The ALA election season is upon us (electronic polls open and paper ballot mailing begins) on March 16 and polls close on April 23, 2010. We wanted to find out a bit more about the two ALA presidential candidates, so we asked them to provide us with an answer, for the PLA blog, to the following question: “What two challenges are most critical to public libraries today and how can ALA and PLA help public librarians meet those challenges?” Their responses are below.

Sara Kelly Johns
http://www.skj4ala.com

TWO CRITICAL CHALLENGES TO PUBLIC LIBRAIRIES

The two most critical challenges to public libraries today are: adequate funding and technology’s demands.

1. Adequate funding – It is critical for a strong and successful public library to receive adequate funding. We all know the economy has gone sour. That puts libraries in direct competition with all other government services. We need to create a strong core of advocates to speak loudly for us through conscious, deliberate and continuous marketing and public relations. Libraries, librarians and trustees need to be forceful in their efforts to secure adequate operating revenues. It may mean placing a proposition on a ballot for a first time, lobbying with elected officials, and/or organizing grassroots campaigns for support. ALA and PLA have been in the forefront of working with librarians and trustees on advocacy. We must strengthen our efforts as professional leaders and as the professional organization for all librarians. We need to tell our stories about successes using libraries, the “people’s university.” ALA and PLA need to be able to get down to the grassroots – through regionalized programs, webinars, interactive learning via our websites, whatever delivery method we can utilize. We need to make it easy for all libraries to access the needed information to secure their needed funding.

2. Technology – Technology is a challenge that is both exciting and frustrating. Libraries struggle to keep up with in-house needs and user demands. Insufficient bandwidth issues are increasing as users place more demands on library service. New applications give us pause – RSS feeds, blogs, Facebook and Twitter and whatever’s next place – and place increased demands on staff. We must address basic computer needs as well as services like Millennials and teens who want reference answers texted to them. ALA and PLA can create organizational synergy so that each division can create meaningful professional development, with LITA and LLAMA and other divisions to provide common solutions. There are tremendous opportunities for cooperation and I believe it’s time to work collectively to especially keeping libraries at the forefront with technology. The expertise is there and ALA and PLA can deliver it.

Molly Raphael
http://mollyraphael.org/

What two challenges are most critical to public libraries today and how can ALA and PLA help public librarians meet those challenges?

To address the two most critical challenges facing public libraries, we must transform the public’s perception that libraries are “nice to have” to the perception that “libraries are essential for learning, essential for life” (on par with police, fire, education).

1. Funding. We face significant differences in funding challenges from previous recessions; many believe we are seeing permanent changes in the availability of future tax dollars. Even when the economy gets better, local and state governments’ efforts to raise revenue may never reach previous levels. Some ways ALA and PLA can help include:

• Launch a national colloquy on funding models, by convening a national summit and then developing strategies to replicate this dialogue at state and local levels;

• Partner with organizations like OCLC that report important research on public library funding;

• Expand our efforts to encourage library users to tell their stories about the life-transforming power of libraries;

• Develop and advocate for national library funding legislation, just as with the recent funding efforts for broadband technology and jobs growth.

2. Managing in a rapidly changing environment (especially information and communication tools). Libraries must move rapidly to stay relevant. Some ways ALA and PLA can help include:

• Help libraries build diverse staffs which reflect community demographics, by investing in retention as well as recruitment;

• Continue investment in leadership development and change management, linking these programs to diversity efforts;

• Promote innovative, forward-thinking solutions to technology challenges (e.g. new service delivery models) and funding constraints (e.g. leveraging technology to increase productivity and introduce new, powerful management tools);

• Introduce programs to facilitate the reconfiguration of staff to integrate the skills of librarians with the needed skills from related professions;

• Promote professional education programs for existing staff to sustain proficiency in a rapidly changing environment;

• Expand opportunities for information sharing with e-learning and social networking tools;

• Build collaborative across ALA units and with external entities to assist libraries in making difficult choices to discontinue services (e.g. PLA and LLAMA’s Public Relations and Marketing Section for managing change). In closing, I ask for your vote.

Visit http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/governance/alaelection/index.cfm for more information about the 2010 ALA elections.