ALTAFF to host ‘Transforming Libraries through Frontline Advocacy’ at ALA Annual Conference

PHILADELPHIA —  The Association of Library Trustees, Advocates, Friends and Foundations (ALTAFF), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), will host “Transforming Libraries through Frontline Advocacy”  from 1:30-3:30 p.m. PDT at the Anaheim Convention Center, 206A, on Sunday, June 24 at the 2012 ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim.

This advocacy program will feature Larry Neal, director of Clinton-Macomb (Mich.) Public Library, and Deborah Doyle, interim executive director, Friends & Foundation of the San Francisco (Calif.) Public Library. Each speaker will discuss frontline advocacy for Friends of the Library, library Trustees, library Foundations and other advocates.

Neal is the director of the Clinton-Macomb Public Library, a state-of-the-art district library system in suburban Detroit serving 170,000 residents. He has 30 years of public library experience, holds an MBA from Oakland University and earned an MSI-LIS from the University of Michigan. He is a 2007 Library Journal Mover & Shaker and a recent member of the Public Library Association board. In 2009, as the newly-minted president of the Michigan Library Association, his first major task was to lead a rally at the state capital in protest of significant proposed cuts to library funding. He has spent the last three years of his personal time securing library services for Bloomfield Hills, one of the nation’s most affluent cities. After three millage campaigns in three years, a proposal for library funding was finally passed in November 2011.

Doyle is the interim executive director of the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library (SFPL). She has served as an advocacy manager, neighborhood organizer and board chair for that organization. She earned a BA from the University of Virginia and an executive MLIS from San Jose State University. She has been actively involved as a trustee, fundraiser and advocate at local, regional, state and national levels for 20 years. As a member of a joint foundation and friends committee, she helped oversee a major reorganization as the Friends of the SFPL merged with the Library Foundation of San Francisco. She is the first person to win the California Library Association President’s Award twice (in 2003 and 2011).

Members of Friends of the Library groups, Boards of Trustees, and representatives from library Foundations can attend ALTAFF’s nonticketed programs for as little as $35. For more information about registering and ALTAFF events at the conference, visit www.ala.org/altaff/events_conferences/events.

For general information about the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, Calif., June 21-26, 2012, visit www.alaannual.org. Use the Conference Scheduler to plan your time, create your calendar, and find out about many other highlights as they’re added — speakers, events, networking opportunities, and more.

ALTAFF is a division of the American Library Association that supports citizens who govern, promote, advocate, and fundraise for libraries. ALTAFF brings together library Trustees, advocates, Friends, and Foundations into a partnership that creates a powerful force for libraries in the 21st century. For more information, visit www.ala.org/altaff, or contact Jillian Kalonick at (312) 280-2161 or jkalonick@ala.org.

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