{"id":41339,"date":"2016-11-10T16:39:44","date_gmt":"2016-11-10T16:39:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/?p=41339"},"modified":"2016-11-11T19:48:01","modified_gmt":"2016-11-11T19:48:01","slug":"library-services-dean-julie-todaro-shares-expertise-as-ala-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/2016\/11\/10\/library-services-dean-julie-todaro-shares-expertise-as-ala-president\/","title":{"rendered":"Library Services Dean Julie Todaro shares expertise as ALA president"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"julie\"A librarian and library manager for more than 40 years, Austin Community College Dean of Library Services Dr. Julie Todaro has made well-known contributions to the profession around Austin and across the state: A Texas Library Association\u00a0Lifetime Achievement award<\/a>\u00a0is just one of her many accolades.<\/p>\n

This year she is sharing her knowledge, passion, and influence on a larger stage as president of the American Library Association, a three-year position that includes a year as president-elect and past-president in addition to her current year at the helm.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been both pleased to see the existing support for our nation\u2019s libraries and surprised to see the enormous role ALA presidents have in speaking up for libraries and library professionals,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Along with presiding over the group\u2019s legislative bodies, she is the voice of the nation\u2019s libraries and librarians to the media and policymakers, addressing issues that span a lifetime of learning and personal growth, from K-12 school budgets, to the critical role of academic libraries in higher education, to the importance of public library services to people in housing transition or unemployment. She presents at events across the country and world, such as this month’s ALA\u2019s conference at the Sharjah International Book Fair in Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

Wherever she goes, Todaro is eager to promote her ALA presidential initiative, \u201cLibraries Transform: The Expert in the Library,\u201d about the essential contribution of libraries and library professionals to their organizations and communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can design the best library environment and assemble the perfect collection of resources, but the most important element is the expertise within these structures and processes \u2014the library staff who connect people to what they want and need,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

As the first community college librarian elected to lead the ALA, Todaro also is shining a national spotlight on the value of community colleges.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe connect dots at the national level. We talk about how community colleges create jobs by providing educational opportunities that are affordable,\u201d she says. \u201cCommunity colleges are at the heart of workforce training for job creation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back home, Todaro continues to work with the experts in ACC\u2019s 11 campus libraries and\u00a0the award-winning programs<\/a>\u00a0they provide. Together with the Library Services\u00a0Leadership team, faculty librarians, instructors, and administrators, she is ensuring ACC libraries continue to be a critical element in students\u2019 success, a resource for student pathways, and a leader in open educational resources. While ACC libraries have long offered an extensive online environment for student support, research and study space, and access to technology, she says, today’s library facilities are even more focused on student and faculty success as they evolve to be centers for innovation with makerspaces and conjoined\u00a0ACCelerator<\/a>\u00a0labs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am constantly reminded of the herculean task of painting the Golden Gate bridge \u2013 just when you think you get to an end in your work, you must turn around and begin painting again,\u201d she says. \u201cTo be a library leader in articulating our role in peoples\u2019 lives, however is a humbling and life-changing role.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A librarian and library manager for more than 40 years, Austin Community College Dean of Library Services Dr. Julie Todaro has made well-known contributions to the profession around Austin and across the state: A Texas … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3932,"featured_media":34294,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[1248,1247,823],"class_list":["post-41339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-facstaff-news","tag-american-library-association","tag-julie-todaro","tag-library-services"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3932"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41339\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}