LJ Q&A "ALA Candidates": Library Advocacy x 2

Library advocacy in one of two directions is the top priority of both Camila Alire and J. Linda Williams, the candidates campaigning to capture the 2009–10 term as president of the American Library Association (ALA). Alire, dean emeritus of the libraries of both the University of New Mexico and Colorado State University, will push for enhancements to what she calls “grassroots advocacy” by front-line librarians. Williams, coordinator of library media services for Anne Arundel County public schools in Annapolis, MD, will focus her presidency on conveying the value of school library media centers to state and federal legislators. She will eye the opportunity to restore them to a higher priority when No Child Left Behind (NCLB) comes up for reauthorization next year.

Both candidates are confident that their initiatives fall well within the goals set by the ALA Strategic Long Range Plan, as has been required in recent years in an effort by ALA leaders to curb the more ambitious presidential initiatives common in the past.

“I am a strong proponent of strategic planning and have used it in all my administrative jobs. The goals of the ALA strategic plan are broad enough to accommodate an initiative. The things I'm really interested in fit within the plan. I'm comfortable with that,” says Alire.

“I think anything that involves our members or ALA can fit into the strategic plan. It gives the association continuity to follow the plan and doesn't prevent a president from focusing on one or two areas,” says Williams.

“My background is school libraries so, like any ALA president, my focus is on an important issue from that background. Of course, I would serve and advocate for all libraries, but, right now, I believe the top topic is the [loss of] our school librarians because school libraries and librarians are not in the federal NCLB law,” Williams asserts.

“The federal law excludes school libraries completely. NCLB required there to be highly qualified teachers in the public schools; however, school librarians were not included in the law as far as having to be highly qualified. Money only goes so far. When a school board or a superintendent has to decide where the money is to go, it has to go where the feds demand it. They will cut back in areas that are not demanded,” says Williams.

“Forty percent of our schools still don't have a full-time certified school librarian. If we continue to lose positions and school libraries because they are not mandated and are not funded...in the law, there will be no one to educate our children on using libraries.

“Both public and academic libraries will suffer when they receive students who have not had this early training. What happens to any type of library has impact on all types. Right now my emphasis will be on that, but even as a school person and a youth services person, I will still serve all kinds of libraries,” concludes Williams.

“ALA has done a very good job, starting with the ALA presidential term of Pat Schuman, the queen of advocacy,” says Alire about her area of focus. “I have to work on something about which I feel really passionate. I went to advocacy training because I didn't feel I was strong enough as an advocate, particularly for legislation. Now that I've been trained, I'm really pushing for what I call 'grassroots advocacy.' That means getting the front-line people, both librarians and other staff, involved. I want them to be trained and to become better able to advocate for themselves and their libraries.”

She would like to expand on the work started by ALA presidents Schuman and Carol Brey-Casiano with their advocacy institutes, to “develop programs back home or grassroots advocacy,” asserts Alire. “Aggressive advocacy is not limited to administrators or those in leadership positions; it is a responsibility of all the people who work in libraries. We seem to do pretty well at the national level and with our state associations, but I see a void in back-home advocacy.”

According to Williams, grassroots advocacy is very successful in some states, including Maryland, where she works with Citizens for Maryland Libraries, but not in others.

“It is important to go beyond librarians to get other people to speak for libraries. We need to know how to advocate, but we need to know other people who will speak for us. That is effective,” Williams argues. “We must tap groups like public library trustees. When librarians go to the legislature, they are seen as having a vested interest, but when trustees can speak on behalf of a community and its needs for library service, they are very effective. I think that is the next step in advocacy, and we need to take it now,” she says. This direction, she adds, will be encouraged by the development of ALA's new Advocacy Office and with ALTA (Association for Library Trustees and Advocates) and FOLUSA (Friends of Libraries USA) working together.

“All our First Amendment rights are being marginalized or violated. That is a major issue,” says Alire, when asked what ALA's lobbying priorities ought to be. She cites CIPA (Children's Internet Protection Act) as the beginning of the erosion and believes fighting provisions of FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) is one of the top ALA priorities. To that she adds Library Services & Technology Act (LSTA) funding.

“I come from Colorado, where, under Nancy Bolt's leadership, Institute of Museum and Library Services funding really made a difference, LSTA, too, particularly in rural and small libraries. Federal funding is critical,” Alire says.

Alire's lobbying priorities include gathering support for the initiative to make federally sponsored research freely available, a “tooth and nail” fight to defeat any laws that force libraries to charge users for each use of information, and making all government information available electronically.

Like Williams, Alire supports efforts to ensure that school libraries are added to funding mandates in NCLB. She was on the board of the Colorado State Library when it funded Keith Curry Lance's school library study there.

