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 is open now 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 the following ALA, Council and joint committees:
- Accreditation
- American Libraries Advisory
- Awards
- Budget, Analysis and Review
- 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)
- Conference
- Constitution and Bylaws
- Council Orientation (current or former ALA Councilors are desired)
- Diversity
- Office for Diversity, Literacy, and Outreach Services (ODLOS) Advisory
- Education
- Election (members responsible for travel costs to ALA Headquarters one day per year the second Wednesday in April)
- Human Resource Development and Recruitment (HRDR) Advisory
- Information Technology Policy Advisory
- Intellectual Freedom
- International Relations
- IT Advisory
- Legislation
- Library Advocacy
- Literacy
- Membership
- Membership Meetings
- Organization
- Policy Monitoring (only ALA Councilors with terms through 2019 may serve)
- Professional Ethics
- Public and Cultural Programs Advisory
- Public Awareness
- Publishing
- Research and Statistics
- Resolutions (must have experience as an ALA Councilor or have served on a Council Committee)
- Rural, Native and Tribal Libraries of All Kinds
- Scholarships and Study Grants
- Status of Women in Librarianship
- Training, Orientation and Leadership Development
- ALA-Children’s Book Council (joint committee – meets twice a year in NYC and members cover travel costs or may participate virtually).
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).