2018 LITA Election

The results are in!!

Congratulations to Emily Morton-Owens, Tabatha Farney, and Berika Williams!

LITA leaders are responsible for our strategic plan, goals, and making progress on moving us forward, so it's important to make your voice heard about what kinds of initiatives LITA should be implementing. Help shape the future of LITA by voting and staying in touch with your elected officials to make your voice heard. Information about candidates for ALA President-Elect and the ALA ballot measure on the educational requirements of the ALA Executive Director is also included below.

The 2018 election will be open March 12-April 4, and results will be announced on April 11. For the 2018 election, eligible members will be sent their voting credentials via email between March 12-14.

For questions about your membership status for voting, please contact ALA’s Member and Customer Service (MaCS) at 1-800-545-2433, press 5 (International members should call +1-312-944-6780) or customerservice@ala.org. Visit the ALA Election page for more information about this year's vote and to view candidates running for ALA offices.

Candidates for LITA Vice-President/President-Elect

Jason Griffey
Affiliate Fellow
Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society

David Lee King
Digital Services Director
Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library

Emily Morton-Owens
Assistant University Librarian for Digital Library Development and Systems
University of Pennsylvania Libraries

Candidates for LITA Director-at-large (2 elected for 3-year terms)

Photo of Galen Charlton Galen Charlton
Infrastructure and Added Services Manager
Equinox Open Library Initiative

Photo of Tabatha Farney Tabatha Farney
Director of Web Services and Emerging Technologies
University of Colorado Colorado Springs

Photo of Kelly Sattler Kelly Sattler
Head of Web Services
Michigan State University Libraries

Photo of Berika S. Williams Berika S. Williams
Emerging Technologies and Web Librarian
Tufts University

LITA Members Running for ALA President-Elect

Peter Hepburn

LITA Members Running for ALA Council

Use Andromeda Yelton's ALA Council Candidate Sorter 2018 to learn more about all Council candidates.

Susan Broman

Emily Clasper

Mary Anne Hodel

Mike L. Marlin

Eric D. Suess

Joan S. Weeks

ALA Election

Candidates for ALA President-Elect

Wanda Brown

Peter Hepburn

View more information about the general ALA election.

LITA Statement Against the Ballot Measure and in Favor of the MLIS-Preferred for Next ALA Executive Director

A 2018 ALA ballot measure will ask LITA members to overturn an ALA Council action last November regarding the educational requirements for the ALA Executive Director position (see the American Libraries article). The measure is the result of a member petition and would change the requirement for the ALA Executive Director from “MLIS preferred” (or CAEP/school librarian equivalent) back to “MLIS required.”

The LITA Board has supported the “preferred” language from the beginning, and joined with 10 of ALA’s 11 divisions in reiterating this support in October by asking the ALA President and Executive Board to direct Council to re-vote the question, in accordance with ALA bylaws II.5.b and VIII.8. We did this with deep appreciation for the work of the Search Committee, which was unable to find a suitable candidate in its first round, and therefore asked Council for authorization to search more broadly.

The LITA Board strongly supports the value of an MLS for librarians, but we recognize that other professionals also help libraries succeed. Furthermore, the primary duty of the ALA Executive Director is not to lead a library, but to lead a large and complex member association. This leader must absolutely have an understanding of, and respect for, the values and issues that drive libraries. However, their daily work is association management. By excluding association management professionals, who have specialized training in that area, we are depriving ourselves of an enormous and relevant pool of talent. We also share ALSC’s concern that, in limiting ourselves to MLS holders, we limit ourselves to a pool which is 88% white. By necessity, this means candidates of color are underrepresented in the pool.

LITA itself underwent an executive director search in 2015. Our job posting used “preferred,” not “required,” language for the MLS; the same is true of other ALA divisions which have recently hired executive directors. Our candidate pool included excellent candidates from both library backgrounds and association management backgrounds. Ultimately we were delighted to be able to hire an MLS-holder, but having candidates from varied perspectives both increased our ability to hire the best available talent and helped our search committee to clarify what it truly valued. The LITA Board values the judgment of the previous ALA Executive Director Search Committee and wants the next search committee to have the broadest possible candidate pool to work from. We have complete faith they will identify a candidate who represents both association management excellence and dedication to library values. As always, we encourage you to participate in ALA elections, and we hope this information from the LITA board helps you make a decision.