REFORMA President’s Program inspires, motivates and ignites the leader in all

CHICAGO—REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking, will present “Leadership Is an Urgency: Fire It Up,” the 2012 REFORMA President’s Program, from 1:30 - 3:30 p.m. on Saturday June 23 in the Anaheim (Calif.) Convention Center, Room 205 A, during the 2012 ALA Annual Conference.  The program is open to all Annual Conference attendees.

This interactive program is designed to inspire and motivate the talented, capable leader in all of us.  The program will feature a keynote presentation by Dr. Camila Alire, past president of the American Library Association and REFORMA and dean emerita at the University of New Mexico and Colorado State University.  Featured speakers will include Jerome Offord, university librarian and head of the Department of Library Science, Lincoln University Inman E. Page Library; Janice Rice, outreach coordinator, College Library, University of Wisconsin-Madison; and Patty Wong, county librarian/archivist, Yolo County Library.  The program will be moderated by Oscar Baeza, public services librarian, El Paso Community College. 

“In each of us there is a talent and we are capable of leading from where we are” said Maria Kramer, president of REFORMA.  “Association members of every job classification and from every type of library provide the foundation for advancing our vision.  This interactive program will inspire and instill the member-leader, volunteer-leader and/or community-leader in all of us!”

A full list of REFORMA programs at the 2012 ALA Annual Conference is available online. 

Established in 1971 as an affiliate of the American Library Association (ALA), REFORMA has actively sought to promote the development of library collections to include Spanish-language and Latino oriented materials; the recruitment of more bilingual and bicultural library professionals and support staff; the development of library services and programs that meet the needs of the Latino community; the establishment of a national information and support network among individuals who share our goals; the education of the U.S. Latino population with regard to the availability and types of library services; and lobbying efforts to preserve existing library resource centers serving the interests of Latinos. Nationally, there are 26 REFORMA chapters. For more information on REFORMA, please visit www.reforma.org.

For general information about the 2012 ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, Calif., June 21-26, 2012, visit www.alaannual.org.