RESOLUTION

Whereas, Ching-chih Chen has been a member and supporter of the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association, an affiliate of the American Library Association, and received APALA's Distinguished Service Award in 1992; and,

Whereas, Ching-chih Chen's extensive service in the American Library Association as a three-term Councilor at Large, a member and Chair of the Council Committee on Legislation, a member of the Council-elected Planning and Budget Assembly, a Director on the Board of the Library and Information Technology Association (LITA), and a participant in other Association activities, has prepared her well for the challenges of the presidency through her involvement at the policy setting and governance, legislative, budgetary as well as working committee levels of the ALA; and,

Whereas, Ching-chih Chen's great achievement in marshalling the talents required to create her award-winning laser disc (1985)/interactive multimedia CD-ROM (1991), The First Emperor of China , demonstrates her ability to plan and conduct large scale projects which successfully bring together individuals with varied expertise and diverse backgrounds to work towards a shared vision with high dedication and enthusiasm, as well as her willingness to take risks to experiment with new technologies that take her and the library profession "one step beyong;" and,

Whereas, Ching-chih Chen's research to establish the baseline citizens' information needs data for the first White House Conference on Library and Information Services, her planning/conducting of eight Science Reference Institutes, developed with the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, for over 500 school and public librarians, her organizing of a series of international conferences on new information technology sponsored by the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS), and her developing and leading of many other training opportunities for librarians of all types reflect her commitment to assist the profession to assess its strengths, to address its weaknesses, to formulate national goals/objectives to imporove services, to grow and change to better serve its customers, and to explore and share new technologies that benefit the public and library staff who work with them; and,

Whereas, Ching-chih Chen's accomplishments have been recognized by her peers in the library profession as the sole recipient of both of the highest awards conferred by the Library and Information Technolgoy Association (LITA), the LITA/Gaylord Award for Achievement in Library and Information Technology in 1990 and the LITA/Library Hi Tech Award in 1994; by her being honored with the Distinguished Alumnus from The University of Michigan School of Library Science in 1980 and the National Taiwan University in 1983; by her receiving the Emerson Greenaway Distinguished Service Award of the New England Library Association in 1994; by her gaining three Certificates of Appreciation for her work on ALA Council; and by her receiving the first Distinguished Service Award from the Chinese American Librarians Association (CALA) in 1982, denoting the high degree of respect, esteem and admiration in which she is held and which the ALA President must possess to effectively lead the Association; and,

Whereas, Ching-chih Chen's attainments have also been acknowledged by leaders in the information science/technology industry by her winning the "Cindy" Award of the Association for Visual Communicators for The First Emperor of China in 1992; by being recognized as one of the "Best 50 CD-ROMs" citation receivers by MacUser for The First Emperor of China in 1994, and particularly by her election as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 1985; and,

Whereas, Ching-chih Chen's work on the executive boards and committees of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE), and the American Society for Information Science (ASIS) strengthens the partnerships that the ALA President must foster between the ALA and library/library education/scientific interest organization; and

Whereas, Ching-chih Chen has advised, counselled, and mentored generations of librarians before the start of and during their professional careers, gone to "the Hill" to lobby and testify for legislation that would provide funding for their library educations, and prepared many librarians for the digital technology environment by conducting numberous continuing education opportunities, reflecting her strong commitment to recruiting, supporting, guiding, and preparing librarians to meet the challenges of the new information era; and,

Whereas, Ching-chih Chen is the most qualified candidate for ALA President, whose experience, knowledge, and vision are uniquely suited for the office, and whose candidacy is presented at a critical time for librarians and libraries; NOW, THEREFORE,

BE IT RESOLVED, that Ching-chih Chen receive the enthusiastic endorsement of the Asian Pacific American Libraians Association (APALA) for the office of President of the American Library Association; AND,

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that APALAA proudly recognizes that Ching-chih Chen is the first Asian American Presidential candidate in ALA's 120-year history and congratulates the 1995 ALA Nominating Committee for its decision to present a candicate of Ching-Chih Chen's caliber to the ALA membership.