Claudette McLinn elected 2024-2025 ALSC vice-president/president-elect

CHICAGO - Claudette McLinn, EdD, Executive Director, Center for the Study of Multicultural Children’s Literature, Simi Valley, California, has been elected vice president/president-elect of the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA). She will begin her term as president-elect in July 2024 and assume the presidency in July 2025 for a one-year term.

“I value this opportunity to be of service to the ALSC community,” McLinn said. "I will ensure that the gains made within ALSC continue and flourish. Our collaborative efforts are critical as we aspire to fulfill ALSC’s vision statement by engaging communities to build healthy, successful futures for all children. I am committed to championing advocacy for children and for the library workers who proudly serve children.”

An active member of ALA, ALSC and the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), McLinn has served in numerous capacities during her 44 years of association membership. Currently, she is a member of the ALA Awards Task Force, and served recently on the ALA-Children's Book Council Joint Committee, 2021-2023, and the ALA President Patty Wong Advisory Committee, 2020-2022. McLinn also has served as chair of the 2022 Randolph Caldecott Award Committee, 2017-2019 Coretta Scott King Book Award Executive Board and 2009 Pura Belpré Award Committee. 

In addition to her service with ALA, McLinn served on the Executive Board of the United States Board on Books for Young People (USBBY), 2019-2023, also acting as liaison to the Hans Christian Andersen Award Jury administered by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY). 

Among her many accomplishments, McLinn is Vice Chair of the Board of the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. She also recently served as the U.S. representative on the 2024 BolognaRagazzi Award Jury and was a judge and chair of the 2023 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, presenting at the 74th Annual National Book Awards ceremony. 

McLinn was the recipient of the 2023 Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement, 2022 Charlotte S. Huck Endowed Speaker Award and 2020 ALSC Distinguished Service Award, among other awards and honors.

Three directors-at-large were elected to serve on the ALSC Board of Directors: Maegen J. Rose, Brooklyn Friends School, New York; Ayn Reyes Frazee, Portland, Oregon; and Sandra Farag, Kalamazoo Public Library, Michigan. Each will serve a three-year term beginning in July 2024.

About the Association for Library Service to Children

ALSC, a division of the ALA, is the world’s largest organization dedicated to the support and enhancement of library service to children. With a network of more than 3,300 children’s and youth librarians, literature experts, publishers and educational faculty, ALSC is committed to creating a better future for children through libraries. To learn more about ALSC, visit www.ala.org/alsc.