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Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC)
Annual Report 2008-2009
Pat Scales, President

ALSC has had a very active year. At the Division Leadership meeting at Midwinter, member leaders began looking at ways to effectively align committee structure with the Strategic Plan of the organization. These member leaders studied the work of each committee and made recommendations to the Board regarding the relevance of each committee in the present environment of the organization. Acting on these recommendations, the Board voted to combine several committees, and to sunset three committees. This is only the beginning of restructuring the organization to better serve our members. I am especially pleased with the success of our Institute in Salt Lake City, and the plans for the Atlanta Institute in 2010 are well underway. I’m pleased to announce that Aimee Strittmatter, former Deputy Director of ALSC, has accepted the role as Executive Director. This report reflects an incredibly busy year. As we develop new and better ways to engage our members through various 2.0 technologies, we expect ALSC to grow. We are especially concerned with reaching underserved populations.

Membership

2009 has been a very hard year for membership throughout the Association, but thankfully ALSC has a very minimal amount of loss. As of April 2009, ALA membership was down by 3.2 percent according to the year-to-date statistics. YALSA and ACRL are the only divisions that have seen growth. Of the other divisions, ALSC has seen the least amount of loss, with a decrease in membership by .5 percent. The average change for divisions this year, including the two divisions that grew, was a negative 3.2 percent. Although ALSC has not yet exceeded last year’s membership numbers, our organization remains strong and committed with 4,218 members.

ALSC student membership continues to thrive with more than 730 members. ALSC is the fifth largest division reflecting student memberships. As a benefit to our student members, we implemented and hosted virtual ALSC Student Sessions. This new virtual program allows students to gain information from seasoned ALSC members as well as network with other students. This one-hour long Student Sessions was held free-of-charge using OPAL (Online Programming for All Libraries). This year more than 73 people participated and based on survey results, participants agreed that the sessions were enjoyable, informational, and convenient. ALSC plans to offer more sessions next school year.

Professional Awards and Scholarships

Every year, ALSC awards more than $82,000 in funds to support members through a variety of programs with support from endowments and our sponsors. They include the Bookapalooza Program, Emerging Leaders, the Maureen Hayes Award, the Bechtel Fellowship, the Melcher and Bound to Stay Bound Scholarships, the Book Wholesalers Inc. Award and the Penguin Awards. These awards make a difference in our members’ professional lives by offering study grants, money to sponsor an author visit or financial support to attend ALA’s Annual Conference.

• In 2007, Karen Lotz and Sharon Hancock of Candlewick Press approached ALSC with the idea of awarding a one-time grant of $5,000 in honor of Newbery Medal–winning author, Kate DiCamillo, who credits her childhood library experience as an important influence in her life. They wanted the money to go to a library that was engaged in outreach aimed at underserved populations, who were making a difference in the lives of children with special needs. The ALSC Board determined that the existing ALSC committee on Library Service to Special Population Children and their Caregivers was in a position to create the award criteria, judge the applicants, and select a library to receive the grant. The committee received 53 applications from libraries around the country that were doing amazing work with children and families in need. These ranged from libraries serving migrant populations, youth in the juvenile justice system, and disaster survivors. Nearly half the applications represented programs serving patrons whose first language is not English. Because of the overwhelming interest and need exemplified by just one year’s applications, ALSC and Candlewick (with the approval of the ALA Awards Committee) have agreed to make this an annual award for a period of five years (2010-2015) in the amount of $3,000 per year.
• This year’s Distinguished Service Award winner is Jane Botham, who has been an ALSC member since 1957. Botham began her library career when she received her Master’s in Library Science from the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Library and Information Science. She then went on to work at the New York Public Library, the San Francisco Public Library, the New York State Library and the Milwaukee Public Library, which was the last library position she held before retiring in 1998. Besides her work in libraries, Botham also spent five years as the marketing director at Bradbury Press and has shared with library colleagues a valuable understanding of the publishing industry and its relationship to children’s librarianship. She has served on numerous ALSC and ALA committees including a term as ALSC President. In her retirement, Botham continues to act as a mentor and friend to younger librarians.
• Once again ALSC is sponsoring an Emerging Leaders project. The 2009 project will focus on the development of a marketing plan to promote ALSC’s many professional awards and grants. ALSC currently offers more than $82,000 worth of professional awards, grants, and scholarships yearly; however, we receive very few applications for each award. We’d like to increase awareness of these awards, drive up the number of applications submitted, and find new ways to promote our members’ achievements. This year ALSC is also sponsoring Madeline Walton-Hadlock, from San Jose, California, as an Emerging Leader.

