ALA & YALSA Elections Open Soon!
As the Outgoing chairperson of the YALSA Nominating Committee, I wanted to remind everyone that the 2011 ALA and YALSA election season is just around the corner. Online voting in the 2011 ALA election will begin at 9:00 a.m. Central Time on March 16, 2011. Ballots close at 11:59 p.m. on April 22. Election results will be announced on April 29, 2011.
You can find the official YALSA candidate slate, including YALSA President-Elect, Fiscal Officer, Secretary, YALSA Board of Directors and YALSA award committees, on the YALSA Blog. As you may have noticed, interview podcasts with candidates have begun to appear on the YALSA blog. Listening to these podcasts (so far, #89, #90, #91) is a great way to get to know the candidates and the issues most important to them.
It’s critical to also vote in the ALA election this spring. This is your chance to make sure that the Divisions of which you are a member, along with the larger ALA organization, support the needs of your library and the teens that you serve. Check ALA’s election information webpage for for information.
Interested in doing more than voting and thinking that you may want to stand for election to an office in the future? If so, you can review the how to run for office information on the YALSA wiki. You may also contact the current Chair of YALSA’s Nominating Committee Chair Linda Braun Chair at lbraun@leonline.com for details about running for YALSA office in 2012.
John Sexton, Chair 2011 Nominating Committee
One of the ways I’m preparing for this year’s YALSA vote is take a look at and read the sample ballot that is available on the YALSA website – http://yalsa.ala.org/11sampleballot.pdf.
This is a great resource as it provides a full list of YALSA candidates and includes each candidate’s “statement of professional concern.” Having this information before the election opens is really helpful.