(via JoAnne Kempf, American Library Association)
Wanda Kay Brown, American Library Association (ALA) president-elect, encourages members to serve on an ALA, Council or joint committee for the 2019-2021 term (terms start on July 1, 2019). Serving on a committee provides members with leadership training, networking opportunities, and experience in working on specific association topics.
The online committee volunteer form opens on Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2018, and closes on Friday, Nov. 9, 2018. To volunteer, please complete and submit the form electronically (be sure to select “ALA” in the drop-down menu on the main form).
Committee appointments will be finalized at the 2019 ALA Midwinter Meeting, with notifications sent out in early spring, 2019. President-Elect Brown chairs both the Committee on Appointments (responsible for ALA and joint committee appointments) and the Committee on Committees (responsible for Council committee appointments).
Volunteers are sought for, among others, the following ALA, Council, and joint committees. (To see a complete list, please go to http://www.ala.org/news/member-news/2018/08/volunteer-serve-ala-council-and-joint-committees-2019-2021.)
· Chapter Relations (must be ALA chapter or divisional affiliate member, eight of 11 committee members should have state library association [chapter] leadership or committee experience)
· Office for Diversity, Literacy, and Outreach Services (ODLOS) Advisory
· Intellectual Freedom
· Literacy
· Research and Statistics
· Training, Orientation and Leadership Development
The charge and composition of each committee can be found here: http://www.ala.org/aboutala/committees/ala and here: http://www.ala.org/aboutala/committees/joint.
In addition to ALA, Council, and joint committees, you may also volunteer to serve on two subcommittees of the Committee on Diversity using the ALA volunteer form: the Diversity Research Grant Advisory Committee (seeking individuals with experience conducting a research project, including writing research proposals, budgets, conducting and analyzing research) and the Spectrum Advisory Committee (60% of the committee members should be alumni of the Spectrum Scholarship Program). Please note that ALA President-Elect Brown does not make subcommittee appointments. These appointments are made by the ODLOS Advisory Committee Chair in consultation with outgoing subcommittee chairs and staff liaisons. Please direct questions about the Diversity Research Grant Advisory Committee to Jody Gray (jgray@ala.org) and questions about the Spectrum Advisory Committee to Gwendolyn Prellwitz (gprellwitz@ala.org).
For technical assistance or for more information on the committee appointments process, contact JoAnne Kempf, Committee on Appointments and Committee on Committees staff liaison (jkempf@ala.org).