Endowments

Carole D. Fiore ALSC Leadership Fund: Through a generous donation from Carole D. Fiore, a past-president of ALSC, a leadership fund has been established. The Fund is intended to enhance leadership development within ALSC by sponsoring activities to develop members who show an interest in ALSC and are committed to it as future leaders. Proceeds from the fund may be used to enhance programming at ALSC’s Division Leadership Meetings or provide other new opportunities for leadership development.

Literary & Related Awards

ALSC is best known for our flagship awards, the Newbery and Caldecott Medals, but we present a wide array of other awards. These awards include the Arbuthnot Honor Lectureship, the Batchelder Award for the best translated book, the Pura Belpré Awards for the authors and illustrators of the books that best represent the Latino culture, the Carnegie Medal for children’s video, the Geisel Award for books for beginning readers, the new Odyssey Award for excellence in audiobook production and the Sibert Award for the most distinguished informational book. ALSC member committees also produce lists of recommended children’s media and books: the Notable Children’s Books, Notable Children’s Recordings, Notable Children’s Videos, Great Web Sites, and Great Interactive Software for Kids lists. They are all available on the ALSC Web site.

• The ALA Youth Media Awards Press Conference at Midwinter in Denver was again Web cast live; this year the Web cast has been archived and is available via Google Video. Coretta Scott King Award Chairperson Deborah Taylor represented the Association on the Today Show, along with Newbery Medalist Neil Gaiman, who won for The Graveyard Book (HarperCollins Publishers, 2008) and Caldecott Medalist Beth Krommes, who won for The House in the Night (Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2008).
• In April, I attended the 2009 May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture, delivered Walter Dean Myers, a two-time Newbery Honor and five-time Coretta Scott King Award winner. The lecture was hosted by the Children’s Defense Fund and held at their training site at the Alex Haley Farm located in Clinton, Tennessee. The lecture, entitled “The Geography of the Heart” challenged us to look at students and readers and how their experiences and interactions affect their circumstances or “geography” and understand how we can bridge the gap by giving them hope and bringing our lives to theirs through meaningful interactions. Theresa Venable, librarian at the Langston Hughes Library located on the Haley Farm did a wonderful job developing a variety of rich programming to complement the lecture. The 2010 Arbuthnot Lecture will be given by director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Cooperative Children’s Book Center and ALSC Past-President Kathleen T. Horning. The location will be announced at the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago.

Initiatives

ALSC is home to four major national initiatives, each with a unique focus, although two take on different aspects of early literacy. Several ALSC committees including the Public Awareness Committee, Quicklists Committee and the Early Childhood Programs and Services Committee help to implement these initiatives, with the ALSC Board providing oversight.

