ALA Emerging Leaders Working Group
Co-Chair, 2016-present
I co-lead the Emerging Leaders program for ALA. As co-chair of the working group with Maureen Sullivan, we oversee the application and selection process for each year's EL cohort and their projects. With the support of the working group, we develop and evaluate the curriculum the ELs will cover, and we provide a significant proportion of the content delivery during conferences and webinars. Perhaps above all, we mentor these promising new professionals.
I'm so proud of my Class of 2017 Emerging Leaders! These up-and-coming leaders in our profession are already making a difference. From a virtual meeting toolkit for LITA to a roadmap to management for children's librarians to studying aspects of equity, diversity, and inclusion, their projects benefit members across ALA. I can't wait to see what they'll do next!
I'm so proud of my Class of 2017 Emerging Leaders! These up-and-coming leaders in our profession are already making a difference. From a virtual meeting toolkit for LITA to a roadmap to management for children's librarians to studying aspects of equity, diversity, and inclusion, their projects benefit members across ALA. I can't wait to see what they'll do next!
ALA Emerging Leaders Interest Group Steering Committee
Chair, 2014-6
After completing the Emerging Leaders program, I wanted to give back. I learned that all past ELs automatically become members of an interest group with the purpose of keeping alumni connected. However, for the past few years the group had not been very active.
As chair of the group, I oversaw the reinstatement of a regular alumni event at ALA Annual, an ALA EL scavenger hunt, revitalization of the EL Facebook page, the establishment of an EL alumni listserv, and planning the 10th Anniversary Celebration. Through these various methods, hundreds of past Emerging Leaders have continued to connect, build their networks, and peer mentor.
As chair of the group, I oversaw the reinstatement of a regular alumni event at ALA Annual, an ALA EL scavenger hunt, revitalization of the EL Facebook page, the establishment of an EL alumni listserv, and planning the 10th Anniversary Celebration. Through these various methods, hundreds of past Emerging Leaders have continued to connect, build their networks, and peer mentor.
The first of the in-person events was held at ALA Annual 2015. We solicited feedback from past ELs on what would be helpful to them, and how they would evaluate past similar events. Based on their responses, we decided our event should accomplish two purposes: help ELs strengthen their network with each other, and provide a forum for leadership development.
We chose a World Cafe facilitated discussion to meet these goals. This structure guides participants through several progressive questions, which we focused on people's personal leadership journeys. It also mixes up participants into shifting small groups, maximizing the number of people they talk to during the event.
In the World Cafe structure, participants are encouraged to express their ideas by drawing or writing on the tables. Not only does this help stimulate creative discussion, it provides context for the next group when participants switch tables. I loved seeing what was meaningful to each person!
Participants found the program to be a compelling and fun experience. "Thanks for your leadership this year! I thought the Mix & Mingle was a very valuable experience, and it seemed that others felt the same way," reflected one committee member. "I had a great time listening to all of the groups and learning about their projects," a participant wrote. Based on the success of this event, we recommended that the committee continue to host this event annually at ALA conferences.
Every year, we learn something and make changes based on feedback. For example, we later revised the format to "speed-dating" for 1-on-1 discussion instead of tables to encourage more direct relationship-building. For the 10th anniversary celebration, we threw a party that coincided with the EL poster session. We loved that this format allowed the newly-emerged cohort to turn around and join in with their new network of EL alumni, and so will likely continue this in future years.
We chose a World Cafe facilitated discussion to meet these goals. This structure guides participants through several progressive questions, which we focused on people's personal leadership journeys. It also mixes up participants into shifting small groups, maximizing the number of people they talk to during the event.
In the World Cafe structure, participants are encouraged to express their ideas by drawing or writing on the tables. Not only does this help stimulate creative discussion, it provides context for the next group when participants switch tables. I loved seeing what was meaningful to each person!
Participants found the program to be a compelling and fun experience. "Thanks for your leadership this year! I thought the Mix & Mingle was a very valuable experience, and it seemed that others felt the same way," reflected one committee member. "I had a great time listening to all of the groups and learning about their projects," a participant wrote. Based on the success of this event, we recommended that the committee continue to host this event annually at ALA conferences.
Every year, we learn something and make changes based on feedback. For example, we later revised the format to "speed-dating" for 1-on-1 discussion instead of tables to encourage more direct relationship-building. For the 10th anniversary celebration, we threw a party that coincided with the EL poster session. We loved that this format allowed the newly-emerged cohort to turn around and join in with their new network of EL alumni, and so will likely continue this in future years.
ALA Emerging Leader, 2013
I was selected as an ALA Emerging Leader for 2013, and sponsored by the Public Library Association. It was an amazing opportunity to build meaningful professional connections with librarians from across the country, creat ea project of direct and practical use to my colleagues and association, and simply learn from the fantastic ideas and people to which I was exposed.
My team's project was to collect information on successful library awareness campaigns. We decided to take a case study approach, and several libraries to talk to in-depth about the ways they have reached out to their public to help them achieve a variety of goals. I had the idea to deliver our report as a zine, and the team realized we could make it freely available online, published under a Creative Commons license to the magazine sharing site Issuu. Read it above or here!
It was incredibly inspirational to talk to so many fantastic people creating such exciting initiatives! I only wish we had more time to talk to more libraries. Perhaps next year's group will be able to take on a larger-scale survey to complement the case study data, and maybe also to consider commonalities among campaigns which were not successful.
My team's project was to collect information on successful library awareness campaigns. We decided to take a case study approach, and several libraries to talk to in-depth about the ways they have reached out to their public to help them achieve a variety of goals. I had the idea to deliver our report as a zine, and the team realized we could make it freely available online, published under a Creative Commons license to the magazine sharing site Issuu. Read it above or here!
It was incredibly inspirational to talk to so many fantastic people creating such exciting initiatives! I only wish we had more time to talk to more libraries. Perhaps next year's group will be able to take on a larger-scale survey to complement the case study data, and maybe also to consider commonalities among campaigns which were not successful.
