Contact:
Macey Morales
ALA Media Relations
312-280-5043
mmorales@ala.org
For Immediate Release
June 27, 2007
Loriene Roy inaugurated 2007 ALA president
WASHINGTON –Loriene Roy, professor at the University of Texas at Austin's School of Information, begins her term as 2007-2008 president of the American Library Association (ALA) on June 28, 2007.
As ALA president, Roy will be the chief elected officer of the oldest and largest library organization in the world. Established in 1876, the American Library Association has more than 64,000 members. Its mission is to provide leadership for the development, promotion, and improvement of library and information services and the profession of librarianship in order to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all.
"I am greatly honored to be elected to serve as your ALA president. Chi megwitch, thank you very much," Roy said. "I look forward to working with ALA members on my platform issues: workplace wellness, supporting library and information science education through practice, and including all people in the circle of literacy. Together we will continue to live and practice ALA's vision and values."
Roy was elected as ALA Councilor-at-Large for two terms, 1996-2000 and 2003-2006. She chaired ALA's Committee on Education and the Education Assembly and served on Council committees and committees of the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), the Public Library Association (PLA) and the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA). She is a past president of the American Indian Library Association (AILA) and was on the steering committee of the 2006 Joint Conference of Librarians of Color.
In 1999, Roy founded "If I Can Read, I Can Do Anything," a national reading club for Native children. She also directs "Honoring Generations," an Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS)-funded scholarship program for indigenous students. Roy is widely published, including a Festschrift in honor of Marvin Scilken. She serves on several advisory boards/steering committees, including El día de los niños/El día de los libros, the Sequoyah Research Center, and WebJunction.
Library Journal named Roy a 2005 "Mover & Shaker," and she has received four Texas Excellence Awards for teaching and student advising. Roy received a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an M.L.S. from the University of Arizona. She is Anishinabe (Ojibwe), enrolled on the White Earth Reservation, and a member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe.
ALSC, PLA and RUSA are all divisions of the ALA. AILA is an affiliate of ALA.
James Rettig, university librarian at the University of Richmond (Va.), today also began his term as ALA president-elect. He will assume the ALA presidency in June 2008 at the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, Calif.