• Kids! @ your library Campaign. ALSC’s Kids! @ your library® public awareness campaign is launching into phase two in July during the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago. Launched successfully in 2006, the ALSC Kids! @ your library Campaign continues to offer tools and tips, many at no charge, to help youth services librarians raise public awareness of their collections and services. The first phase of the campaign is targeted at children and their caregivers in kindergarten through grade four; the second phase will focus on children in grades five through eight. The ALSC Board voted significant budget support of $25,000 for enhancement and evaluation of phase 1 and planning and launch for phase 2 this year. Additions to the toolkit for phase two include the original “So Much to See/Do logos” reset in a new color combination of royal blue and lime green. They also were created in Polish, French, and Russian; readers theater scripts adapted from works by Christopher Paul Curtis and Jerry Spinelli; a “how to” guide for doing readers theater programs in the library; an informational sheet on letterboxing and how libraries can get involved; a library treasure hunt for kids in grades 5 through 8; and a mad lib game with a “summer at the library” theme. Other resources to be added for phase two include a word search for grades 5 through 8 and a compilation of “Tween” program ideas. Additionally, children’s book illustrator and graphic artist David Diaz provided art for a campaign mini-poster and bookmark to be given away during Annual Conference. The camera-ready art for the poster and bookmarks will be uploaded to the campaign Web site for free digital download. ALSC asked librarians to share how they used Kids! @ your library® Campaign tool kit materials to promote their libraries to children and their families. Ten winning libraries received a $100 cash prize based on their creative use of resources. The Public Library of Charlotte-Mecklenburg County, N.C.; Foster Elementary School, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Dayton (Ohio) Metro Library, E. C. Doren Branch; Cuyahoga County Public Library, Parma South Branch, Parma, Ohio; Johnson County Public Library, Franklin Branch, Franklin, Ind.; Office of Library and Information Services, State of Rhode Island, Providence; Pamunkey Regional Library, Hanover, Va.; Maricopa County Library District, Phoenix, Ariz.; H. Leslie Perry Memorial Library, Henderson, N.C.; and Hearst Library, Lead, S.D. The campaign is administered by the ALSC Public Awareness Committee. Please visit the Kids! Campaign Web site at http://www.ala.org/kids for more information.
• El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Children’s Day/Book Day). Día 2009 was successfully celebrated by more than 400 libraries. This is up by more than 100 libraries from 2008. Through an interactive, searchable database of events across the country, libraries registered for and received more than 28,000 complimentary bilingual brochures. In addition to Founding Partner, REFORMA (the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking), 2009 partners included: HarperCollins/Rayo, who provided posters featuring Día Founder Pat Mora’s new Dia-themed picture book, Book Fiesta!; the Association of American Publishers (AAP); Tricycle Press; Arte Público Press; Charlesbridge Publishing; Children’s Book Press; Cinco Puntos Press; Lectorum Publications, First Book; and WETA public television. New this year and continuing throughout the year, is a Día Wiki, accessible from the Día home page at http://www.ala.org/dia, intended to offer a forum for idea-sharing about celebrations.
• Every Child Ready to Read. ALSC works with the Public Library Association (PLA) to administer this successful program, which launched in 2004 and aims to train library staff to in turn train parents to function as their children’s first teachers. ALSC and PLA offer Web-based resources as well as kits for purchase that include scripts in several languages as well as print materials and videos. The two divisions began a comprehensive evaluation of the program in 2007, and a full report is expected by Annual 2009. Please visit the Every Child Ready to Read Web site at http://www.ala.org/ala/alsc/ECRR/ECRRHomePage.htm or the Every Child Ready to Read Wiki at http://wikis.ala.org/ecrr for more information.
• Born to Read. The ALSC Early Childhood Programs and Services Committee has been working to revitalize this popular initiative, including working with their local health-care providers to come up with effective messaging that will connect librarians with pediatricians, OB-GYNs, and pediatric and neonatal nurses. A newly designed English brochure will be printed and featured in the ALA Store at Annual Conference 2009. After Annual Conference, it will be sold through the ALA on-line store. Additionally, Spanish and Chinese versions will be available for download on the Born to Read Web site. A library card holder with the new logo has been produced and is featured in the summer ALA Graphics catalog. Plans are underway to redesign the Web site. In preparation for Annual Conference 2009 the site will feature a “splash” home page; then, link to as many resources as time permits the ECPS Committee and staff to create. The Committee has extensive plans for ongoing updates to the site, and will continue its work immediately after Annual Conference. Please visit the Web site at http://www.ala.org/btr for more information.

