Dr. Ching-chih Chen

The January 1996 issue of CALA (Chinese American Librarians Association) Newsletter is devoted to Chen's campaign for President Elect of the ALA. This is a contribution from Dr. Chen, who expressed her view on how she can lead the ALA ONE STEP BEYOND!

First of all, I like to take this chance to thank CALA, its Executive Board under the leadership of Wilfred Fong, and many CALA members for your wonderful support and encouragement to my candidacy for the ALA President Elect. I would not be honest to say that I am not delighted to receive the CALA's endorsement! But, what has excited me ten times more is the fact that the CALA's resolution for endorsement was not lightly given simply because I am one of you as a Chinese American. I am grateful to the resolution makers for their tremendous efforts in analyzing my background and my performance throughout the years as a library and information professional; in considering the issues which I have worked hard on throughout the years; and in deciding to side with me finally because of what I stands for and what I can bring to this world's largest 57,000-member association of ours.

Since I accepted the nomination in May, I have been bombarded with all kinds of questions including:

- Why do you want to accept such a challenge?
- Aren't you busy enough?
- Do you feel that you must accept because your are the FIRST Asian American Librarian ever been nominated officially for such "glass-ceiling" leadership role of the ALA?
- ALA is such an overwhelming political structure, what can you do to make it more responsive to the members' needs?
- What are you going to do for multicultural diversity?

These and many others are all great questions and deserve to be answered. Yes, I am very busy and very involved, but I have accepted this tremendous honor and call from the association because I have felt the great synergy between my agendas and the ALA Goal 2000 at this time. Yes, I do feel a strong sense of responsibility and pressure for being the first Asian American nominated to run for this highest leadership role. But, the deciding factor is that I feel strongly that my vision and agenda are GOOD for the ALA, and I am the right person, with the right kind of knowledge, capabilities, and vision to lead the ALA to the year 2000 in this digital age.

VISION and AGENDA for the ALA

Due to page space limitation, I would urge all of you to find more answers and information by visiting my Campaign Web- site. Let me take this opportunity to share with you briefly on my vision and agenda for the ALA:

To me, the ALA is the means for maintaining the profession of library and information services as a cohesive body, bringing together the diverse interests as seen by its individual members, and defining, as a continuing process, the issues that are important to the responsibilities of the profession and the positions concerning them. It is also a means for effective participation of the profession in national political processes. Thus, my vision of the ALA is that it must be an organization remembering its past, continuing to build on its present, and ready for its challenges for the 21st century. Only this way, we can champion a free and open information society with goals of providing information access and improving information services for everyone.

While continuing its present roles, it will have to represent an increasing diversity of interests and deal with an increasingly complex array of issues. While issues of the past will continue to be important, many new ones resulting from revolutionary changes occurring in society must be added. Those changes include the impact of information technology -- on the structure of the economy, on the nature of work, on the means for education, on the forms of recreation -- which must be central to concerns of the profession with its responsibility for assuring preservation of information and of the means for information access. ALA will serve as a primary means to deal with that impact with effectiveness while maintaining its traditional values.

As we are experiencing exceptionally complex political, economic, social, and cultural changes in the nation that far transcend the profession of library and information service and that directly affect the profession and its means for serving the society, the ALA will serve as the means for assuring that the voice of the profession is heard in the large-scale decisions as our society deals with those changes. Finally, dramatic changes are occurring at the international level; since the profession is essentially international, certainly in the materials with which it deals and the information contained in them but also in the common sense of responsibilities, those changes should be considered by the ALA as it responds to needs in the future.

- Position libraries prominently for the new information age, and prepare librarians for the challenges via aggressive educational/training programs -- we must be proactive rather than reactive!
- Insure information access to everyone
- Advocate the value of libraries
- Campaign for more funding supports, and form relevant partnership
- Introduce and implement adequate services to children, youth, rural and disadvantaged population groups.
- Promote equity for librarians
- Implement effective programs related to cultural diversity
- Increase membership participation and improve management structure of the ALA

In this dynamic digital environment, it is not easy to go "ONE STEP BEYOND" from where we are. But, in order to not only survive but also thrive in the digital culture, the ALA must take a proactive role in ensuring its prominence in this information age. I possess the kind of experience, expertise, and knowledge which can lead the ALA to do just that!

Please join the ALA if you are not a member yet. Then, please join my campaign's Friends to Elect group to work hard together with me to win the election so that we can see the ALA take that extra step beyond where we are now!