Rare 3rd Candidate for ALA President

It happens infrequently, but it has happened before. Occassionally a third candidate enters the race for ALA President. Occassionally, that third canididate has also won. This year Maurice (Mitch) Freedman is running, in addition to Ken Haycock and William Sannwald. ALA put out a press release announcing Mitch\’s candidacy. The text of his campaign flyer is inside, if you want to read further.

It happens infrequently, but it has happened before. Occassionally a third candidate enters the race for ALA President. Occassionally, that third canididate has also won. This year Maurice (Mitch) Freedman is running, in addition to Ken Haycock and William Sannwald. ALA put out a press release announcing Mitch\’s candidacy. The text of his campaign flyer is inside, if you want to read further.Maurice J. (Mitch) Freedman for ALA President


Why Im running for ALA President:


I want to be ALA President because librarianship is not simply a profession to me. Keeping Americas libraries free, open, uncensored and well funded is my passion. My career has been on the front lines of Librarianship.


I know how to organize people and resources, to lead in tough situations, and to achieve results.


If elected, I will:



  • Fight restrictions on access to information in all formats

  • Advocate for increased status, salaries and visibility of all librarians and library workers

  • Develop programs & policies that help us put a human face on cyberspace

  • Lobby for fair use regardless of format

  • Help ensure that our libraries bridge the digital divide

  • Combat the privatization of public information and libraries

  • Promote programs to increase the diversity of library staff and library users
  • Promote recruitment, education, retention and pay equity for youth services librarians

Qualifications:


I …


  • care deeply about libraries and my entire career demonstrates the depth of my commitment in all of the settings in which I have worked.

  • have a strong commitment to the mission of libraries as a public good and as an essential means to inform society and maintain our democracy

  • can understand and articulate issues, and know how to work creatively toward solutions.

  • have developed consensus building skillsas head of a cooperative systemthat are especially valuable for dealing with the needs of competing units and perspectives in ALA

  • know how to use technology as a means to better serve the user, and have been recognized for this, e.g. as a recipient of the LITA Award for Achievement
    have been a staunch defender of intellectual freedom

  • was the only librarian who participated and testified in the ACLU/ALA lawsuit to overthrow New York States harmful to minors Internet law

  • received the ACLU/Westchester Award in large part for the role I played.

  • successfully automated cataloging at the Hennepin County Library by creating an authority controlled book catalog that was state-of-the-art in photocomposition, computer filing, usability by the public, and that employed bias-free and contemporary terminology.

  • as Executive Assistant, was part of the management team at LC\’s Processing Department for two massive projects, the National Program for Acquisition and Cataloging (NPAC), and the Mansell National Union Catalog of Pre-1956 Imprints. It was great training for future challenges.


    Selected ALA & Other Assignments (too numerous to list all):



    • Elected to the ALA Council for five terms

    • President of LITA

    • ALA Pay Equity Committee, Chair

    • ALA Committee on the Status of Women in Librarianship, Member

    • ALCTS Planning Committee, Member

    • PLA Committee on Cataloging Needs of Public Libraries, Chair

    • SRRT Action Council

    • Chair of the intellectual freedom committees in Minnesota and New York


    Experience


    • Director, Westchester Library System, 1982-
    • Associate Professor, School of Library Service, Columbia University
    • Coordinator of Technical Services: The New York Public Library Branch Libraries
    • Manager, Technical Services Division, Hennepin (MN) County Library
    • Manager of Library Processing, Information Dynamics Corporation
    • Executive Assistant, Processing Department, Library of Congress
    • Assistant Head, African-Asian Exchange Section, Exchange & Gift Division, Library of Congress
    • Outstanding Library School Graduate Special Recruit, Library of Congress
    • Publisher & Editor-in-Chief, 2000-, The U*N*A*B*A*S*H*E*D LibrarianTM,
      The How I Run My Library Good LetterSM


    Consultant on four continents for such libraries as:


    • National Library of Latvia,
    • Pusan (Korea) National University Library
    • Jomo Kenyatta Library at the University of Nairobi
    • Mississauga (Ontario) Library System
    • State Library of California (a statewide networking & interlibrary resource sharing study)
    • City and County Public Libraries of San Diego, and numerous others.

    Extensive Publications on technology, public libraries & intellectual freedom

    Education


    • Newark (NJ) Rutgers, BA
    • University of California, Berkeley, School of Librarianship, MLS
    • Rutgers University, PhD


    Petitions for Freedman Committee: Leigh Estabrook, University of Illinois, GSLIS; Martin Gomez, Brooklyn Public Library; Deborah Jacobs, Seattle Public Library; Samuel Morrison, Broward County (FL) Public Library; Sarah Pritchard, UC Santa Barbara; Harriet Selverstone, Norwalk (CT) Schools; Sherrie Schmidt, Arizona State University