ALA Midwinter 2011: ALA Presidential Candidates Square Off at Midwinter Forum
By John N. Berry Jan 19, 2011About 50 people showed up at the American Library Association's (ALA) candidates' forum held during the Midwinter Meeting in San Diego on January 8 to hear Sue Stroyan and Maureen Sullivan discuss their candidacy for ALA president (announced in September 2010).
The audience grew at its peak to about 100, a tiny showing for an association as big as ALA. It was the true opening of the campaign for the election, which will take place in March.
In her opening statement, Stroyan cited her long experience in libraries of many types and promised to support and strengthen initiatives of previous ALA presidents in advocacy and diversity, pointing to ALA's Spectrum Scholars and its program for emerging leaders as examples. Stroyan said intellectual freedom was ALA's top priority and that she will focus on goals from the organization's strategic plan for transforming libraries.
If elected, Stroyan will take as her theme "leading from libraries," bringing together her goals through training, sharing, mentoring, and showcasing library achievements. "I want to champion library successes in these difficult times and connect members with one another by finding ways to communicate more openly, easily, and quickly."
Sullivan said she wanted to be ALA president because ALA is best positioned through its strategic plan to help libraries. She listed her objectives if she is elected: 1) increase opportunities to share innovative practices and concepts across the profession, nationally and internationally; 2) raise recognition of and support for experimentation with innovative and transformational ideas; 3) help libraries make use of new and emerging technologies by promoting and supporting technological experimentation and innovation; and 4) expand leadership development and training.
Michael Wilding, of the GSLIS at the University of Arizona, asked why when so much ALA effort has been expended to promote advocacy that "we still hear people say libraries are irrelevant." "Libraries are essential!" said Stroyan, emphasizing that ALA should use successful libraries both as role models and to demonstrate the importance of libraries.
Sullivan said she would also focus on what has worked, as well as on rethinking the language of ALA's advocacy message to make it more effective.
Councilor Barbara Genco asked what the candidates would do about the apparent move by publishers to use ebooks and other means to cut libraries out of the main supply chain for books. Sullivan said it is an urgent issue and that ALA should convene a special strategy session to develop tactics to combat the move. Stroyan agreed.
When asked how ALA could help libraries deal with the current fiscal crisis, Sullivan said her experience would make her effective at helping people learn how to drop what she called "legacy practices" and manage with reduced resources. Stroyan said she, too, had been involved in planning and assessment and would work with libraries similarly as ALA president. Responding to another question, both candidates said they had the resources and support systems necessary to work full time and be effective ALA presidents.
One result of the poor attendance at the session was to illuminate how much more effective the gathering would have been and how many more members it might have drawn if it were broadcast over the Internet and online on ALA's various channels.
Check back for updates to Midwinter coverage this week.
