NEWS
Richard C. Harwoodto keynote American Library Association President’s Program
CHICAGO (Nov. 9, 2011) - Author and philanthropist Richard C. Harwood, will serve as keynote speaker for the American Library Association’s (ALA) President’s Program from 3:30 – 5:30 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012 at the Dallas Convention Center. The program will take place as more than 10,000 of the nation’s library leaders convene in Dallas for the ALA Midwinter Meeting held Jan. 20 – 24.
Over the past twenty years, Richard C. Harwood has become a leading national authority on improving America’s communities, raising standards of political conduct and re-engaging citizens on today’s most complex and controversial public issues. He is the president and founder of The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation – a nonprofit dedicated to helping people imagine and act for the public good.
Harwood has dedicated his life to helping people “make good on their urge to do good” and has inspired thousands of people to step forward and take action rooted in their community and stay true to themselves with easy steps designed to get even the most cynical moving.
“Rich Harwood’s leadership in community engagement and creating change has inspired communities for many years,” said ALA President Molly Raphael. “The concepts that he developed and has implemented in real communities are central to the way our ‘Empowering Voices’ Advocacy Initiative envisions engaging community. I am thrilled that ALA Midwinter attendees will have an opportunity to learn from and be inspired by him.”
Harwood has appeared on national and syndicated media outlets including MSNBC, NPR, The Christian Science Monitor, CNN's “Inside Politics,” “The NewsHour” with Jim Lehrer, “Special Report” with Brit Hume, C-SPAN and many others. He is also the author of “Hope Unraveled: The people’s retreat and our way back,”“Make Hope Real: How we can accelerate change for the public good” and numerous studies, articles and essays chronicling vital issues of our time. His most recent written work, “Why We’re Here: The Powerful Impact of Public Broadcasters When They Turn Outward,” is being published and distributed in Spring 2011.
The American Library Association is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 60,000 members. Its mission is to promote the highest quality library and information services and public access to information.
For more information on the ALA Midwinter Meeting, please visit www.ala.org/midwinter. For advance press registration or to schedule an interview, contact Macey Morales at 312-280-4393, mmorales@ala.org, or Jennifer Petersen at 312-280-5043, jpetersen@ala.org.
Contacts: Macey Morales / Jennifer Petersen
ALA Media Relations
312-280-4393 / 5043
mmorales@ala.org / jpetersen@ala.org
