Contact:  Larra Clark
Press Officer
312-280-5043
lclark@ala.org

For Immediate Release
May 3, 2004 

 

Gorman elected ALA president for 2005-2006; Switzer re-elected to treasurer

ALA Constitution, Bylaw amendments approved in vote

CHICAGO -- Michael Gorman, dean of Library Services at the Henry Madden Library, California State University, Fresno, has been elected president of the American Library Association (ALA) for the 2005-2006 term, defeating Barbara Stripling, director of Library Programs at New Visions for Public Schools in New York City. 

Teri R. Switzer, who previously was elected to fill the one-year vacancy created by the resignation of Liz Bishoff, was re-elected to serve the 2004-2007 term.  Switzer, assistant director for Human Resources and Budget at Auraria Library in Denver, bested Erika Linke, associate dean of University Libraries for Collection and User Services at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

ALA members today also approved an amendment to the ALA constitution that changes the procedure for filling a vacancy in the office of treasurer and voted in favor of creating a new classification of ALA membership for library support staff.

As ALA president, Gorman will be the chief elected officer for the oldest and largest library organization in the world. The ALA has a membership of more than 64,000 librarians, library trustees and library supporters. Its mission is to promote the highest quality library and information services and public access to information.

Gorman will become president-elect in July 2004, and will assume the ALA presidency in July 2005, following the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago. He will serve a one-year term as president.

"I am thrilled to have been elected and look forward very much to being ALA's Vice-President/President-elect at the conclusion of this year's Annual Conference.  Running for this position has been a most interesting experience, particularly meeting and listening to so many and such a wide range of librarians," Gorman said. 

"Getting to know Barbara Stripling, a most worthy candidate, was also a great pleasure.  I am honored by the confidence of my colleagues and excited by the prospect of building on the many achievements of my recent predecessors. I will work very hard to be worthy of this great honor."

Gorman currently is a member of the ALA Executive Board (2003-2006) and ALA Council (2002-2005).  He has served as chair of the ALA Pay Equity Committee and as a member of the ALA Resolutions Committee. He is a past president of the Library and Information Technology Association (LITA), a division of ALA, and an active member of the California Library Association, where he has served on numerous committees.

Gorman has taught at library schools in his native Britain and in the United States - most recently at the University of California, Los Angeles.  From 1977 to 1988, he worked at the University of Illinois (Urbana) Library as, successively, director of technical services, director of general services, and acting university librarian.  From 1966 to 1977, he worked at the British Library. Gorman has published widely and was the first editor of the "Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules," second edition, in 1978 and its 1988 revision. 

Gorman received the 2001 Highsmith Award for his book,  "Our Enduring Values."  He has been awarded the 1997 Blackwell's Award for "Future Libraries: Dreams, Madness, and Reality" by Walt Crawford and Gorman, the 1992 Dewey Medal and the 1979 Margaret Mann Citation.  Gorman received his library education in Great Britain at the Ealing School of Librarianship. He was elected a Fellow of the (British) Library Association in 1979.

Before taking the post at Auraria Library, Switzer worked three years as interim assistant dean for administrative services at Colorado State University (Ft. Collins), where she was responsible for primary oversight of all fiscal services for the University Libraries.  She also has worked as personnel librarian and associate professor at Colorado State for more than seven years.  She is the treasurer of Keystone Valley Corp., a sub-chapter S corporation with business holdings in Summit County, Colo., is a member of the governing board of the Central Colorado Library System, and is on the Budget Priorities Committee at the University of Colorado.

"I am honored to have been elected to ALA treasurer a full three-year term," Switzer said. "I look forward to continuing to serve ALA in this crucial role. I will strive to find ways to fund ALA's programs and strategic efforts in this challenging economic climate and maintain ALA's fiscal integrity."

Switzer is an active participant in ACRL, has served on the LAMA Executive Board, and chaired its Human Resources Section and the LAMA/Library Organization and Management Section (LOMS) Financial Management Committee.

She holds a master's degree in library science for the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana and a master's degree in business administration with an emphasis in accounting/taxation from Colorado State University.  She is a member of Beta Phi Mu and Beta Alpha Psi honorary societies.

The overwhelmingly approved Constitutional amendment (Article VIII, Officers and Committees, Section 2) will allow the ALA Executive Board to fill immediately any vacancy in the office of ALA treasurer for the remainder of that term.  Previously the constitution required that the position remain vacant until the names of candidates selected by the Nominating Committee are submitted to the membership in the next ALA general election.

The approved amendments to ALA Bylaws (Article I. Membership) create a separate dues classification for library support staff members, set dues at $35 and change the language in the "regular members" classification to state: "includes librarians as well as others employed in library and information services or related activities in positions that: (a) require a masters degree; or (b) require a state level certification; or (c) are managerial."

ACRL, LAMA and LITA are all divisions of the ALA.

A total of 12,562 votes were cast in the election. Council, Division and Roundtable elections also were decided.