After well over a decade of being a part of ALA and LITA, and working at (almost) every level of the division, I was asked and accepted the nomination to run for the position of Vice President/President-Elect for the Library & Information Technology Association. I’ve served as an organizer of an Interest Group, been the chair of multiple committees, served as a Director-as-Large, and spent two years as Parliamentarian for the Division. I’m excited that I have the opportunity to stand for election, and I hope that members find it worthwhile to vote for me. If you’re reading this, I hope I can count on your vote, and ask you to let your friends in LITA know that I would appreciate their vote as well.
What does this mean? If elected, it means I would spend the next three years following an arch of leadership in LITA (as Vice President, then President, and then finally Past President) at a time of what could be great change. The recently released Working Document – Exploration of Integration and Realignment Opportunities for ALCTS, LITA, and LLAMA is the beginning of a long discussion among members of the respective divisions. The TL;DR of the document is that all three divisions recognize that their individual challenges may be mitigated in part by joining forces…not an easy nor straightforward goal, but one that has the potential to strengthen the opportunities for and service to all members.
I’m excited by the opportunities a change like this represents. My time with LITA has been punctuated by efforts to make systems better for members, first as an IG chair with BIGWIG where we moved the needle on how presentations might work at the Annual conference through the Social Software Showcase, then as chair of the Programming Planning Committee where I led the team that completely revised how programming was done by moving from an entirely analog process (7 copies of your proposal plus in-person meetings at Midwinter…) to a digital one. Even now, when I’ve been tasked with re-thinking how LITA Forum works, my focus is always on what we can do to empower and reduce the friction necessary for members to be involved.
Meanwhile, the rest of the world of technology will keep marching, and I will work to maintain focus on issues that are at the heart of the future of the profession. I’ve tried to outline some of those on my Election Website, but I would LOVE to hear from members (and potential members!) about where you would like LITA to focus. If I’m elected, I’m going to need a ton of help…but I’m excited to have the opportunity to serve in this role, to work to make LITA better for members, and to hopefully chart a better course for the future of library technology.
If you have any questions for me, or just want to drop me a note about anything, I’d love to hear from you. You can @ or DM me on Twitter @griffey, or feel free to send me an email at griffey at gmail.
If you are a LITA member: I ask for your vote, and appreciate your faith in me if you do. Voting opens Monday, March 12, closes Wednesday, April 4, and you should receive details on voting in your email.
Thank you!
