Network with fellow Chapters colleagues with this assortment of social networking tools made possible by the ALA Chapter Relations Office and ALA!:

The ALA Chapters Resource Wiki promotes communication and assistance among ALA and the ALA Chapters.

ALA Chapters on Facebook promotes communication and assistance among ALA and the ALA Chapters.

The ALA Chapter Relations Office on Twitter promotes communication and assistance among ALA and the ALA Chapters.

The ALA Student Chapters group on Facebook facilitates communication and assistance among the student chapters and ALA.  See also ALA Student Chapter fan page. If your Chapter is not on here or you need to update some information, contact Don Wood, ALA Chapter Relations Office.

The ALA Student Members Wiki facilitates communication among student members and ALA.

The American Library Association Student to Staff Participants group on Facebook promotes communication and assistance among ALA and the student-to-staff participants. See also ALA Student to Staff fan page.

See also ALA Read Write Connect and ALA Weblog Service.

The first ALA Student Chapter was created in 1980 at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. Each Student Chapter has its own character and purpose. ALA Student Chapters enhance students’ ALA membership by providing leadership and programming opportunities on the campuses.

Eligible participants

ALA student members at the master’s level and beyond are eligible to form official ALA student chapter groups at schools offering ALA-accredited programs of library and information services, or a master’s degree with a specialty in school library media from an NCATE/AASL-accredited program.

Fees

Student Chapters pay no fee to ALA. Individual members of the student chapter group pay ALA student dues. Each ALA student member is entitled to all the regular ALA personal membership benefits at a substantially reduced dues rate. The chapter may support its programs through fund-raising activities, dues paid to the student chapter group, or contributions from the school administration.

Benefits

Student-to-Staff Program

Each student chapter is entitled to nominate one student to go to the Annual Conference to participate in the Student-to-Staff program.

ALA materials

Catalogs, , posters, ALA Placement Center handouts, and other materials will be mailed to the student chapter president by the Staff Liaison in Chapter Relations upon request.

Student chapter plaque

A plaque will be sent to the student chapter by ALA upon receipt of an approved, ratified constitution and bylaws.

ALA student chapter group and other student groups

There are often several student groups on the library school campus to handle student problems and concerns. The student chapter is concerned with external relations with ALA as a professional organization. All groups can exist side-by-side without any role conflict. In fact, if time constraints or other considerations seem to dictate it, groups can be combined, sharing officers and activities.

How to get started

Designation of advisor

A faculty advisor should be designated to work with the organizers on chapter formation.

Information and organizational meeting

Arrange an informational and organizational meeting at the school for all interested students. The officers of existing groups can serve as a steering committee and can be of great assistance in helping to promote the chapter group. Students who have already joined ALA as student members should be identified and included in the chapter group. At the informational meeting, distribute membership forms and sign up students. Once a nucleus of members is established, a constitution should be drafted. Sample constitutions are available from the ALA Chapter Relations Office. A nominating committee should be appointed and a meeting held to elect officers and approve the constitution. A chapter group program committee should be appointed to work with the officers to develop program ideas.

Notification of ALA

The approved constitution, name of advisor, and list of officers should be sent to Don Wood, the staff liaison. The student chapter group’s information will appear on the ALA Student Chapter website.

Helpful contact people

Chapter organizers may well profit from the experience of local ALA members and others including:

• Your state’s ALA Chapter Councilor.
• The presidents and faculty advisors of existing student chapter groups. (Frequently updated information is available from ALA Chapter Relations Office.)

After your group is founded

Local programs

These will vary from chapter to chapter and should be designed to meet the needs of each particular group.

Here are some suggestions:

• Arrange campus visits from ALA program staff, ALA Officers, ALA Councilors, or ALA committee chairs. Visitors may be invited to visit classes or give a formal presentation, with informal gatherings either preceding or following the presentation. In order to keep costs to the student chapter to a minimum, such a campus visit might be added to a previously planned trip or draw on ALA members in your area. The Staff Liaison can help you to determine which ALA staff or members would be available to visit your school on a certain date.
• Student tours of local libraries might be arranged with active ALA members, giving students an opportunity to investigate current library practice from a professional perspective. Brown-bag lunches on campus where local ALA members are invited to share experiences and career development ideas with students in an informal atmosphere.
• Student attendance at local events sponsored by NMRT Affiliates, AASL Affiliates, ALCTS, ACRL Chapters, and ALA Chapters and Affiliates.
• Start a website, e-list, blog, Facebook, or other social networking tools for student chapter members, with news from conferences, a calendar of campus events, and interviews. Include articles on curriculum changes, new faculty members, and fellowships available to students from off-campus sources. Use chapter communication tools for humorous articles and to publicize student chapter programs.

