{"id":17148,"date":"2018-01-02T00:02:46","date_gmt":"2018-01-02T05:02:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/?p=17148"},"modified":"2018-01-02T12:11:21","modified_gmt":"2018-01-02T17:11:21","slug":"ala-ed-search-mlis-preferred-supports-alsc-core-values","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/2018\/01\/ala-ed-search-mlis-preferred-supports-alsc-core-values\/","title":{"rendered":"ALA ED Search: \u201cMLIS Preferred\u201d Supports ALSC Core Values"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A recently successful member petition will place a measure on the spring ballot t<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">o overturn a recent ALA Council action regarding requirements for the ALA Executive Director (ED). \u00a0The measure would change the language of the job announcement for the next ALA Executive Director from \u201cMLIS preferred\u201d (or CAEP\/school librarian equivalent) back to \u201cMLIS required.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Background<\/b><!--more--><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In 2000, ALA Council voted to require candidates for the then open position of ALA Executive Director to hold an MLIS degree. \u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In preparation for the retirement of ALA ED Keith Michael Fiels (in July 2017), the ALA Executive Board introduced a resolution that would change the MLIS requirement clause in the job announcement to \u201cMLIS preferred.\u201d \u00a0The ALSC Board voted to support this change, <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/connect.ala.org\/comment\/84567#comment-84567\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">as reported by our Councilor<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, Jenna Nemec-Loise.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">At Midwinter 2017, Council discussed the resolution, which was narrowly defeated in a vote (78-75). \u00a0The ALA ED Search Committee opened their search with the MLIS requirement. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">After a robust search, including interviews of top candidates, the Search Committee determined that none of the top candidates interviewed fully satisfied the requirements of the position, and declared a failed search, recommending that the ALA Executive Board and Council revisit the issue of the MLIS requirement. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The issue was reopened on ALA Connect this fall, to expedite the process. \u00a0ALSC co-signed a letter from 10 ALA Divisions restating strong support for the \u201cMLIS preferred\u201d language, and our councilor restated our position. \u00a0This time the council vote was 77% in favor of the \u201cMLIS preferred\u201d language.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Shortly after, a member petition was circulated, and quickly garnered the 479 signatures required (1% of the ALA voting membership) to place the measure on the spring ballot. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Following success of the petition, to ensure due process, the ALA Executive Board decided to place the Executive Director search on hold, pending the results of the election. The earliest the search would begin again would be May 2018. Mary Ghikas continues to serve as Interim Executive Director.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>\u201cMLIS Preferred\u201d Supports ALSC Core Values<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In our <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/connect.ala.org\/node\/259935\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">initial board discussion<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (informed by prior discussion at the ALSC Executive Committee meeting, and <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ala.org\/yalsa\/sites\/ala.org.yalsa\/files\/content\/ALAceosearch.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">YALSA\u2019s board discussion<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> document) we recognized that there are many skills and qualities that make a successful candidate for the ALA Executive Director. \u00a0\u00a0Familiarity and understanding of ALA\u2019s mission and of libraries is of course essential, but is not exclusive to those holding an MLIS degree. \u00a0Industry best practice indicates that expertise in nonprofit and association leadership is also key to the ALA Executive Director position. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Furthermore, given the underrepresentation of people of color among MLIS holders (who are 88% white), we must assume that requiring an MLIS would also make people of color underrepresented in our candidate pool. \u00a0As director Amy Koester put in our discussion: \u201cUnderrepresentation should not be mistaken for under-qualification; if a candidate pool is limited by a specific credential, and that credential disproportionately favors one group (or disproportionately undervalues others), the process is flawed and inequitable and denies the association the opportunity to consider all truly qualified candidates.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Indeed, <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/connect.ala.org\/comment\/89376#comment-89376\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">ALA President Jim Neal explained<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> a little bit about why, based on their experience with the first search, the search committee felt that \u201cMLIS preferred\u201d would cast a more successful net of truly qualified candidates. Our councilor eloquently put it another way in her call for councilors to \u201c<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/connect.ala.org\/comment\/89456#comment-89456\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">try different<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/connect.ala.org\/files\/ALSC%20Board%20recommendation%20for%20ED%20search.doc\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">ALSC Board recommendation<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> begins by outlining our <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ala.org\/alsc\/aboutalsc\/stratplan\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Core Values<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, and proceeds:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Fundamental to our vision and values is ALA\u2019s pursuit of organizational excellence, an effort helmed by an Executive Director who champions advocacy, information policy, and professional and leadership development for 21st-century libraries, library workers, and library users.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">ALSC remains steadfast in supporting ALA efforts to cultivate organizational excellence, especially during the search for a new Executive Director. <\/span><\/i><b><i>Guided by our core values, the ALSC Board of Directors encourages the ALA Executive Board to recommend\u2014but not require\u2014candidates for ALA Executive Director to hold a Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">We acknowledge the 2000 ALA Council Resolution on Requiring Professional Librarian Credentials for the Executive Director of ALA and understand its implications. However, should there be an appropriate way to exercise flexibility within the hiring matrix while also respecting the Council resolution, we ask search committee members to do so. Such measured consideration might ensure that credentials beyond the MLIS and other transferable skills receive equal merit during the search process.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A recently successful member petition will place a measure on the spring ballot to overturn a recent ALA Council action regarding requirements for the ALA Executive Director (ED). \u00a0The measure would change the language of the job announcement for the next ALA Executive Director from \u201cMLIS preferred\u201d (or CAEP\/school librarian equivalent) back to \u201cMLIS required.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0 Background<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":272,"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":[239],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogger-nina-lindsay"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17148","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\/272"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17148\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}