LibLearnX came and went in a blur this past month! In addition to the excitement of the Youth Media Awards announcements, another group was also celebrated: the 2022 class of the American Library Association’s Emerging Leaders.
Every year, a new cohort is chosen, representing up and coming library leaders from every type of library setting. In order to apply, you need to be a new library professional with fewer than 5 years of experience working at professional or paraprofessional staff level in a library. If you were working towards your MLS and also working in a library, that time prior to you graduating will not count towards your total number of years worked. You will also need to make sure your membership at the time of applying is current, and attendance at both ALA LibLearnX and ALA Annual will be required. Applications are accepted online, and the deadline each year is August 30th. For more information on this year’s Emerging Leaders and the program, visit the Emerging Leaders site.
For those who are no longer eligible to apply but want to be involved with the Emerging Leaders program, I would encourage you to participate as a member guide. As a member guide, you are there to support the work of Emerging Leaders on a selected project. You are there to connect with the group, answer any questions they have, and offer suggestions and feedback as they move along with their project.
For this year’s 2022 Emerging Leaders, I have the opportunity to work with the ALSC Emerging Leaders project. All of the incredible Emerging Leaders teams are assigned an ALA division to complete a project for, and will be presenting a poster summarizing/showcasing/presenting findings on their given project at ALA Annual later this year. Our “Team K” has 4 members: Ashley Bressingham, Hyunjin Han, Megan Jackson, and Ewa Wojciechowska. This team’s project is “Welcoming and Engaging Students in ALSC and Children’s Services.” During LibLearnX, I was able to meet with Team K. This group is not only passionate about children’s services, but they are each inspiring and so encouraging of one another. I cannot wait to see what their hard efforts reveal during ALA Annual!
Congratulations again to this year’s Emerging Leaders class!
Jamie Kurumaji is a Supervising Librarian with Fresno County Public Library and a member of the ALSC Membership Committee.
This blog post relates to ALSC Core Competencies of: VII. Professionalism and Professional Development.