{"id":33435,"date":"2025-06-28T12:00:23","date_gmt":"2025-06-28T16:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/?p=33435"},"modified":"2025-06-27T23:34:56","modified_gmt":"2025-06-28T03:34:56","slug":"an-opening-filled-with-power-emotion-and-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/2025\/06\/an-opening-filled-with-power-emotion-and-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"An Opening Filled with Power, Emotion, and Hope"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Back at the conference center, we gathered for the #ALAAC25 Opening General Session, and wow, what an experience. With 15,000 librarians registered for the conference, the energy was electric.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

ALA President Cindy Hohl welcomed us with warmth and passion. The Mayor of Philadelphia, the city\u2019s first woman and first Black woman mayor, Cherelle Parker, addressed the crowd. A former elementary school teacher, she was engaging, funny, and proud to honor Philadelphia\u2019s rich library history, from Ben Franklin to the signing of the first ALA charter in 187<\/p>\n\n\n

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ALA President Cindy Hohl – photo by Arlene Laverde<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

We learned that this year\u2019s conference includes 160 international members from more than 40 countries, a truly global celebration of librarianship.

But the moment that blew us all away? Hearing that James Lewis bequeathed $25 million dollars intended for needs-based scholarships for future librarians. Mind. Blown. Mr. Lewis came up to address us and his admiration for librarians was evident in his words and in his eyes.

There were also tears. When Cindy Hohl spoke about the defunding of IMLS, she had to pause, visibly emotional. The room was silent, while she struggled, we all struggled. But she rallied, reminding us that we\u2019re not giving up. We have a plan. We are moving ALA Forward, building toward our next one hundred and fifty years.

She shared two of her proudest accomplishments: the All Nations LibGuide<\/a> and the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives Toolkit. Both are vital, deeply meaningful initiatives.

We also met the new ALA Director, Daniel Montgomery, the president of the Illinois Teachers Union, and heard from Governor Gretchen Whitmer \u201cthat woman from Michigan.\u201d She brought humor, passion, and wisdom. She\u2019s read To Kill a Mockingbird<\/em> over 20 times and reminded us that apologizing isn\u2019t weakness, it\u2019s strength. There\u2019s value in mistakes when we learn from them.

Today was filled with excitement, emotion, and inspiration. From connecting with colleagues to silently protesting and celebrating our collective wins, I left the opening session with a renewed sense of purpose.

Librarians fight the good fight and we\u2019re not done yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Arlene Laverde<\/strong> (she\/her\/hers) is an adjunct and academic advisor in the Graduate School of Library and Information Studies Program at Queens College, CUNY, where she prepares future school librarians for school library life. She has a strong background in education and librarianship, and brings real-world experience and a passion for intellectual freedom, equity, and access to her teaching. She retired from her full time school librarian job in the summer of 2024 And is now focusing on a variety of library passions: children\u2019s books, information freedom, and advocacy. She is looking forward to hearing George Takei and attending the Newbery\/Caldecott Reception. Her life isn\u2019t all about libraries though, she has been married for over 32 years and has two grown sons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Please note that as a guest post, the views expressed here do not represent the official position of ALA or ALSC.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you are interested in submitting a guest post, please read and fill out our Guest Blogging Interest Form<\/a>. We would love to hear from you!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back at the conference center, we gathered for the #ALAAC25 Opening General Session, and wow, what an experience. With 15,000 librarians registered for the conference, the energy was electric.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":393,"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":[2952,134,151],"tags":[2848,3009,2585],"class_list":["post-33435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ala-annual-2025","category-guest-blogger","category-live-blogging","tag-alaac25","tag-keynote","tag-opening-session"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33435","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\/393"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33435\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}