My Emerging Leader Experience: Abigail Sparling

2018–2019 has been the year of raising my hand and finding my professional home in ALCTS. My first ALA Annual Conference was in 2018, where I attended an amazing session put on by the ALCTS Electronic Resources Interest Group. Motivated by the speakers, I stayed for the business meeting after the session and found myself volunteering to co-chair the interest group. It wasn’t long after that I learned about the ALA Emerging Leaders Program. The program seemed like the perfect opportunity to learn more about the structure and governance of ALA and my potential place within it. I was delighted and honored to be named the 2019 ALCTS Emerging Leader.

Continue reading

My ALCTS Experience: Shelby Strommer

In June 2019 I had the opportunity to attend the ALA Annual Conference as a recipient of the Jan Merrill-Oldham Development Grant. In recognition of Jan Merrill-Oldham’s commitment to preservation education and mentorship, the grant provides early-career preservation practitioners an opportunity to further their professional development by attending the Annual Conference. I was honored to receive this award and thrilled to have the opportunity to find ideas and inspiration to help me serve as an effective steward of our library collections and an effective mentor to my student employees.

Continue reading

From the President: A Roller Coaster Year for ALCTS

For ALCTS 2018–2019 turned out to be a roller coaster of a year. We entered the year with definitive Board votes to devote time and resources toward exploring a new division, joining with the Library Information Technology Association (LITA) and the Library Leadership and Management Association (LLAMA). Although we devoted significant time and resources toward a new division in the fall, we were unable to get all of our goals accomplished in time for our respective Boards to make a decision whether to bring the new division before the membership. We instituted a project pause, to give all the Steering Committee (made of leadership of the three divisions) a chance to think, reflect, and determine the best course of action for the future. I am very pleased that after a moment of collective breath-taking, we have resumed work on developing a new ALA division.

Continue reading