2018 ALA Presidential Candidates Respond to ALCTS’ Questions

Every year ALCTS sends a list of questions to the ALA presidential candidates. This year Wanda Brown and Peter Hepburn are the candidates for the 2019–20 presidency of ALA, and both responded thoughtfully to our questions. Ballot mailing for the 2018 ALA election will begin on Monday, March 12, and will run through Wednesday, April 4. Results will be announced on April 11, 2018.

Wanda Brown

Wanda Kay Brown is the director of library services for the C. G. O’Kelly Library at Winston-Salem State University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. More information about her platform can be found on her candidate website at wandaforala2019.com.

Headshot of Wanda BrownWhy did you decide to run for ALA president? If you are elected, what will be your primary focus? What do you hope to accomplish during your term?

I decided to run for ALA president because I am committed to my association and I am passionate about the work we do. I believe in the value we add to the communities we serve. Just as we are vital links to our communities, so is our association vital to the work of its members. One of the keys to our success lies within our ability to form and sustain necessary partnerships. Partnerships with library champions and other community experts will strengthen our voice. I am concerned about the issues we as libraries, librarians, and library workers face daily. I believe if we align and combine our strengths, we will have the potential for greater impact. The primary concern for ALA at the moment is the restructuring of the association and the hiring of a new executive director. With that being the case, I believe my presidency should focus on the membership, communicating the process, soliciting feedback and developing pathways for inclusion within ALA for all. I would host an organizational retreat for Council members and division leaders to foster understanding and support and to acquaint the executive director with divisional challenges and concerns—thus making ALA stronger as an organization and strategically aligned for a fresh start.

Please discuss how your ALA goals and philosophy relate to ALCTS. How might ALCTS help facilitate achievement of those goals?

My goal for ALA is that it remains a viable, relevant, and financially sustainable association for all its members. ALCTS, like many of our divisions, is where some of our members have found their place within the association. It remains vital to us that all voices are heard. Just as our collections and access to materials remain crucial to the success of our users, the work of ALCTS remains vital to our members. I see ALCTS as an ally, one that provides the connection to many of our library champions. Partnerships with vendors as well as educators are important for everyone in the profession. ALCTS has a hand in building collections, setting standards, and driving conversations around librarianship with library schools and our communities of users. ALCTS does and can continue to help ALA develop these relationships. Championing for inclusion and diversity of collections, vendors, and partners is crucial to our association’s growth and vitality.

What do you see as the greatest challenges facing individuals engaged in the areas of work represented by ALCTS (acquisitions, cataloging, serials, preservation, and collection development) in the near future? How can ALA assist ALCTS members to meet those challenges?

I believe the primary challenges for ALCTS are recruitment and retention of committed and well trained personnel—not only staying abreast of technological changes, but also understanding how the digital and financial divide impacts the work of librarians and library workers and their ability to support the needs of their users. ALCTS members are also challenged in creating and maintaining diverse and inclusive collections. ALA as an association has to find a way to inform, engage, and connect with all its members. Members of ALCTS need to know that they can rely on ALA to represent their concerns on a larger scale, working to inform lawmakers around issues that may impact your ability to provide equal access to all. ALA and ALCTS have to combine efforts as it relates to training to ensure that members remain current and up-to-date around practices that increase accessibility to our collections. Training has to be affordable for all. We engage our members when we give back to them.

How can ALA ensure that certain members, whose primary affiliation is to a “type of activity” division, feel connected to the concerns of the association as a whole? How might their involvement be increased? How might ALA’s awareness of their concerns be increased?

ALA has to demonstrate to its members the value added from each division to the whole association. The more opportunities we have to share our stories, the stronger we become as an organization. I am not sure how often all the divisions within ALA come together for conversation, strategizing, and reflection, but we need to combine our efforts. Perhaps a marketing campaign highlighting contributions made within divisions and how those actions move our association forward would help to connect ALA units to the association as a whole.

In recent years it has been difficult for ALCTS members to “see themselves” within ALA or to see that the association embraces issues that are critical to ALCTS. What steps will you take to increase ALA’s inclusiveness within its own ranks?

I know this feeling that you speak of. I found myself immersed in it even more so during the 2018 Midwinter Meeting. Campaigning for ALA presidency gave me more insight to that inner circle, but still I wondered how I might change it for everyone else. Your ALCTS councilor probably reports back to your board with the happenings in the larger association. Does your councilor report on your behalf to the association at large? For optimal growth and sustainability, members of ALCTS need to communicate on a regular basis with each other but also to other divisions. How well your concerns are shared with the larger board may depend upon the urgency with which your councilor relays it to the board. I look forward to having a list of challenges, issues, and concerns that are documented, drafted and, shared with me as well as the executive director. Those issues would be shared across divisions, creating synergies across the association. Inclusion remains important to me, so I would definitely strategize with others and explore multiple options.