Relationship with the state library association

Whenever possible, make a connection with the state library association in addition to ALA. Many library school students are more oriented towards their state than they are to the national scene and plan to remain in the state after graduation. Student chapter connection with the state association allows students to learn the workings of a smaller association, to make contacts with professionals in their area, and to attend local conferences and workshops. Many individuals begin their association “careers” in state associations.

Contact the president of the state library association or the executive director if there is one. Ask to be put on their mailing list to receive publicity for their programs. A list of state associations and their presidents and/or executive directors will be found on the online directory maintained by the Chapter Relations Office.

For further information

Good luck organizing your new student chapter. If you need help or further information, don’t hesitate to contact the Student Chapter staff liaison: Chapter Relations Office, American Library Association, 50 East Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60611, or call: Toll-free 1-800-545-2433 x2429, in Chicago (312) 280-2429, or FAX: (312) 280-4392, Email: Don Wood.

ALA and Chapters

The partnership between the American Library Association and its Chapters has varied during the Association’s history. For an understanding of this partnership, see The ALA/Chapter Relationship: A Shared Responsibility and ALA Chapter Councilors.

ALA Chapter Councilors

ALA Chapter Councilors provides information for Councilors, including Chapter Councilors, a contact list of all ALA Chapter Councilors. State and regional chapters provides contact and other information for all ALA Chapters. ALA and Chapter Conferences Calendar provides a list of upcoming ALA, Chapter, and Affiliate Conferences.

ALA Chapter Relations Committee and Chapter Relations Office

The Chapter Relations Committee (CRC) develops and recognizes Chapters as integral components of ALA; encourages discussion, activities and programs that support the mutual interests of ALA and the Chapters; advises when requested on proposals and actions of other ALA units that may affect Chapters; provides a forum wherein Chapters can share ideas and concerns of common interest and identify common needs and goals; communicates these Chapter needs and goals to ALA and ALA goals, programs and priorities to the Chapters; encourages and maintains a cooperative and supportive relationship among ALA, its units, and the Chapters; formulates and reviews periodically requirements for Chapter status; and serves as an advisory committee to the Chapter Relations Office.

Student Chapters

For an understanding of the partnership between ALA and the Student Chapters, see ALA Student Chapters, which includes: Who is Eligible to Form an Official ALA Student Chapter? How Do You Form a Student Group? How Do I Join ALA? How Do I Contact Other Student Chapters? Where Can I Find Chapter Resources? And Information about Jobs? And Information about Scholarships? as well as I Need a Mentor (And I Could Be One, Too!), So What Do I Do? What’s the Student to Staff Program, or How Do I Volunteer at an ALA Conference? ALA Connect, Wikis, and More.

Become a fan of the ALA Chapters on Facebook.

Also visit the ALA Chapter pages to discover what all the Chapters have to offer, from advocacy for libraries to conferences to member benefits and more.

Here is a sample of the Chapters pages you will find on Facebook. If you know of any additional ones, please send the name and URL to dwood@ala.org

CHAPTERS ON FACEBOOK

• Alabama Library Association
• California Library Association
• Colorado Association of Libraries
• Connecticut Library Association
• District of Columbia Library Association
• Florida Library Association
• Georgia Library Association
• Idaho Library Association
• Iowa Library Association
• Kansas Library Association
• Kentucky Library Association
• Louisiana Library Association
• Maine Library Association Members
• Massachusetts Library Association Fans
• Michigan Library Association
• Minnesota Library Association
• Montana Library Association
• Nebraska Library Association
• New Hampshire Library Association
• New Jersey Library Association (fan page)
• New Jersey Library Association (group page)
• New Mexico Library Association
• New York Library Association-NYLA
• Cool members of NCLA: North Carolina Library Association
• North Dakota Library Association
• Oklahoma Library Association
• Ohio Library Council
• Pennsylvania Library Association
• South Carolina Library Association
• Texas Library Association Members
• Vermont Library Association
• Virginia Library Association
• Washington Library Association
• Wisconsin Library Association
• Wyoming Library Association

Also on the ALA Chapters page are links to the regional Chapters on Facebook

• Mountain Plains Library Association
• Pacific Northwest Library Association

On June 29, 2010, at 11 a.m., library advocates from all 50 states and Washington, D.C., will meet at Upper Senate Park on the U.S. Capitol grounds to participate in Library Advocacy Day (LAD).

