From the President

Brian E. C. Schottlaender, ALCTS President

To paraphrase Blanche Dubois, ALCTS has always relied on the kindness of its volunteers. In that context, it pleases me no end that more ALCTS members than ever appear to be ready—eager, even—to volunteer their energy, their intellect, and their time for the collective good of the Association. In 2002-2003, more than seventy individuals submitted Committee Volunteer forms to me during the appointment process, a phenomenal response from the membership. That said, with appointments to be made for more than a dozen Division-level committees, four award juries, one interdivisional committee, and ALCTS representatives to sixteen organizations outside ALCTS-not to mention far, far more at the Section level—I and my Section and CRG Chair colleagues found ourselves scrambling.

So, opportunities abound, as they say. At Midwinter in San Diego, interested ALCTS members will have a chance to learn more about those opportunities at a Volunteer Orientation "mix and mingle" session to be hosted by the ALCTS Leadership Development Committee—under the direction of their dynamic new Chair, Dina Giambi. Scheduled for Saturday morning, from 9:30 to 10:30 in the historic and charming U.S. Grant Hotel (Grand Ballroom B) in downtown San Diego, the session will allow potential volunteers to learn a little about the workings of ALCTS and its committee structure, including terms of appointment, member responsibilities, distinctions between representative committees and non-representative, and the like.

As importantly, prospective volunteers will also have an opportunity to mingle socially with those ALCTS leaders responsible for making next year's appointments, including, notably, President-Elect Carol Diedrichs. Our ambition in this session is to get ahead of the curve, to talk with interested ALCTS members about volunteer opportunities before we—and you—find ourselves enmeshed in the minutia of the appointment process itself.

In addition to the commonplace definitions of "volunteer" in the Oxford English Dictionary ("one who voluntarily offers his [or her] services in any capacity," etc.), there are two rather less commonplace ones—from the fields of Law and Agriculture, respectively. In law, a volunteer is "one who benefits by a deed made without valuable consideration;" in agriculture, a volunteer is "a flower or tree which grows spontaneously." In ALCTS as in law and agriculture, volunteers can look forward to the benefit of spontaneous growth, personally and professionally. I look forward to seeing many of you Saturday morning, January 10th, in San Diego!

My very best wishes to you and yours for the holiday season and a New Year that is happy, healthy, and safe!