LJ Q&A "ALA Presidential Candidates 2005"-The Choice Is Yours

Does it make any difference which candidate wins the election for president of the American Library Association (ALA)? To answer that question, LJ interviewed both aspirants: Leslie Burger, director of the Princeton Public Library, NJ, and Christine Lind Hage, director of the Clinton-Macomb Public Library, MI. You can learn more about both women on the sites for each campaign (lb.princetonlibrary.org; www.cmpl.org/christine/default.htm).

The differences revealed in our interviews, similar to those in their previous statements, are featured here. We decided to display, even magnify, where the two candidates part company on issues before ALA. The subheadings are actual questions we asked of each candidate. You can decide whether their answers will sway your vote.

Hage cites her "demonstrated ability to lead" and her long (34 years as an ALA member) experience in association leadership at the state and national level. She was president of ALA's Public Library Association (PLA). She says the recent ALA Midwinter Meeting taught her even more about the "passion" of ALA members for the "tremendous diversity of interests" they hold. "I'm proud to be a librarian, and I'm committed to the profession…. I'm committed to the mission of the association to assist in the development, promotion, and improvement of libraries and library service," said Hage.

Burger clearly wants change in ALA, and she wants to help bring it. "When I take on a leadership position it is because I think I can make a difference in the organization," she says. Proud of her leadership skills, Burger cites the variety of her experience in urban and suburban public libraries and at state library agencies. "I come to leadership positions with a big idea, a challenge to the organization," she says. An organization's leaders and members ought to think about how it can "transform itself—make it better, or make it different to have real impact." Burger thinks ALA needs that transformation now, and "I think I can provide the kind of dynamic leadership that can make it happen."

Burger has a specific agenda that "builds on agendas from years before." She will push for a more proactive and less "defensive" ALA. "Instead of responding to legislation, instead of responding to someone else's idea of what can make libraries better, we should propose what we think will make them better," she suggests. Burger realizes the limitations imposed "during a Republican administration, cutting money from all kinds of social programs," but she believes the profession can still focus on what "we can do collectively that will make every library in the country better than it is today."

Hage is specific, too: "If elected, my agenda, my initiative will be 21st-Century Literacy." She chose that focus because it is one of ALA's action goals. "It is important to put ALA's resources into initiatives that will have long life," she says. The five action goals, Hage says, come "very close" to being core values, and they have lasted through several strategic plans. "Any effort or funding that goes into an action goal will stay with ALA, unlike an initiative that is of personal interest to me but without the legs to carry it on," Hage asserts. While literacy includes adult literacy issues, Hage adds that "it goes into early literacy, getting preschoolers ready to read. It goes into family literacy, having parents involved in their child's education…. It is the English as a second language literacy." To Hage, the "21st Century" designation means "it gets into more of the technology, that people can understand visual literacy, historical literacy, reading maps, charts, being able to evaluate or select search engines and information." As she warms to the idea, Hage says, "It covers the whole scope of life from preschoolers through older adults and all the units of ALA…. It has impact across ALA and the entire population."

"ALA has a mission statement, and we must focus on that," says Hage. "When we spend our time, energy, resources, political clout on issues that are not directly related to libraries, we weaken our future voice on library issues, and we dilute our energies." She asserts that no one else cares about libraries the way librarians and ALA do. "If we don't fight the battles that relate directly to libraries," Hage says, "no one else will." She agrees that it is important for individuals to take stands, "but to use the association's voice on issues that are not directly related to libraries and ALA's mission does a disservice to the people who belong to ALA and count on ALA to fight for libraries and articulate the library message."

"I'm not saying torture isn't an issue," Hage says, citing an issue on which the two candidates opposed each other in ALA Council voting. "It is a terrible thing. But I don't think that it is an ALA issue, and it would be wrong to spend our time and effort writing letters to other governments chastising them…. I don't think ALA's voice would have much impact there anyway."

Burger says, "I joined ALA because I can be more effective when I'm one of 64,000 people than when I'm acting on my own. ALA's primary purpose is to deal with library-related issues, and that is what it does most of the time. There are times, however, when it is important for any group of 64,000 people to take a position on a larger social issue, a time when they should let their values guide them to what their position should be. We don't exist in a vacuum…. We are not this little library world that is not affected each and every day by things that are going on around us."

Burger says larger issues such as federal budget cuts in social programs impact people who come to libraries every day. "It is important for ALA to let those issues filter up through the ALA Council. The Council does quite well as a deliberative body. When the Council feels it is the right thing to do, ALA should take a position, whether it is against a war or against the use of torture, or whatever," Burger says with emotion. "Our position may not change U.S. foreign policy, but it makes us feel good that as an organization we have taken a stand and have reasserted our values."

