Friday, September 18, 2015

Message from the IRRT Chair Your IRRT Executive Board: “We are the ‘red carpet’ to our international colleagues…”

Message from the IRRT Chair Your IRRT Executive Board: 
“We are the ‘red carpet’ to our international colleagues…”



Greetings fellow IRRT members!  Welcome to the start of the new 2015‐2016 ALA year!  

I am delighted to take my turn as IRRT’s Chair.  I follow in the footsteps of many wonderful internationally‐minded past Chairs, including Robin Kear, last year.  We have a terrific new Executive Board composition—see their photos below.  And we have 2 enthusiastic new co‐editors of this International Leads newsletter—see their introductions below.  To welcome you more visually, click this link for a video greeting from me:




VIDEO GREETING FROM JOHN: https://www.youtube.com/user/ALAIRRT   




As you know, IRRT serves many functions.  (1) We are the “red carpet” to our international colleagues at ALA conferences, hosting the Orientation session, International Visitors Center, Reception event, and more.  (2) We provide internationally‐oriented presentation opportunities at ALA conferences, such as the paper and poster sessions.  (3) We sponsor internationally‐oriented programs from our committees, like the Pre‐Conference program, Chair’s Program, Sustainable Libraries program, and more.

Some might think IRRT is only focused on events at ALA conferences.  Not at all!  The work of IRRT extends beyond conferences.  For example, on the IRRT website you can find: our Sister Library Committee’s wiki on establishing sister libraries, our “Free Links” page of library professional development links from around the world, our blog and facebook pages for ongoing networking, and 
our International Leads newsletter (which you are reading!)



As the largest Roundtable of ALA, we have a dynamic, worldwide membership.  We’re glad to have you with us, and look forward to a great year with you!
John Hickok
IRRT Chair, 2015‐2016

1 comment:

Virginia Papandrea said...

Hi John,

I loved your use of video to introduce yourself and various IRRT activities to the membership who might not be familiar with all that's going on. Also, I just read through the spring issue of the IRRT newsletter and thought it engaging and informative, especially with regard to upcoming conferences that North American librarians can get to relatively easily.

Given the influx of immigrants from the Middle East into Europe, do you plan to address this issue programmatically? Just wondering--it may already be up there on the agenda and I missed it.

Best wishes to you for a great year as Chair of the IRRT section.

Virginia Papandrea (retired)