YALSA/AASL welcome new deputy executive director

Contact: Julie Walker


312-280-4388

For Immediate Release


May 2002

YALSA/AASL welcome new deputy executive director

The Young Adult Library Service Association (YALSA) and the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) are pleased to announce Cindy Welch as the new deputy executive director. Welch comes to the associations after seven years of service at the Chicago Public Library (CPL), most recently as the system-wide Young Adult Specialist. In this role, she served as a consultant to 79 branches on issues related to young adult services.

Welch was instrumental in developing the Mayor Daley High School Book Clubs - a cooperative project of CPL and the Chicago Public Schools. She also served as one of the project managers for the Carnegie Foundation grant project, Teen Edition, which provided young adult collections for each of the CPL branches. As part of both initiatives, she did extensive training on serving young adults and using young adult literature with teens.

"In addition to a passion for service to teens, Cindy brings a background rich in experiences including as a college admissions officer, public relations officer and public library liaison to junior high and high schools," said YALSA/AASL Director Julie Walker. "I cannot imagine a better fit for us." Welch has a B.BA from the University of Kentucky, an M.A. in Adult & Higher Education from Morehead State University (Ky.) and a master's of library science from the University of Kentucky.

"Every stop on my professional journey seemed to be leading me to this job," Welch said. "I am very excited to be working with librarians and others from across the country who enrich and support teens every day. It's an exciting opportunity to make a difference in our future. Teen Read Week is right around the corner!"

YALSA and AASL are divisions of the American Library Association (ALA). To learn more about YALSA and its initiatives, visit www.ala.org/yalsa. Welch can be reached at
cwelch@ala.org or at 312-280-4391.