Projects and Partnerships

• City of Learners/IMLS Grant. The Children’s Museum of Houston wrote a grant proposal seeking funds to develop and implement a city-wide system for increasing family learning through circulating literacy kits that parents use at home with their children, birth through age 8. ALSC was approached by Rose Trevino (Houston PL is a partner in the grant, as well) and asked ALSC to be the national library partner. The grant was accepted by IMLS in October 2007. ALSC’s role will be to co-manage (with the Association of Children’s Museums) a training session that will likely take place in late spring 2010 in Houston. The grant runs August 2008 through August 2011 and planning has begun in earnest this spring.
• ALSC Oral History Committee. The committee aims to record insights, memories, and other thoughts on the state of the association and the profession of children’s library service from the rich membership of past ALSC Presidents and Distinguished Service Award winners. In 2007, eleven of the taped interviews, some of which were conducted a decade ago, were transcribed. The Oral History Committee has edited and prepared two histories for release. Introductory “teasers” of each interview will be available on the Web site and the full interviews will be available to ALSC members behind the members-only section as a member benefit. Non-ALSC member scholars conducting legitimate research projects may request the interviews in their entirety.
• Drop Everything and Read (DEAR) Day. DEAR Day is annual April 12 initiative that encourages families to designate time to put aside other activities and read together. Celebrated on Newbery Medalist Beverly Cleary’s birthday, the initiative features Ramona Quimby as its official “spokesperson.” ALSC promotes the initative to members each year, and provides input on the development of materials, in return for recognition as a partner on press releases and on the materials. Please visit http://www.dropeverythingandread.com.
• The Boys and Girls Clubs Day for Kids. This day is intended to celebrate America's children through the gift of meaningful time with a positive adult. This year, the event took place on September 20, 2008. Through ALSC outreach to members and 55 libraries participated and used copies of the “Making Memories Guide” from BGC. This guide is updated annually and includes tips provided by ALSC for reading with children and features Día in the events calendar. Further information is available on the BGC Web site at http://www.dayforkids.org/.
• JumpStart/Read for the Record (RFTR). This annual one-day reading promotion, held October 2, 2008, is sponsored by the Pearson Foundation and encourages children all over the country to read the same book on the same day, with the goal of gaining entry into the Guinness Book of World Records. The book selected for this year was Corduroy. ALSC publicized the event on ALSC-L our electronic discussion list and we were listed as a partner on the Web site. Please visit http://www.readfortherecord.org for more information.
• NAEYC/Week of the Young Child. Through the diligent efforts of the Liaisons with National Organizations Serving Children and Youth Committee, we partnered with the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) on their Week of the Young Child (WOYC) (April 19-25, 2009) project. The WOYC is an annual celebration to focus public attention on the needs of young children and their families, and to recognize the early childhood programs and services that meet these needs. ALSC’s suggestions for participation by libraries was featured in the January 8, 2009 NAEYC electronic newsletter. ALSC also publicized the event on ALSC-L our electronic discussion list. Further information is available at http://www.naeyc.org/about/woyc/.
• Arbitron, Inc.“Read to Grow.” ALSC participated in Arbitron, Inc.’a launch of a “Read to Grow” pilot community outreach program in an effort to promote the Pura Belpré award. Arbitron Inc. is a media and marketing research firm serving the media – radio, television, cable, online radio and out-of-home – as well as advertisers and advertising agencies. Arbitron’s core businesses are measuring network and local market radio audiences across the United States; surveying the retail, media and product patterns of local market consumers; and providing application software used for analyzing media audience and marketing information data. The first “Read to Grow” event was held during the Calle Ocho festival in Miami on March 15th. We provided information for distribution on the Pura Belpré Award, as well as Día and Born to Read. Arbitron distributed copies of Martina, the Beautiful Cockroach: A Cuban Folktale, a 2008 Belpré Honor Book for illustration; and The Storyteller’s Candle, a 2009 Belpré Author Honor Book. ALSC and REFORMA member, Lucía González, participated at the Arbitron booth. Lucía read from both books, as well as talked about the value of libraries. She reported that a large number of adults and children participated in story times and book readings. ALSC participated in a second “Read to Grow” event on April 26, during “Fiesta Broadway” in Los Angeles. ALSC sent material for the booth and arranged for Martin Delgado, a local librarian (and REFORMA member) to staff the booth to read to the children, as well as to talk about the value of libraries. Arbitron has asked us to consider continuous participation in a series of community outreach events throughout the summer; However, ALSC has decided that we are not able to participate on an event by event level and would like a more formal partnership agreement with Arbitron. We are currently awaiting a response.
• Oprah Winfrey Show. The Oprah Winfrey Show approached ALSC to recommend titles for their Kids Reading List, showcasing recommended recent and classic titles on the Oprah Winfrey Show’s Web site. The Quicklist Virtual Committee developed this list, which brought a record number of hits on the Winfrey website. The producers were pleased with the list and approached us to update the list to appear on the Website by June. The annotated list, available at http://www.oprah.com, is divided into five age groups, from infant through two (from us) and through 12 and up.
• Reading is Fundamental (RIF)/Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA). ALSC has assisted RIF and WNBA with recommended titles for their Fast Break to Reading Literacy project. It is geared to very young children and literacy, for both girls and boys. The Web site associated with this project features two to four new titles every month, with in-depth information regarding the books. We submitted the first four titles in September. The site is up, but has not yet been revised to include the titles at http://www.wnba.org/cares.
• National Endowment for the Humanities/We the People. Each year, ALSC works with NEH to create the list of books available via the We the People Bookshelf grant, which gives books on the list to 4,000 libraries nationwide. The 2009 theme is “A More Perfect Union,” and I have worked with NEH on developing the list. The Quicklists Committee also provides input. Please visit http://publicprograms.ala.org/bookshelf/index.php

Publications and Communications

ALSC seeks to reach members in a variety of ways, including ways that increasingly allow for two-way communication. We still publish our traditional journal, Children and Libraries: The Journal of the Association for Library Service to Children, and the ALSConnect newsletter, which is in its second year of electronic-only, as well as the annual guide to the Newbery and Caldecott awards. In addition, we’re host a blog, wiki, Facebook page, a Twitter feed and have a presence in Second Life in addition to our complement of electronic discussion lists. Other publications and communications include:

