Johns, Raphael seek 2011-2012 ALA Presidency
Contact: JoAnne Kempf
Office of ALA Governance
(312) 280-3212
NEWS
For Immediate Release,
Oct. 1, 2009
CHICAGO – Sara Kelly Johns and Molly Raphael are candidates for the 2011-2012 presidency of the American Library Association.
Johns is currently the school library media specialist for grades 6-12 at Lake Placid (N.Y.) Middle/High School, a position she has held since 1999, supervising the Lake Placid elementary school library for the first two years.
She previously served as the school librarian for middle/senior high level at Beekmantown Middle/Senior High School in Plattsburgh, NY.
From 1990-2006, she was an adjunct professor for the mandated 1-credit undergraduate Library Research Methods through Technology course at SUNY Plattsburgh’s Feinberg Library and won the “Excellence in Teaching” Award for Adjuncts in 1999 as well as the sixth annual “Award for Excellence in Library Service” from the North Country Reference and Research Resources (3’R’s) Council in 1996. Currently, she is teaching as an adjunct for the NCATE accredited School Library & Information Technology (SL&IT) program at Mansfield University for their Access and Legal Issues (censorship, intellectual freedom, copyright) course.
She was the 2007-08 American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Past President, is the Associate Editor for AASL Community for Knowledge Quest, and is the AASL Coordinator in New York State for implementation of the new AASL Program Guidelines and Standards for 21st Century Learner. Her new term as an ALA Councilor at Large begins at Midwinter in Boston; her first term was 2004-06. She was a member of ALA President’s Jim Rettig’s advocacy initiative advisory committee, the ALA Advocacy Committee and is currently a member of ALA President Camila Alire’s REACT committee for her advocacy initiative for frontline library workers.
Johns has presented extensively at state, regional and national school library conferences on advocacy, leadership, plagiarism prevention and AASL. She has written professional articles for LMC, School Library Journal, Knowledge Quest and Teacher Librarian and will lead her first webinar on Collection Development for Linworth in October. At the recent ALA Annual Conference in Chicago, she was the school library panelist for the Reference Books Bulletin’s “Defending the Reference Collection” program. Upcoming presentations will be Oct. 3 at the School Library Journal Summit on Librarians as Leaders of 21st Century Learning and a panel Oct. 6, “High School to College: The Information Literacy Gap.”
She was a member and president of the Saranac Lake Free Library Board of Trustees and served on the Plattsburgh (N.Y.) Public Library Board of Trustees before moving to Saranac Lake in 1991. She served on the Regents Commission on Library Service for the 21st Century and is currently a member of the Regents Advisory Council on Libraries, the New York Library Association (NYLA) Legislative Committee, the Intellectual Freedom roundtables for NYLA and ALA and the AASL Legislative Committee. She is an active member of and served two biennial terms as president of the local chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma international society of women educators.
Raphael recently retired after six years as director of libraries at Multnomah County Library in Portland, Ore., which serves a population of more than 700,000 with a budget of $60 million and more than 500 employees. During her tenure, she passed a five-year, voter-approved operating levy (more than $176 million for 5 years); implemented many new programs and services; worked with The Library Foundation of Multnomah County to raise more than $12 million. Under her leadership, MCL achieved consistently top rankings among urban public libraries and the highest gross circulation of any library in the country for four consecutive years.
She previously served as director of the District of Columbia Public Library (DCPL) from 1997-2003, after holding various positions at DCPL, beginning in 1970 as an assistant children’s librarian. During her DCPL tenure, Raphael launched the first public library service in the nation to serve the deaf community in 1975.
While at DCPL, she established and co-chaired the Labor Management Partnership Council; introduced an Enhanced Business Information Center; launched outreach efforts to address early literacy needs for children at-risk and literacy programs for adult new readers; built partnerships with the K-12 schools, academic institutions and many nonprofits; and hosted many visiting foreign diplomats and senior US government officials.
Raphael has served in a number of capacities with ALA as early as 1976, when she was co-founder and first chair of the ALA committee and then the ASCLA Section on Library Service to the Deaf. She was president of the Library Leadership and Management Association (LLAMA) in 2008-09, served on the ALA Executive Board from 2000-03 and has served three terms as ALA Councilor at Large (2003-06, 1998-2002, 1985-89).
She has also been a member and chair of the ALA’s Budget Analysis and Review Committee (BARC), Committee on Professional Ethics, Nominating Committee (serving as chair, in 1998-99), Equality Award Jury, Intellectual Freedom Committee and Coordinating Committee on Access to Information. In addition, she has been a member of various committees in PLA, LLAMA, ASCLA, and RUSA.
Raphael was president of the District of Columbia Library Association in 1987-88. She has chaired the National Library Legislative Day Committee, was D.C. vice chair for the Martin Luther King Holiday Commission and served on the Freedom to Read Foundation Board of Directors. She has also belonged to the Urban Libraries Council, the OCLC Public Library Advisory Committee, the Friends of the Oberlin College Library and FOLUSA.
Her honors include the Arthur Flemming Civil Rights Award for efforts to increase diversity in library employment, collections and programming at Multnomah County Library. She has also received the Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science Alumni Achievement Award, several District of Columbia Labor Management Partnership Council Awards and an Honorary Life Membership in the District of Columbia Library Association. She was also selected to present the Library of Congress “Luminary Lecture.”
