I recently had the opportunity to interview the new ALA President Emily Drabinski on behalf of Public Libraries Online. As she begins her year in the role, I asked her how she became involved with ALA at a national level.

I’ve been an academic librarian in New York City for 22 years. I joined ALA in 2002 when I had just finished library school, because it took this bold position against the Patriot Act. I was excited to be part of a profession that takes difficult stances in difficult political moments. And we definitely are in one of those right now. So I was interested in using some of my skills as a connector of people to work inside the association that I think can be valuable in this moment. My involvement at ALA was primarily in my division home, ACRL, which is common for most people. I was on a number of its committees and have been editing the book reviews for our journal for the last three years. I served one term as ALA Council and that was a really interesting experience. I saw how the sausage gets made a little bit, in terms of what kind of a national presence ALA has, which I think is really important.

Later on in the interview, I asked her to share her priorities for the Presidential year. Her first priority is to advance sustainability in libraries.

Past Presidents say you plan and then the year happens. My plan is to focus on bringing to completion projects that Past Presidents Lessa Kanani’opua Pelayo-Lozada and Patty Wong worked on. For a long time, ALA has had sustainability as a priority. We have a round table, we have a council committee, and we have sustainability now as a core value. So will be focused on tying up those loose ends so that we can have national climate strategy for libraries coming from ALA to guide people in managing through environmental crises. Also it will include ways that we as institutions can contribute to reversing some of those climate change trends.

Read the entire interview at the Public Libraries Online website.

On May 19, 2023, I became President of the Florida Library Association. At the conference in Dayton Beach, I unveiled the Presidential theme: Florida Libraries are Fundamental to Freedom. Below is the opening portion of the speech explaining the theme and how it is important to the work that libraries are doing today.

Florida libraries are fundamental to freedom.

The drafters of the Declaration of Independence believed in the essential rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Since 1776, our nation has struggled to apply these principles equally across all its residents in order to create that elusive more perfect union. At its core, the freedoms that Americans seek are the same freedoms supported by our libraries. Of these aspects of liberty, three specific freedoms stand out for me.

Florida libraries support the freedom to participate. In an increasingly fractious society, our buildings remain the one space where everyone is welcome. Through our libraries, residents can find all the tools and resources needed to live their lives. Whether it is using public computers to apply for benefits, meeting neighbors at a children’s story hour, or to register to vote and actually vote, libraries remain central to our communities. Eric Klinenberg in his book, Palaces for the People, states that a founding principle of libraries is, “that all people deserve free, open access to our shared culture and heritage, which they can use to any end they see fit.”

Read the full speech found on the Efficient Librarian website.