Patricia “Patty” M. Wong, city librarian at Santa Monica (Calif.) Public Library, has been elected 2021-22 president-elect of the American Library Association (ALA).
Wong received 6,718 votes, while her opponent, Steven Yates, assistant director, University of Alabama School of Library and Information Studies, received 2,448 votes.
As ALA president, Wong will be the chief elected officer for the oldest and largest library association in the world. She will serve as president-elect for one year before stepping into her role as president at the close of the 2021 ALA Annual Conference in Chicago.
Upon learning the outcome of the election, Wong provided the following statement:
“First of all, I want to acknowledge the leadership and talents of my colleague, Steven Yates,” said Wong. “He is a strong ALA advocate, and I look forward to working with him toward a strengthened association.
“This is a great honor for me personally. This election has brought to fruition a longtime aspiration to serve my profession and my association as ALA president. I am both excited and eager to help lead the ALA with our great staff, member leaders, affiliate organizations and allies.
“We all need to work together to advance and build on the success of our 143-year-old institution. Our immediate challenges rest with the impact of COVID-19 on libraries, library workers, advocates and library users in this country and throughout the world. These outcomes remain to be determined, but the ALA will continue to support our members and libraries everywhere through its continued support of innovation and the evolution of library service.
“Our ALA finances need to be rightsized with fiscal controls and practices that reflect transparency and accountability. We need to develop diversified business models that are revenue positive and sustainable and attract and maintain the interest of new and existing members. And as our national population continues to grow and expand, ALA’s commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion will require the collaborative support at all levels within the organization and with our many partners.
“Thank you for your confidence in me and for the support I have received from so many. It takes a village to create a thriving ALA.I am ready as one of those villagers to accept these great responsibilities and invite you to join me.”
Wong is the city librarian at Santa Monica (Calif.) Public Library. She also serves as part-time faculty at the San Jose State University iSchool and is the former director of library services, Yolo (Calif.) County Library (2008-17). An active ALA member for 35 years, Wong has served several terms as at-large councilor (1996-2007, 2012-14) and as California Chapter councilor (2015-17). Wong is currently in her second term on the ALA Executive Board, previously serving 2001-05. She has held numerous committee positions, including chair of the ALA Budget Analysis and Review Committee. She is an active member of Association of Library Service to Children, Library Leadership and Management Association, Public Library Association, United for Libraries, Young Adult Library Services Association, the Social Responsibilities Round Table, Ethnic and Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table and the Rainbow Round Table. She is a member of the Freedom to Read Foundation and, as an ALA Executive Board member, has worked with the association’s Intellectual Freedom Committee, Committee on Legislation and the Conference Committee.
Wong is a member of several ALA Professional affiliates, including the American Indian Library Association, Asian-Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA), Black Caucus of ALA, Chinese American Librarians Association (CALA) and REFORMA: The National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking.
Wong also has supported ALA Presidential Initiative Planning as a co-chair for past presidents Barbara Stripling (2012-14), Molly Raphael (2009-11) and Camila Alire (2008-10), a contributor for past president Julie Todaro (2015-16), and a member for past presidents James (Jim) Neal (2016-17) and Mary Somerville (1995-97).
In addition to her service to ALA, Wong currently serves as a board member for the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (2014-present). She has served as a board member of the California Library Association (2015-17), president of APALA (1999), treasurer of United States Board on Books for Young People (1995-98), board member of CALA (1991-93) and president of CALA, California Chapter (1993).
Wong is often called to speak on several issues related to leadership, diversity, youth development and grant writing.
Wong also is the recipient of several awards, including the 2012 ALA Equality Award, CALA Distinguished Service Award (2014), and Member of the Year, California Library Association (2012). She holds a BA in Women’s Studies and an MLIS, both from the University of California at Berkeley.
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area.
He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit.
Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com. Gary is also the co-founder of infoDJ an innovation research consultancy supporting corporate product and business model teams with just-in-time fact and insight finding.
Columbia: A Judge Just Used ChatGPT to Make a Court Decision (via VICE) Coming Soon: STM US Annual Conference 2023 to Take Place in DC (April 26-27) FCC Announces Over ...
The article linked below was published today (February 3, 2023). Title Sustainability 3.0 in Libraries: A Challenge for Management Author Alice Keller University Library Basel, University of Basel, Switzerland Source ...
From a National Academies Announcement: The Nobel Prize Summit Truth, Trust and Hope will bring together Nobel Prize laureates and other world-renowned experts and leaders for a global dialogue on how to stop ...
From a MIT Press Announcement: In keeping with its mission and longstanding commitment to increase access to scholarship, the MIT Press is pleased to announce shift+OPEN. This new initiative is designed ...
From a Library of Congress Blog Post: The Open Access Books Collection on loc.gov includes approximately 6,000 contemporary open access e-books covering a wide range of subjects, including history, music, poetry, technology, and works ...
The panel discussion video recording embedded below from the Oxford Internet Institute (OII) was recorded on February 1, 2023. Description This is a discussion on censorship-resistance, web archiving and ensuring ...
From RLUK (Research Libraries UK): The Virtual Reading Rooms (VRRs) Toolkit is a resource for all collection-holding institutions, including libraries, archives, and museums, which are interested in setting up a VRR consultation ...
Microsoft Bing to Rely on GPT-4, ChatGPT Mobile App Planned, Rumours Say (via The Decoder) & Microsoft Teams gets an AI upgrade with OpenAI’s GPT 3.5 (via The Decoder) Resources ...
From the Library of Congress (Full Text of Announcement): A new web archive collection from the Library of Congress documents the civil unrest sparked by the police murder of George ...
From an arXiv Blog Post: The recent release of AI technology that generates new text has raised serious questions among the research community. For one, “Can ChatGPT be named an ...
From a Joint Statement (via De Gruyter): ResearchGate, the professional network for researchers, and De Gruyter, an independent academic publisher, have today announced a content syndication partnership that will see ...
ARL: Celebrating Black History Month 2023 EveryLibrary Releases 2022 Annual Report ||| Full Text Report Germany: DFG Launches Cooperation with the OAPEN Foundation IFLA: Applications for Public Library of the ...