair of the 2010 Pura Belpré Award Selection Committee. I also had the privilege of serving as a member of the 2019 Caldecott Committee. Yet, even though I have been an engaged member throughout the years, this past year serving on the ALSC Board has been a journey of unexpected discoveries and surprises. One such surprise was the magnitude of my first major task as Vice President/President Elect when I had to appoint priority group consultants, co-chairs, and members to a the magnitude of ALSC working committees. This, I found out, was a gigantic endeavor. I continue to be constantly amazed at the intricacies of the organization and at the orchestration of its work.
Conducting the business of ALSC is a serious matter. It is also a professional distinction. There are so many ways in which to engage, some are high profile and some are solitary. All are important and we could not meet all of the association’s commitments without the active engagement of its membership. There are thousands of opportunities to engage with ALSC and as your new president; I want to inspire you to say yes to these opportunities.
As I conclude my debut as a blogger, I want to bid Aimee Strittmatter farewell and good wishes as she embarks on her next great adventure. I met Aimee in 2006 at the Midwinter Conference in San Antonio when she was ALSC deputy executive director. Since then I have greatly admired her work. She leaves a great legacy of excellence. ¡Muchas gracias, Aimee!
Lucia M. Gonzalez 2021-2022 President
ALSC (Association for Library Service to Children)
Uma Nori
Welcome Lucia,
I loved your blog post. I have been agonizing about writing a blog post. Reading your post gave me hope and that in time I would write one.
It is indeed an honor to serve on ALSC committee’s. I am currently serving on the ALSC, MCS committee.
Just a little while ago I read the ALA online Code of Conduct and was thinking that the team/ committee that put it together did a wonderful job.
Thank you for your engagement and welcome to your new post as ALSC President.
Lucia Gonzalez
Hello Uma,
Thank you for your message. I feel better now that I broke the ice with blogging!
And yes, very impressive the ALA online Code of Conduct.