"We create a safe environment for children, but we can't guarantee that they are safe 100 percent of the time," says Burger. In her library, staffers make sure there are programs, activities, and services that engage children. The youth services space is a self-contained area on the third floor, far from the entrances and exits. There are programs every day after school, and teachers provide tutoring. In this new library, staff for youth services has doubled to make sure there is ample adult presence. Kids under the age of six cannot be at Burger's library unattended.

Hage's library also aims to be as safe as possible for people of all ages, not just children. Desks are placed so children's room staffers can view all parts of the area. Materials selected are "age appropriate" and classified that way. "Our policies have two prongs," says Hage. "One tells staff when to discuss inappropriate behavior in the library with the patron, regardless of age. The other policy, based on consultation with local police and others, says children under the age of 13 cannot be left in the library unattended. It is not rigidly enforced," says Hage. "The policies are implemented when there are behavior issues. The other age issue is that parents don't necessarily pick their kids up when the library closes. When unattended children are left in the library and not picked up, we don't want to leave them on the curb. So we have that policy that unattended children must be age 13."

Both candidates agree that ALA ought to take the position that library directors should possess the MLS from an ALA-accredited program. Hage's only reservation is that "while ALA can say you should have the library degree, there is not a lot ALA can do when a library hires somebody else."

Burger thinks ALA can do more to support the MLS: "ALA needs to work closely with trustees to get them to understand the hiring process and how to hire the right person, with the MLS. The interesting thing about the Kansas City situation was that the person they were trying to put in the job without a library degree was the cousin of the board president. We should try to get librarians in those positions."

"ALA's library advocacy initiatives are not adequate," says Hage. "If they were, [closing the Salinas, CA, library] wouldn't have happened." ALA's focus on training librarians to speak to the press is important, according to Hage, but she thinks ALA has the talent to create tool kits, press materials, and national campaigns more effectively than local librarians. Using ALA materials, Hage has been able to get press coverage back home in Michigan.

Burger thinks the consistency of ALA advocacy efforts has kept it atop ALA's agenda. "It frustrates me that we are preaching to the converted," she says. "We must expand beyond the way we currently train. We should adopt the model author Malcolm Gladwell told us about at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in January to create an epidemic about libraries. This is the kind of big idea I was talking about to get everybody in the country excited about what we can do for libraries…. I've been frustrated about the "@your library" campaign. It had no media budget, so all the advertising had to be donated. That is distressing!"

Burger's expectations for ALA's new Allied Professional Association (APA) were moderate. "It is a baby organization," she says. "It takes a while for that kind of thing to get started. Members were confused about what ALA can and cannot do, leading up to the establishment of ALA/APA. ALA has to learn how you build an organization that has never existed before…. It won't happen overnight. On some things ALA is incredibly patient. We can discuss core values for years. But on something like ALA/APA we are much more demanding. We say it is failing because it isn't offering certification programs right now. It takes time to do that. It is too early to pass judgment on APA."

Hage is less patient. "I would like to see the certification program have a bigger voice in [APA] than the salaries issue," she says, urging that new organization to look at other kinds of certification, such as that for library support staff. "Salaries are a local issue…. I don't think the salaries initiative has been all that successful."

"I think we need library education that is more practical," says Hage. She also supports programs that help people get library degrees without actually being on campus. "Online education needs to be controlled and evaluated with the same criteria and standards as on-campus programs," Hage says.

"I think we need to take a look at the curriculum in library schools," Burger asserts, adding that she knows it is a complicated issue, driven by the needs and situation of the parent university or college. "We must make sure that library schools work with practitioners to design curricula that really do turn out graduates who are ready to serve. We need the 21st-century version of what I got when I went to library school," Burger continues, adding, "Yes, it is important that ALA get more involved and stay involved in library education."

"To get high-quality conference programs, people have to be willing to part with a dollar," says Burger. "That is a problem now. Sometimes programs are planned two years in advance. By conference time the program is something we already know about. The content of ALA programs is not as good as it could be. I wouldn't mind paying for programs in addition to my dues if the quality and content were really better." Burger blames part of growing conference costs on the expense of putting audiovisual equipment and computers in every meeting room, some of which isn't used. Her library places a high value on ALA membership, notes Burger. "We subsidize one personal membership for every staff member who wants one."

"To provide services to members, we have to raise revenue," says Hage. "One of the best services I get from ALA is the opportunity to participate and network." Hage is not opposed to fundraising activities. She feels that money goes to providing services that members want. "The more we can offset that by other revenue lines, the less it is going to cost our members to belong and to support the organization," she says, adding, "Nothing is free…. I get plenty for my dues."

Hage's library pays ALA membership dues for library board members and department heads. All full-time librarians get state association dues paid. "Part of our performance evaluation of staff considers whether or not they participate in library organizations," says Hage, "We value that."

John N. Berry III is Editor-in-Chief, LJ