ALA Board Selects Finalists
for Executive Director
The American Library Association’s Executive Board today announced the two finalists for the position of ALA executive director: Camila Alire and Keith Fiels.
Alire recently left her post as professor and dean of libraries at Colorado State University, where she was named dean emerita earlier this year. Fiels is director of the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, and was one of three candidates previously considered for the job in 1997.
The Executive Board plans to interview the finalists April 11–12 at the Association’s headquarters in Chicago and pick the new executive director during the board meetings that immediately follow. In addition to their interviews with the Executive Board, the candidates will tour headquarters, meet with senior managers, and have an opportunity for interaction with ALA staff.
The candidates were selected by a 12-member search committee appointed by the board last December and broadly representative of the Association. Working with professional search consultant G. Angela Henry of Ray and Berndtson, the committee contacted more than 120 individuals, almost a dozen of whom were profiled, interviewed, and matched by the consultant against the position requirements. The committee met in March and interviewed a preliminary short-list of candidates. ALA President John W. Berry pointed out that since Alire is a member of the board, she has recused herself from all discussion related to the search.
The board plans to formally introduce ALA’s next executive director at the Association’s Annual Conference in Atlanta, June 13–19. William Gordon, the Association’s current ED, is scheduled to retire August 31.
Posted April 8, 2002.
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