Peter Hepburn

Peter Hepburn is the head librarian at the College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita, California. More information about his platform can be found on his candidate website at peterforala.org.

Headshot of Peter HepburnWhy did you decide to run for ALA president? If you are elected, what will be your primary focus? What do you hope to accomplish during your term?

My years of growing involvement in ALA have led to my candidacy. Starting from committee work within divisions and round tables, and taking on increasing responsibilities, including a term on the ALA Executive Board, I have come to relish working on behalf of the association members. I am capable of tackling the challenges that are inherent to the ALA presidency. I will do all I can for the members of this association.

The stability of ALA and the sustainability of its excellent work are my priorities for my presidency. ALA is undergoing transition: a new executive director will come on board in early 2020, and there is potential for reorganization within the association. All of this is set within a broader context of national political and social uncertainty. It is important that ALA come through this period with its ability to serve libraries, library workers, and library users intact. Ensuring that will be a first, significant accomplishment during my presidential term. Partnering with the new executive director to give them a solid footing on which to build in the years that follow will be a second, significant accomplishment. I am planning no new presidential initiatives: I want to lead ALA through a period of change and into a successful future, continuing to build on its past while looking to the future.

Please discuss how your ALA goals and philosophy relate to ALCTS. How might ALCTS help facilitate achievement of those goals?

The work that our association does is grounded in our core values. A couple of those may have particular resonance for ALCTS members: access and preservation. I believe that ALCTS members—all ALA members—can find connection with the entire set of core values, though. ALCTS members can also contribute to other areas of ALA, to collaborate and learn from other divisions and members and to share practices that would have broader impact. I will encourage ALCTS members to lead the association forward when issues that are important to ALA as a whole intersect with the expertise that is shared by ALCTS members.

What do you see as the greatest challenges facing individuals engaged in the areas of work represented by ALCTS (acquisitions, cataloging, serials, preservation, and collection development) in the near future? How can ALA assist ALCTS members to meet those challenges?

Rapidly changing technology continues to alter how information is organized and disseminated. It has had an impact on how selection and preservation are carried out. By providing continuing education, ALA can assist ALCTS members in meeting these challenges. ALA is a place for collaboration and can create channels for ALCTS members to learn from one another and from those in other divisions and round tables. Mentoring opportunities for newer ALCTS members are another way in which members can meet challenges together. ALA, by linking library workers who have disparate responsibilities within libraries, provides both an environment for ALCTS members to grow and learn and for other ALA members to learn from the work that ALCTS and its members are doing.

How can ALA ensure that certain members, whose primary affiliation is to a “type of activity” division, feel connected to the concerns of the association as a whole? How might their involvement be increased? How might ALA’s awareness of their concerns be increased?

At this past Midwinter in Denver, conversation about potential reorganization of the association was prevalent throughout the convention center. Finding a home within ALA is important to so many members, which is why the recognition and promotion of the work that is being done within the many divisions and round tables is just as important. However ALA changes organizationally, it will be essential that members who identify by type of activity not feel lost within the association.

Even without reorganization, however, there are ways for members to feel more connected and for others within ALA to gain greater awareness of the concerns members have. Divisions and round tables often seek their closest partners: divisions that are focused on type of activity might collaborate with each other while those focused on library type similarly band together. The work that is done by ALCTS members, however, is relevant to all divisions and round tables. I encourage new partnerships across divisions and round tables to ensure that awareness of efforts is shared. As president, I can facilitate those connections.

In recent years it has been difficult for ALCTS members to “see themselves” within ALA or to see that the association embraces issues that are critical to ALCTS. What steps will you take to increase ALA’s inclusiveness within its own ranks?

Having met with nearly all of the divisions and round tables while at ALA Midwinter, I heard often that members do not feel as though the broader association sees the valuable work they are doing within those units. Clearly there is great need for better communication in order for members to see and know what is happening elsewhere in ALA.

The issues that are critical to ALCTS are critical to ALA. The division, like the association as a whole, engages in and addresses issues such as intellectual freedom or diversity and inclusion as expressed through the type of work that ALCTS members do, whether that is selection and acquisition, applying metadata, preserving materials, and more. Including ALCTS members should be easy but somehow it hasn’t been. The work of inclusive involvement starts with ensuring that the ALCTS leadership is more plugged into the ALA leadership. This can happen when the ALA Executive Board are communicating and collaborating with the ALCTS Board. A further step is for me, as president, to foster and encourage networks that do not yet exist between ALCTS and other parts of ALA.

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