• Newbery and Caldecott Awards: A Guide to the Medal and Honor Books was published by ALA Editions in April 2009, featuring an essay by Kathleen T. Horning on “Newbery and Caldecott Medal Books: Revised, Revamped and Revitalized.” This annual guide serves as an invaluable resource on the award-winning titles and includes author, title, and illustrator indexes as well as information about the media used in the Caldecott¬ Medal and Honor Books.
• ALSC on ALA Connect. ALSC members have embraced the new ALA Connect and are excitedly populating the site with committee work, discussion topics, and interest groups. The office has been working diligently to make the transition easier for members by adding a new section about ALA Connect to the ALSC Web site, and sending out information through ALSC’s electronic discussion lists. ALSC division leaders have responded positively by encouraging members to sign-in to ALA Connect and explore its many features.

ALSC Events and Continuing Education

• ALSC Institute. The 2008 ALSC National Institute was held in Salt Lake City, Utah from September 18-20 and was a tremendous success. There were 258 total attendees, representing 37 states and two Canadian provinces and one attendee from Bermuda. The Institute featured three exciting tracks: Technology & Children’s Services, Programming in the New Millennium, and Inspiring Lifelong Reading. Nationally recognized children’s authors/illustrators Laura Vaccaro Seeger, Sharon Creech, William Joyce and Christopher Paul Curtis presented. A lovely Friday evening reception was held on the rooftop of the Salt Lake City Public Library, framed by mountains. Attendees mingled with local author/illustrators and participated in hands-on gaming. A new Association Connection program was developed to engage first-time attendees with seasoned ALSC members and provide engaging networking activities. Plans are in place for ALSC’s biennial Leadership Institute in Atlanta, Georgia at the Emory Conference Center Hotel from September 23-25, 2010 at the Emory Conference Center Hotel and will feature three days of valuable continuing education including a variety of program tracks and workshops, keynote speeches from award winning children’s book authors and illustrators, and a luncheon sponsored by the Friends of ALSC. The Institute will host the second Breakfast for Bill, a special event supported by ALSC’s Bill Morris Endowment. At Breakfast for Bill, attendees will have the opportunity to hear from and meet with authors, illustrators, editors, and other publishing personnel, in the spirit of connecting people that Bill Morris, ALSC’s first Distinguished Service Award winner. For more information, please visit: http://www.ala.org/alscevents.
• ALSC Participation in TechSource Gaming Symposium. Several ALSC-sponsored programs took place at the ALA TechSource Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium, Nov. 2-4, 2008 at the Doubletree Hotel in Oak Brook, IL: “GISK and FAS Technologies” (Ann Crewdson, Angelique Kopa, and Dr. Michelle Roper), “Hey! Wii Want to Do That, Too!” (Patty Saidenberg), “Talking Walls, Hidden Stories: QL Code” (Joan Howland, Bonnie Pierce), “Turning Gamers Into Readers” (Lori Easterwood and Lindsey Patrick Wesson), and “Connecting Beginning Readers” (Teresa Walls and Amber Creger). For more information, please visit http://gaming.techsource.ala.org.
• ALSC Online Courses. ALSC successfully launched a cadre of e-learning courses this fall and winter with three more courses offered in this summer. The multi-week courses are offered via Moodle Web-based software. Courses included: “The Technology-Enhanced Library Professional” taught by Sara Fisher; “The Newbery Medal: Past, Present, and Future,” taught by ALSC Past President and past Newbery chair Kathleen T. Horning; “Reading Instruction and Children’s Books,” taught by Katherine Todd, Adjunct Professor, Manhattanville (NY) College; “Sharing Poetry with Children,” taught by Sylvia Vardell, Professor, Texas Women’s University; and “The Tech-Savvy Booktalker,” taught by Nancy J. Keane, Library Media Specialist, Rundlett Middle School. For more information, please visit http://www.ala.org/alsced.
• Charlemae Rollins President’s Program. The Charlemae Rollins President’s Program at Annual Conference 2009 featuring Dr. Melba Pattillo Beals is part of ALA’s Auditorium Speaker Series for the third year in a row. Dr. Beals is one of the original Little Rock Nine who faced angry mobs while the United States National Guard escorted her into a school that was being integrated for the first time. The ALSC Quicklists Consulting Committee and Great Web Sites Committee will collaborate to create a Civil Rights¬–themed resource list for attendees. A local Chicago children’s choir will open the program with songs from the Civil Rights Movement.
• National Library Legislative Days. In May, I participated in ALA’s National Library Legislative Days in Washington, DC with ALSC Executive Director Aimee Strittmatter and the Executive Directors and Presidents of AASL and YALSA. We called on the Democratic and Republican staffs of the House and Senate Committees charged with education and library issues, and brought the Consumer Protection Safety Improvement Act and the need to exempt “ordinary books” from the act to their attention. We also advocated for authorizing funds for the Improving Literacy through School Libraries Program and LSTA and we met with a potential partner, the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