Williams puts forcing school library funding into NCLB at the top of ALA's legislative agenda. “ALA's other legislative priorities, like copyright and intellectual property policy and curbing federal encroachments on intellectual freedom, are ongoing and important,” she says. “But with school libraries, we have a window right now in the reauthorization of NCLB. We don't have another chance. They will probably wait until there is a new administration, but once NCLB is reauthorized, we won't have another opportunity for a long time to get school libraries included.”

“I'm not sure I think leaders are born,” says Williams. “People may be born with the desire to go in that direction. I think it is important that ALA shows members where they need to go to be leaders. The people who apply for the ALA Emerging Leaders program are a very small portion of our members, and we don't force anyone into that program. They are all people who want to be leaders, and they want to learn more about how to lead.”

Williams put her hiring power behind her ideas last year when she employed an Emerging Leader. “As soon as I started talking to her, I knew she was going to go very far in this field,” Williams says. “When you are just in a normal, typical job among lots of other employees, early in your career, there is nowhere else you will get the opportunity to become a leader in your field. I think ALA should have more programs like Emerging Leaders.”

However, she says, it has limits. She has been discussing the issue with support staff and finds they, too, want to be part of ALA's Emerging Leaders program, but it is only open to those with the MLS. “There are lots of leaders in libraries who are nonlibrarians,” says Williams, adding, “I think they should be included either as Emerging Leaders or in another ALA leadership program.”

Alire's view differs slightly from Williams's. “I think the Spectrum Scholarship Program and ALA's leadership efforts have done a magnificent job—initiatives like ALA's Emerging Leaders and the Association of Research Libraries' program for minorities,” Alire says. “I do think you can teach people leadership, but, yes, some people are born with a natural leadership instinct. A lot of that teaching is in areas like self-confidence and the power of personal persuasion. Early in my career, I was convinced of the old truth that if I want something done right, I will do it myself. That is not leadership. When you delegate to groups, it leads to better teamwork.”

The two candidates are closely aligned on the importance of diversity in ALA and in librarianship in general. “I will take advantage of who I am to focus on diversity,” Alire begins, adding, “Of course I want us to recruit to create a more diverse profession, but we need more work to retain that diversity.”

Williams agrees, saying, “I think we need more diversity initiatives like the Spectrum Scholarships. We still lack diversity in the field, and I mean diversity in a number of ways, not just cultural and ethnic. I have had people tell me they don't feel included, they don't feel welcome because they might be 'different.' ALA must be a home for all librarians and library workers.”

Alire will be team teaching a course on Libraries in the Political Environment at Simmons College and also teaches in the Executive Management program at San José State in California. Although she's “not interested” in teaching in distance education programs, Alire does seek teaching gigs in “nontraditional settings.” She likes a mix, with enough online work in a course so she doesn't have to be scheduled in a classroom. Her career began as student affairs administrator in the library school office at the University of Denver.

“I am not in favor of leaving libraries out of library education,” she says. “As a library administrator, I've looked for librarians in all our hiring and recruiting. It is crucial that LIS studies prepare academic, public, special, and school librarians.” She thinks current graduates are “savvy” in information technology and in the foundations of librarianship as well, asserting that they are better prepared when they have studied both librarianship and information science.

“It can't be just information studies or information science. The part of their education that emphasizes librarianship is crucial to their getting that job and performing well in it,” Alire says. She supports ALA's various efforts at changing library education and believes library practitioners and library educators must work together, “not pointing fingers but working out issues.”

“I'm not sure library education needs major reform,” says Williams, but thinks ALA should emphasize standardized core competencies when evaluating MLS programs. “I would like to see library schools teach our core competencies. I always had just a little bit of a problem with NCATE (National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education) because if you get an MLS you need a library science degree, not half of one and the other half education.... I hire people. The difference in the background knowledge of the people with ALA-accredited degrees and those with NCATE-accredited degrees is amazing.” Williams sometimes teaches in the program at the University of Maryland and believes that program does a fine job.

“I have a breadth of experience that she doesn't, although Linda and I share many kinds of experience,” says Alire, when asked why she is a better choice for ALA president. “I have broader experience in ALA leadership. I can speak for everybody. I've worked in all kinds of libraries but public—and my research and writing have been mostly for public libraries—and in LIS education both as administration and faculty.”

Trying to describe differences, Williams reflects on her motivations. “We were both division presidents. Our emphases don't make us very different, although they reflect our backgrounds,” she says. “I have had a broad experience in ALA and maybe know more about it than I want to. I am on BARC (ALA's Budget Analysis and Review Committee) and thoroughly enjoy it. I am very passionate about ALA. It has done a lot for me and my career, and part of this is giving back to ALA.”

Clearly, detailed above are several areas where these two excellent candidates exhibit small differences from each other. For many ALA members and voters, these may determine how they vote. For others, it will be their own type of library, geographic area, or social circle that makes the difference. We feel confident that ALA will get an effective president, and with her will come a new push to advocate the value of libraries and librarians, no matter how the next ALA election turns out.