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Focus on Leadership
In line with its new focus on leadership, the LLAMA Executive Board reviewed the Core Competencies of Librarianship that was to be approved by the ALA Council, noting that leadership was absent from this list of Core Competencies. It was unclear if the Core Competencies were intended to be focused on library education and were meant to be outcomes of an MLS program and if leadership would be a later development. The LLAMA director-at-large will take this issue to them formally with a suggestion to add the Leadership Core Competencies, an article on which appears in the winter issue of Library Leadership & Management.
There is also some investigation of leveraging the Leadership Core Competencies and the Emerging Leader programs as a potential for certification or continuing education programs. Continuing education appears to be a future source of revenue, one that other associations and divisions, like the Public Library Association, have found successful. LLAMA is in conversation with the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL, www.ccl.org) about collaborating on a leadership program or institute. There may be the potential to partner with them to train selected LLAMA members to become CCL trainers offering workshops to the membership.
LLAMA is working on implementing the winning idea of the Young Leaders Program 50 Ways to Lead Your LLAMA. Sally Ma proposed a virtual community for new professionals to communicate and LLAMA's Kerry Ward is working with her.
The LLAMA Board also encouraged the sections and committees to explore the role of directors-at-large and members-at-large. These positions are largely undefined and are flexible enough to be able to assume roles related to communication and liaisoning with other groups, special projects likes surveys or procedures, etc.
Time to Get Involved!
We are coming into the period when committee assignments are made. If you are interested in getting more involved with LLAMA, fill out the form on the LLAMA website. It can be found under the link "Get Active in LLAMA" in the "About" section of the website (www.ala.org/llama). If you have questions about what it means to volunteer, you can also contact any current chair for information about the relevant committee.
Mentoring Program Update
The Mentoring Committee met at ALA Midwinter Meeting and reviewed the progress of...