Certified Public Library Administrator Program adds one graduate, seven candidates

Jenifer Grady
ALA-APA
jgrady@ala.org

NEWS
For Immediate Release
August 10, 2009

CHICAGO - The Certified Public Library Administrator Program (CPLA) Certification Review Committee (CRC) granted certification to one CPLA® candidate, making a total of 13 who are now officially Certified Public Library Administrators.  In addition, the committee approved seven new candidates in its spring review. CPLA® now has 128 candidates representing public libraries of all sizes across the nation.

The Certified Public Library Administrator program is a voluntary post-MLS certification program for public librarians with three years or more of supervisory experience and ALA-accredited master’s degrees in library and information studies.

The candidates are from 34 states, Canada and Nassau, Bahamas. To their course work they bring, on average, a decade of supervisory experience.  Both new and experienced managers consider CPLA® a valuable source of knowledge. 

If you are a public librarian with gaps in your managerial experience, are looking for practical professional development or need a flexible credential, consider applying.  There are courses on nine different management topics offered online, face-to-face and at American Library Association conferences. Courses may also be taken by individuals who are not part of the CPLA program - http://www.ala-apa.org/certification/cplacourses.html.

CPLA® invites you to apply to become a candidate or a course provider. The next deadline for provider and candidate reviews is Sept. 13, 2009. The application for participants may be found on the CPLA® Web site: http://www.ala-apa.org/certification/cpla.html. The RFP for providers is here: http://www.ala-apa.org/certification/cplaproviders.html.
If you have questions, please call the ALA-APA Office at (312) 280-2424.

ALA-APA: the Organization for the Advancement of Library Employees is a service organization to the American Library Association and the library community. It has two missions: providing certification in specializations of librarianship and advocacy for salary improvement efforts.