{"id":13024,"date":"2016-04-24T00:01:55","date_gmt":"2016-04-24T04:01:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/?p=13024"},"modified":"2016-04-23T15:59:50","modified_gmt":"2016-04-23T19:59:50","slug":"update-alsc16-institute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/2016\/04\/update-alsc16-institute\/","title":{"rendered":"Update on the #ALSC16 Institute"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thank you to everyone for the robust and respectful discussion<\/a> regarding the status of the 2016 ALSC National Institute following North Carolina\u2019s passage of HB2<\/a> one month ago. I\u2019m incredibly grateful to my Board colleagues<\/a> for their careful consideration and knowledge-based decision making. We heard very loudly and consistently from ALSC members on this issue and while I very much share in the disappointment that we won\u2019t be gathering together in Charlotte this September, I\u2019m proud of how all of us in the ALSC community have handled this challenging, important, and very real issue that led to its cancellation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Throughout this process, the work of ALSC Executive Director Aimee Strittmatter and of Kristen Figliulo, Program Officer for Continuing Education, has been nothing short of extraordinary, as has that of their office colleagues Laura Schulte-Cooper, Dan Bostrom, Angela Hubbard, Marsha Burgess, and Courtney Jones. Vice President Betsy Orsburn, Fiscal Officer Diane Foote, Division Councilor Jenna Nemec-Loise, and Budget Committee Chair Paula Holmes have also been particularly involved in this process.<\/p>\n

If you haven\u2019t yet seen the Board document that outlines the details involved in this decision, please do take a look at it here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Support from across all of ALA has been tremendous. ALA President Sari Feldman<\/a> is a great friend of ALSC and of library service to children and I hope you\u2019ll join me in expressing appreciation to her for her advocacy and support, as well as to Mario Gonzalez, ALA Treasurer and Executive Board Liaison to ALSC. ALA Executive Director Keith Michael Fiels and Senior Associate Executive Director Mary Ghikas, along with the Public Awareness Office and Office for Library Advocacy have been there for ALSC at every step along the way. And a very special THANK YOU to our good friends at the ALA Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Round Table<\/a>, especially Chair Peter Coyl, Chair-Elect Deb Sica, and Immediate Past-Chair Ann Symons.<\/p>\n

Please also help me express our incredible thanks to the Institute Planning Task Force<\/a>, who have put so much dedication, care, and excitement into their work for many, many, many months. Thank you to Chair Emily Nanney and members Seth Ervin, Catherine Haydon, Jesse Isley, Karin Michel, Rebecca Thomas, and Priority Group Consultant Julie Dietzel-Glair. For those of you who will attending the ALA Annual Conference in June, please plan to attend the ALSC Membership Meeting<\/a> on Monday (June 27) at 10:30 a.m. in the Orange County Convention Center Room W308, as we pay special tribute to the Task Force.<\/p>\n

It was important that we took these weeks to make such a careful and considered decision, and while some elements of its implementation are still in progress, here is the latest information:<\/p>\n