Register now to attend!

LAD will feature guest speakers, photo ops, and a chance to cheer on libraries!  After the rally, participants will meet with their elected officials and their staffs. The states with the most people will be featured front and center, which means they are the ones that will be in the majority of pictures. Make sure your state is the most represented so your group can be in the most pictures!

Let your National Library Legislative Day (NLLD) coordinator know you plan to attend. (See note below.)

For information on state lobbying days, contact your State Chapter. (If you’re not a member of your State Chapter, please join!)

Note: National Library Legislative Day (NLLD) usually occurs at this same time of year. For 2010 only, Library Advocacy Day will take its place, instead.

Dear Colleagues:

The weekend of September 11th, a group comprised of the ALA board members, division leaders, roundtable representatives and senior staff met in Itasca, Illinois, to begin the development of ALA’s new strategic plan. The new plan’s goals and objectives will set the association’s strategic directions for the next five years to 2015. (ALA’s current plan goes through 2010.)

For the last six months, work has been underway to gather member input and information on the changing environment for libraries, librarians and the association. To date, 15 member forums have been conducted at state chapter meetings, and another 20 are planned for this fall and early spring of 2010. A member survey of ALA programs and services, their importance, and the association’s performance in each area was conducted, with 9,000 members participating.

In addition to the survey and forums, an Environmental Scan has been created on ALA Connect, containing articles, reports and other information on the social, educational, economic, political, and technological environments within which we will operate, as well as issues and trends specific to different types of libraries. (To see the Environmental Scan, surveys or forum reports, go to ALA Connect, log in, and click “My Member Communities” and then “ALA 2015 Environmental Scan.”)

In mid-October, ALA board members will meet with a larger group of division leadership and roundtable representatives in Chicago to continue working on draft goals and objectives. Following this meeting, we will then circulate a draft plan for discussion by ALA councilors, committees and the membership as a whole. It is our hope that those members attending Midwinter will schedule discussions of the plan as part of their meeting agendas, and we are looking to schedule a working session on the plan for Council as part of the Information Session at Midwinter.

Again, following Midwinter, ALA groups and individual members will be invited to share their thoughts and suggestions which will be considered for incorporation into the document as we prepare for review and approval by the Board in April. The document will then go to Council prior to Annual Conference for Council’s final approval at Annual Conference.

When we developed the current 2010 plan, we received over 2,500 comments from ALA groups and individual members. These comments were aggregated, analyzed, and ultimately incorporated into the plan as it moved forward over the course of its year- long development. We look forward to the same high level of member involvement as we move forward on our 2015 Plan.

Thank you for your help in this process.

Camila Alire
President
American Library Association

ALA provides a number of ways to connect and network with others and a number of ways to stay informed! Below are just a few of the resources available to you, so be sure to visit ALA Read Write Connect, ALA Blogs, and ALA Weblog Service for additional choices!

AL Direct is an electronic newsletter sent to ALA personal members and others who wish to subscribe. It is a weekly supplement to American Libraries magazine that provides summaries and links to news, announcements, and other information of interest to library and information science professionals. Subscribe to AL Direct.

ALA provides ALA Connect, a common virtual space for members to engage in ALA business and network with other members around issues and interests relevant to the profession. New on ALA Connect is MentorConnect, an informal mentoring network implemented within ALA Connect that allows all ALA members to participate and only requires that you actively choose to join the network in order to begin serving as a mentor or seeking a mentor.

Chapters promote general library service and librarianship within their geographic areas, provide geographic representation to the Council of the American Library Association, and cooperate in the promotion of general and joint enterprises with the American Library Association and other library groups. Visit the Chapters Social Networking Page to find many ways to connect .

