Hello, Friends –

Whewwww – this has been a whirlwind 2 weeks. I am leaving today for Russia – Moscow and St. Petersburg. I have the honor of leading a delegation of academic librarians to visit various university libraries in both cities as well as the Russian Library Association. This will be an exciting and educational experience I am sure. When we went to China last year, we were amazed by the fact that every library we visited, all the seats were occupied!

I want to first thank all of you for your support and for those of you signing on and reading this, I hope that I can earn your support. By now, you would have visited my website — thanks to Kim Leeder for the design/work [and it is still a work in progress] and to Eric Frierson for helping with other designs.

I am excited about the possibility of being the next ALA president-elect. I will bring strong leadership skills to the position as well a breadth of experience within ALA. For me, it is important to get ALA members engaged no matter whether you are a seasoned or young librarian/staff member.

I am hoping to get more information on the website….. it may have to come from Russia! Here’s hoping that access to the Internet works well there. So please be patient with me…. I did want to get something posted before I left. My flight leaves this early afternoon so when I sign off, that will be it until I get to Moscow.

More later…….. CAMILA ALIRE