AASL's Walker named to national advisory committee for The Laura Bush Foundation for America's Libraries

Contact:Larra Clark


312-280-5043

For Immediate Release


June 6, 2002

AASL's Walker named to national advisory committee for The Laura Bush Foundation for America's Libraries

The American Library Association (ALA) is pleased to announce that Julie A. Walker, executive director of the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), has been named to the national advisory committee for The Laura Bush Foundation for America's Libraries. The appointment was announced June 4 at the White House Conference on School Libraries. AASL is a division of the ALA.

"This is a great honor, which recognizes the dedication and vision that Julie has brought to her work on behalf of school librarians and libraries," said ALA President John W. Berry. "I know that she will be a wonderful voice for the thousands of libraries and librarians that stand to benefit from the work of the new foundation."

The mission of the Laura Bush Foundation is to support the education of our nation's children by providing funds to update, extend and diversify the book and print collections of America's school libraries. The Advisory Committee is charged with determining the foundation's policies and funding guidelines and will oversee the grants process. Eleven people have been appointed to serve on the committee.

Walker, who also serves as executive director for the Young Adults Library Services Association (YALSA), joined the ALA in June 1997. Under her leadership, division memberships and activities have grown dramatically. AASL, which just celebrated its 50th anniversary as an ALA division, now counts more than 9,500 members.

"I applaud the First Lady's commitment to children, reading and school libraries," Walker said. "Fortunately for all of us in the profession, I think her passion is infectious."

From 1992 to 1997, Walker served as director of Library & Media Services at the Round Rock Independent School District in Texas, which had a 26,000-student body served by 34 professional librarians on 31 campuses. Over the course of her career, Walker has worked as a school library media specialist at the elementary, middle school and high school levels.

Walker also has been a lecturer at the University of Texas Graduate School of Library & Information Science at Austin. She has a bachelor's degree in education from Southeastern Oklahoma State University and a master's degree in library and information science from the University of Texas at Austin.

For more information on AASL, please visit www.ala.org/aasl. For more information on the foundation, please visit
www.laurabushfoundation.org.