2012 program, preconference, institute proposals: due May 1

The  deadline for submitting proposals for 2012 institutes (Midwinter/Dallas), preconferences and programs (Annual/Anaheim) is MAY 1, 2011.

PROGRAM proposals must be submitted by this date using this online form: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ASCLA_Program_Proposals

PRECONFERENCE/INSTITUTE proposals must be submitted by this date using this online form: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ascla_preconfinst_proposal

We have posted a Word document version of both of these forms at the ASCLA website under Our Association>ASCLA Forms. The Word doc should be used to help prepare submissions, however all final proposals should be sent via the online form.

Any problems with the forms or website should be sent to Andrea Hill, RUSA web manager (ahill@ala.org).

ASCLA: Future-Friendly, Future-Ready

ASCLA members will have the opportunity to affect substantial and meaningful change in their association by voting to approve ASCLA’s revised bylaws in the upcoming ALA/ASCLA election. The changes provide a new structure that allows for more member participation and collaboration. Groups of individuals with mutual issues and interests can generate spontaneously, evolving or devolving as the future changes. The new structure streamlines ASCLA’s governance, reducing formally elected positions by 50%.

Impetus for the restructuring came from members’ input over the last two years. Members indicated they want to spend more time on products and results and less time on the process of governance.  They want a high return for the investment of their personal time and want their involvement to be project-based, not position-based. By approving the new structure as set forth in the revised bylaws, the ASCLA board of directors heard these voices and are positioning ASCLA to be a 21st century association–one that can adapt and thrive in today’s challenging environment.

Other associations and ALA divisions which restructured have found that reduced layers of governance foster creativity and innovation. No longer burdened with filling numerous elective positions and the tasks of lower-level governance, members feel renewed. They propose more conference programs and pre-conferences; they form groups around mutual interests and timely issues that evolve as the environment changes; individual members drop in and out of multiple groups as their information, networking, and support needs change. Pools of shared meaning are created as those participating in interest groups contribute their personal opinions, feelings, theories and experiences. New activities are proposed and accomplished in a short timeframe, and experimentation–with the freedom to be messy–occurs more frequently. Equally as important, once the barriers between static, formally organized groups are removed, members’ common goals across the association become more evident.

An association’s success depends on member involvement. My sincere hope is that ASCLA’s new structure will expand current members’ opportunities for engagement and attract new members with timely, issue-focused interest groups.

The next important step in ASCLA’s transformation begins when voting in the ALA election opens on March 16th. I encourage you to vote for ASCLA’s future by approving the bylaws changes.

General election information is available on the ALA website. An e-mail with information about accessing the elections online has been sent to you via e-mail. The deadline for requesting a paper ballot is April 8.

If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact me, your president.

Diana Reese
ASCLA President
303-866-6341
reese_d@cde.state.co.us

All sorts of accolades for ASCLA member Diane Walden

ASCLA member Diane Walden has been named a 2011 Mover & Shaker by Library Journal!

Get the full story here: http://www.libraryjournal.com/csp/cms/sites/LJ/LJInPrint/MoversAndShakers/profiles2011/moversandshakersWalden.csp

We’re also excited to announce Diane as the winner of the 2011 ASCLA Leadership & Professional Achievement Award! The official press release is here and also pasted below.

Congratulations Diane! We’re proud and honored to call you an ASCLA member!

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The 2011 ASCLA Leadership & Professional Achievement Award winner is Diane Walden, correctional libraries senior consultant for the Colorado State Library and a longtime member of the Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies (ASCLA), the Librarians Serving Special Populations Section (LSSPS) and the Library Services to Prisoners Forum (LSPF).

The ASCLA Leadership and Professional Achievement Award is presented to Diane Walden for her exemplary leadership and achievements at the Colorado State Library and at the Florida Department of Corrections in delivering high quality consulting and statewide library services for offenders. Her passionate leadership has positively impacted the offenders who use correctional libraries and those who work in them. ASCLA salutes Diane’s leadership in the creation of the Prisoners Right to Read: An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights, a clear example of both professional leadership and pioneering activity. Prior to the adoption of the Prisoners Right to Read, there was no ALA policy statement that addressed prisoner rights on a national level. Her tireless efforts with the Right to Read statement are but one of many examples of leadership, initiative and professional achievement demonstrated by Diane in her statewide and national work.

Walden is the Colorado State Library’s coordinator for the highly successful “Read to the Children” program in the Colorado Department of Corrections, which allows parents and other close relatives to make a recording of themselves reading a book, then send the recording and book to the child.  The program increases the literacy skills of both the offenders and their children, strengthens the parent-child relationship and creates a home environment supportive of reading. She also initiated and coordinated a StoryCorps program in the Colorado Department of Corrections (DOC). Through this national project that strives “to honor and celebrate one another’s lives through listening,” Walden aimed to build offenders’ self-esteem and self-awareness; highlight voices often missed in our society; and portray an honest voice of the imprisoned.

“In spite of staff and budget reductions, Diane has forged ahead with an optimistic attitude of getting done what needs to be done,” said ASCLA President Diana Reese. “She is a consistently positive person no matter the situation or hurdles encountered. Her passion for improving library services to offenders drives her to accomplish something every day that will have positive impact. Her internal fire is the power supply that continuously causes her to set the pace and get started on new challenges. This drive to achieve is not only moving the correctional librarianship field forward, it is profoundly impacting the offenders who use correctional libraries and those who work in them.”

Walden received her MLS from the University of Arizona. She previously spent 10 years working in the Florida Department of Corrections, with progressive responsibilities – from a solo correctional librarian to a coordinator of 60 institutional libraries, where she developed library-based literacy, educational and cultural programs. She has worked with the Colorado State Library since 2004 as a senior consultant for the state’s correctional libraries, and is currently responsible for start-up of the library for Colorado Department of Corrections’ newest high security facility.

Reese will officially present the award to Walden at the ASCLA/COSLA Reception on Sunday, June 26, 8-10 p.m. at the 2011 ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans. This event, open to all ALA Conference attendees, will be held at an ALA Conference hotel. The exact room location will be announced in late spring.

Final chance to experience ASCLA “Consulting Toolkit” workshop

Experienced, unemployed or retired librarians hoping to attend the preconference “Assembling a Consulting Toolkit: What You Need to Know to be a Successful Library Consultant” should make sure to register promptly at www.ala.org/annual for the final offering of this workshop at the upcoming ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans.

The preconference, which will be held 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Friday, Jun. 24, marks the fourth and final time this topic will be presented. Previous attendees agree that the session is “fantastic”, “extremely useful” and “confidence-boosting”, and is hands-down the perfect event for librarians looking to strike out on their own in the library profession or those library professionals approaching retirement and seeking a flexible way to maintain employment.

The workshop is appropriate for both new consultants designed to prepare participants to begin – or advance – a successful consulting career. Seasoned consultants and ASCLA members Nancy Bolt, Sara Laughlin and Beth Bingham will present an overview of library consulting for workshop attendees, who will then conduct in a self-assessment their personal consulting potential.  Participants will work together in an active and engaging format to explore different roles that consultants play, services consultants may deliver to clients, marketing consulting services, managing a consulting business and finding clients.

Interested participants can register for this event only (event code ASC3) or can register in conjunction with Annual Conference registration by adding it as a ticketed event. For institute-only registration using the online form (login required), select “SO-Institute and Ticketed Events Only” as the registration type and proceed to select this event from the list. Registration for this ASCLA event will close Sunday, Jun. 19. Advance registration rates start at $185, depending on membership status.