District Dispatch is the official blog of the ALA Washington Office. You can view press releases, library related legislation, updates from OGR and OITP, and virtually all vital information from the Washington Office.  Subscribe to the District Dispatch RSS (Rich Site Summary/Really Simple Syndication) feed. RSS is a relatively new technology that streamlines all your updates from a variety of blogs and news sources into one easy-to-read location. Luckily, there are myriad helpful explanations online for what RSS is, how it was developed and all of its other aspects. Subscribe and start receiving District Dispatch updates immediately and consistently. Of course, you are still welcome to subscribe via email. If you use Microsoft Office Outlook, then you are in luck. Microsoft has already supplied users with a step-by-step guide to rss subscription in Outlook. Through Outlook, you can receive RSS updates in the same program as your email. Non-outlook users have several options. Mashable has created “The Ultimate RSS Toolbox,” which lays out other RSS feed aggregators and how they work.

Ilovelibraries.org is website for the public, designed to keep America informed about what’s happening in today’s libraries. Subscribe to I Love Libraries Newsletter.

If you’re looking for a page of links to ALA resources for Chapters, visit Overview of ALA Resources for Chapters. Here you will find:

• Quick Links to ALA resources under such headings as “Chapters and Chapter Relations Office,” “Executive Board, Council, and Chapter Councilors,” “Divisions and Round Tables,” “Library and Membership Services,” “Offices,” and “Contact ALA Staff.”
• Links to the Key Action Areas: Diversity, Education and Lifelong Learning, Equitable Access to Information and Library Services, Intellectual Freedom, Advocacy for Libraries and the Profession, Literacy, and Organizational Excellence.
• Links to Select ALA Resources by Subject, under such headings as ”Advocacy,” “Diversity,” “Intellectual Freedom,” “Jobs,” “Literacy,” “Networking,” and “Students.”

And, if you’re looking to get involved with Chapters, or just want to find out what ALA and Chapters are all about, visit Overview of How to Get Involved in ALA Chapters.

With many opportunities available to libraries through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the library community must continue its efforts to educate its elected officials on the benefits of investing in libraries–focusing now on the state level.

Implementing the law will no doubt be complex, so the ALA Washington Office has created its Know Your Stimulus page as a one-stop source with resources on how to make sure libraries benefit from the package and the most up-to-date information on the stimulus. As information becomes available, the ALA Washington Office will post updates on this Stimulus News page (e.g., how funding will be distributed and how to apply).

Links on the Know Your Stimulus page includes:

• Programs (State Stabilization Funds, Broadband Funding, Other Programs)
• Broadband (Stimulus Funding for Broadband, Resources)
• Legislation & Regulations (Public Law, Legislative Summaries, Notices, Rules, Memos)
• Oversight
• Grants and Awards (Procedures, Announcements, Grants.gov)
• Advocacy (How to advocate for ARRA funding)
• News (Press Releases, News Stories)
• Links (agencies)
• FAQ

For additional help on the state level, see also ALA Office for Library Advocacy and ALA Chapter Relations Office.

The American Library Association (ALA) is now accepting applications for the 2010 class of Emerging Leaders. The deadline to apply is July 31, 2009.

The program is designed to enable approximately 100 library workers to get on the fast track to ALA and professional leadership.  Participants are given the opportunity to work on a variety of projects, network with peers and get an inside look into the ALA structure and activities.

For the first time since its establishment, the Emerging Leaders program will accept non-MLS library workers.  Library support staff personnel are encouraged to apply to the program and will have an opportunity to be considered for sponsorship through the ALA Library Support Staff Interests Round Table.

An ALA division, round table, ethnic affiliate, state chapter or school library media affiliate will sponsor approximately one-third of the selected applicants.  Each sponsor will contribute $1,000 toward expenses ($500 for each conference).  Sponsorship is not required for participation in the program.

Applicants can indicate on the application which groups they want to consider them for sponsorship.  A list of sponsoring units is included as part of the online application. You can also check with your state association and/or state chapter to find out if they are participating and how to apply for their sponsorship.

No more than one person from any instituition will be selected for participation in the program.  In order to be eligible, applicants must meet the following criteria:

• Be under 35 years of age or be a library worker of any age with fewer than 5 years experience working in a library.
• Be able to attend both ALA conferences and work virtually in between each.
• Be prepared to commit to serve on either an ALA, division, chapter or round table committee, task force or work group, or in your state or local professional library organization upon completion of program.
• Be an ALA member or join upon selection if not already a member.

Program information will be available and updated. For questions or more information regarding the program, contact Beatrice Calvin.