Unfathomably, it’s now time for my final monthly presidential blog post (otherwise known as POTA Blog #12).\u00a0As we look ahead to ALA Annual Conference<\/a> in Orlando in just about two weeks it is also, of course, a time to look back over the past year. While the 2015-16 Annual Report will be coming soon<\/a> and will do an excellent job of more thoroughly documenting ALSC\u2019s incredible achievements over the past twelve months, I would like to highlight here three things I said that I would do when I asked for your vote for the honor of serving as ALSC President and which we’ve successfully done together.<\/p>\n 1. Reaching Out<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Over the past year, the ALSC team has engaged in productive conversations with such groups as:<\/p>\n And that\u2019s to name just a few! The efforts of our incredible office staff\u00a0and our Liaison to National Organizations Committee<\/a> are ongoing and vital to our success. And my #ALSCtour (including during my Vice Presidential year) has taken me to more than a dozen states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Europe, and Asia, with the South Pacific still on tap\u00a0for later this summer.\u00a0I believe these efforts are important because by teaming up and showing up we can increase the impact of our work on children\u2019s lives by expanding the awareness of the essential work of libraries in every community and of the support ALSC provides to everyone serving children in libraries. Just as each of us must have a seat at the table in our individual communities, ALSC must be a voice in these conversations at the highest levels to affect positive change for\u00a0our kids.<\/p>\n 2. Giving Back<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n To create a better future for children, ALSC’s purpose, giving back to others, individually and collectively, is important and impactful. I’m particularly proud of ALSC’s support of\u00a0REFORMA’s Children in Crisis<\/a> project this year as well as the stand<\/a> we’ve taken for our core values in North Carolina and the supportive resources<\/a> we’ve identified for serving all members of each of our communities. And I ask each of you to please join me in giving back to our Association by making a contribution to Friends of ALSC<\/a>,\u00a0which\u00a0ensures excellence in our\u00a0traditional programs and services and supports growth in new directions as our profession meets the exciting opportunities of our future.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 3. Moving Forward<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n The ALSC Board has a full plate in Orlando beginning June 23, and there are several key areas in which we\u2019ll be moving our organization\u00a0forward during Annual.<\/p>\n As you can tell, there is much to be done at Annual and you can be part of it from wherever you are by following along on Twitter\u00a0with #ALAAC16,\u00a0#ALSCBoard, #ALSCtour and with live updates here at the ALSC Blog<\/a>. Full details on the ALSC line-up of events are available here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Finally, THANK YOU<\/strong><\/em> for an amazing and unforgettable year to ALSC’s magnificent\u00a0staff<\/a>–Aimee, Angela, Courtney, Dan, Kristen, Laura, & Marsha–to ALSC’s dedicated Board<\/a>–Betsy, Chris, Diane,\u00a0Doris,\u00a0Ellen, Gretchen, Jenna, Julie, Kay, Mary, Megan, & Vicky–and to all of you (ALSC membership numbers are up so the downside is that I can’t fit everybody’s name\u00a0here). And all the best wishes in the world to our 2016-17 president, Betsy Orsburn!<\/p>\n Cheers!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “All was well.” –J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Unfathomably, it’s now time for my final monthly presidential blog post (otherwise known as POTA Blog #12).\u00a0As we look ahead to ALA Annual Conference in Orlando in just about two weeks it is also, of course, a time to look back over the past year. While the 2015-16 Annual Report will be coming soon and will do an excellent job of more thoroughly documenting ALSC\u2019s incredible achievements over the past twelve months, I would like to highlight here three things I said that I would do when I asked for your vote for the honor of serving as ALSC President and which we’ve successfully done together. 1. Reaching Out Over the past year, the ALSC team has engaged in productive conversations with such groups as: Food Research and Action Center Institute of Museum and Library Services The Joan…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":222,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[859,52,777,277],"tags":[725,549],"class_list":["post-13234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ala-annual-2016","category-alsc-board","category-blogger-andrew-medlar","category-friends-of-alsc","tag-2016-ala-annual-conference","tag-alsc-board-of-directors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/222"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13234\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Reaching](\"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/June1-225x300.jpg\")
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