As a leader
Dr. Chen has been active in leadership roles of many professional organizations. She has just completed her 3-term Councilor-at-Large position for nine years in 1994, and each time she was one of the highest vote gutter. In 1994, she also completed her term as a Director of the Board of Library and Information Technology Association (LITA). She is the only member who has received the two highest awards from LITA -- LITA/Gaylord Award for Achievement in Library and Information Technology (1990) and LITA/Library Hi Tech Award for Outstanding Achievement in Communicating to Educate Practitioners within the Library Field in Library and Information Technology (1994). As ALA is assuming its leadership role in moving American libraries toward the global digital environment in the 21st century, her pioneering role which won her high recognition from LITA as well as high tech communities prepares her well as this leadership role at ALA.
In addition to her leadership role at the ALA Council and LITA Board, she has also assumed many others at ALA, such as the Chair of the Legislative Committee, the chair of the US/China Subcommittee of IRC, etc...
She is also one of the few leaders who can bring ALA into effective partnership world wide as well as with other information and high-tech professional organizations and communities. At the present, she herself has an informal network of over 2000 information organizations in over 25 countries. Her series of NIT: International Conferences on New Information Technology since 1987 cosponsored by the US NCLIS has made substantial contribution to the development of information services in many developing countries. The result of her latest NIT '94 conference has produced key position document on the planning of global information infrastructure, Alexandria Declaration of Principles, to be used by many organizations and countries. All these should be of vital importance to ALA.
Among her many activities with other professional organizations, she was on the Board of American Society for Information Science, and lost her bid for the Presidency of ASIS to Julie Virgo Carroll with a narrow margin of 30+ votes. She was also a candidate for the President of ALISE. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Thus, all these cross societies experiences should be of great asset to ALA.