Leslie Burger elected ALA president for 2006-2007
Contact: Macey Morales
PR Coordinator
312-280-4393
mmorales@ala.org
For Immediate Release
May 2, 2005
Leslie Burger elected ALA president for 2006-2007
CHICAGO - Leslie Burger, director of the Princeton (N.J.) Public Library, has been elected president of the American Library Association (ALA) for the 2006-2007 term. Burger won over Christine Lind Hage, director of the Clinton-Macomb Public Library in Clinton Township, Mich.
As ALA president, Burger will be the chief elected officer for 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.
Burger was elected with 5,401 votes. Hage received 4,598 votes.
Burger will become president-elect in July 2005, and will assume the ALA presidency in July 2006, following the ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans, La. She will serve a one-year term as president.
"I am humbled by this tremendous honor and look forward to serving the members of ALA," said Burger. "Through the months of campaigning, I met with members from many different kinds of libraries across the country who shared their vision of how ALA can help every library to succeed. I know that by working together we can make every library in the country better than it is today.
"I want to recognize my fellow candidate, Christine Lind Hage, who shares my passion for America's libraries and whose ideas and energy will continue to transform libraries for years to come."
Burger is a past president of the Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies (ASCLA), the New Jersey Library Association and the Connecticut Library Association. She currently serves as at-large member of the ALA Council and is a member of the ALA-APA Pay Equity Committee. She also has chaired the ALA Awards Committee, several ASCLA committees and the ALA Public Awareness Committee's Campaign for America's Librarians Task Force.
Before joining Princeton Public Library, Burger worked at the New Jersey State Library and the Connecticut State Library in the areas of planning and library development. She is the owner of Library Development Solutions a consulting firm which she founded in 1991. In her consulting practice, Burger has worked with more than 100 libraries of all sizes and types on planning, space needs assessments, evaluation and program implementation.
Burger has a master's in library science from the University of Maryland-College Park and a master's in organizational behavior from the University of Hartford. She received her bachelor's from Southern Connecticut State College.
For complete election results, please visit:
www.ala.org/2005election.