  Board Actions and Bylaws Changes

  Board actions this year included routine items such as approving the budget, cosponsorship of Annual Conference programs with other ALA divisions and affiliates, and updating some committee function and membership statements, in addition to a bylaws change.

  During the 2007 ALA Annual Conference in Washington, DC the ALSC Board formed the Strategic Plan Alignment (SPA) subcommittee. This subcommittee analyzed ALSC's portfolio of programs and services (committees, initiatives, etc) and have made recommendations to align ALSC’s structure component with the ALSC Strategic Plan. We are going to spend some time at the ALSC Division Leadership Meeting at Annual going over the Board's recent Strategic Plan Alignment activities, including background and the processes we undertook to make our decisions to better inform our members.

  The bylaws change focused on updating Section 2 to reflect that no individual may serve on the Caldecott Award Selection, Newbery Award Selection, Sibert Award Selection, and Notable Children’s Books Committees more often than once every four years. The bylaw change was approved by the ALSC membership and will take effect with the 2010 election.

  ALSC Finances

  ALSC is currently weathering the financial storm, thanks to diverse revenue sources including dues, journal advertising, grants and sponsorships, endowment interest income, the Friends of ALSC, and sales of products. However, we are closely monitoring the budget and looking for ways to scale back during this difficult economic climate. This is a prime time for the ALSC Board to review and analyze our current programs and products and brainstorm new innovative and creative revenue streams. ALSC’s many endowments do ensure the long-term success of many of our ongoing programs and awards such as the Arbuthnot Honor Lectureship, the Morris Seminar and “Breakfast for Bill,” and the Pura Belpré Awards.

  It has been an honor to serve as President of ALSC 2008-2009. ALSC has one of the best “Brands” in the library world – the Newbery and Caldecott Awards. We are known globally for these awards. We will always have these awards, but we want to do more to serve our members. So, we are working very hard to extend our brand. As you can see from this report, we have achieved a lot by extending our services with online participation. As we work through evaluating all of our committees, we are looking for ways to do more committee work virtually. I’m especially pleased with the success of our online courses. These courses provide staff development opportunities for librarians who may not ever have the funds to attend conference. One of my disappointments is that our pre-conference program on intellectual freedom had to be cancelled. We have clearly been bitten by the economy. I have spoken with the pre-conference planning chair, and asked that her committee take the work that they have done and develop it into an affordable online course. In this way, all of our members will have access to the training and information they need to deal with materials challenges.

  On a personal note, ALSC has dealt with great sadness this year. The tragic accident in Denver that took the lives of Kate McClelland, the President-elect of ALSC, and Kathy Krasniewicz, chair of the Notable Video Committee, has left a void that will be felt for years to come. We want to thank the entire library community for your thoughts and expressions of sympathy. I want to send a special thank-you to Jim Rettig, President of ALA, for his personal note of sympathy, and to Camila Alire, the President-elect of ALA, for assisting us in Denver. Camila stepped up to help when our hearts were simply too heavy to deal with the media. Thank You.

  2008-2009 Board of Directors
  Executive Committee:
  Pat Scales, President
  Thom Barthelmess, Vice President/President-Elect
  Jane B. Marino, Immediate Past-President
  Linda Perkins, Councilor
  Sue Zeigler, Fiscal Officer
  In Memoriam - Kate McClelland, 1937-2009
  Directors:
  Thom Barthelmess
  Mary Fellows
  Starr LaTronica
  Penny S. Markey
  Elizabeth “Betsy” Orsburn
  Tim Wadham
  Judy Zuckerman
  ALSC Staff:
  Aimee Strittmatter, Executive Director
  Vacant, Deputy Executive Director
  Marsha Burgess, Program Coordinator
  Linda Mays, Program Officer
  Jennifer Najduch, Marketing Specialist
  Laura Schulte-Cooper, Program Officer
  Angela Smith, Administrative Secretary

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