Dear ALSC Members and Friends, The ALSC staff and board would like you to know that we are thinking of all you as you work in your libraries, schools, and communities. Children, families and caregivers look to you in your role as knowledge dispensers, not keepers, for up-to-date information about how to deal with many challenges in their lives, not just the COVID-19 outbreak. You have personal connections to millions of library users and I want to thank you for your tireless work each and every day in helping make their lives better through information, connection and services.
Category: ALSC Board
Lucia Gonzalez: 2020-21 ALSC Vice President/President Elect Candidate
In an effort to help ALSC members make an informed decision before they vote, the blog posts today consist of interviews with the candidates for ALSC 2019-20 Vice President/President-Elect, Carol K. Phillips and Lucia Gonzalez. Each candidate was given eleven questions and submitted written answers. This afternoon’s interview is with Lucia Gonzalez.
Carol K. Phillips: 2020-21 ALSC Vice President/President Elect Candidate
In an effort to help ALSC members make an informed decision before they vote, the blog posts today consist of interviews with the candidates for ALSC 2019-20 Vice President/President-Elect, Carol K. Phillips and Lucia Gonzalez. Each candidate was given eleven questions and submitted written answers. This morning’s interview is with Carol K. Phillips.
ALSC Division Councilor Candidates, 2020-21
In an effort to help ALSC members make an informed decision before they vote, this afternoon’s blog post consists of statements from the two candidates standing for election as the ALSC Division Councilor.
2020-21 ALSC Board of Directors Candidates
In an effort to help ALSC members make an informed decision before they vote, this afternoon’s blog post consists of statements from the six candidates standing for election to the ALSC Board of Directors in the 2020-21 Election.
Moving Ahead with ALSC: Update on Committee Realignment, Strategic Plan & Open Letter to Members
Happy March ALSC friends! I just returned from the extraordinary Public Library Association conference in Nashville! It was great to see so many ALSC members in attendance. Explore the programs and materials. ALSC Committee Realignment I want to thank all of you who offered feedback about the proposed realignment changes to ALSC committees. The Board used the comments submitted during and after Midwinter as well as those submitted during the February 18, 2020 Community Forum as the basis for approving the changes at their February 20, 2020 online meeting.
#PLA2020 #WYWH (Wish You Were Here)
A rousing start to #PLA2020 this morning with Book Buzz: Presented by Booklist, featuring editors from Penguin Random, W.W. Norton, Workman, Macmillan and HarperCollins. Dynamic speakers, exciting books – can’t wait to read all of the books they featured. With a little time before the opening session with Stacey Abrams (insert heart here), I headed out for some lunch. When in Nashville, one must have Southern food. Nothing more Southern than meat + 2.
ALSC Board of Directors Responds to ALA Financial Situation
Over the past month, ALA has signaled challenges to its financial standing through ALA Treasurer Maggie Farrell’s column in the January/February issue of American Libraries, through an update in the ALA Midwinter 2020 Executive Board document 12.39, “Budget Update – Financial Planning 2020 and Beyond,” and most recently in a statement by ALA President Wanda K. Brown. In short, ALA is well positioned in regards to total assets, but due to unplanned overspending on top of the planned three-year investment (deficit) budget, the overall liquid assets in ALA’s short-term investment fund have been reduced from $14 million to under $2 million. In essence, the Divisions’ net asset balances are being used to meet ALA’s operating needs, which impacts ALSC’s ability to support our strategic priorities and financial strategies in an unhindered way (i.e. transfer funds to long-term endowments). ALSC, nor any division, should not be in competition with another division…