REFORMA was delighted to join the 2019 ALA (American Library Association) Emerging Leaders program for the first time and sponsor Derek Stalcup to participate in this year’s cohort.

Derek Stalcup is the Vice President/President-Elect of the newly-formed REFORMA Central Coast (CA) Chapter. Currently, he is a Branch Manager for the Ventura, CA library system where he oversees two branches. He received his Master of Library and Information Science from the San José State University School of Information (iSchool). Stalcup is a dynamic, innovative, and tireless educator focused on public libraries. He has significant experience in managing small and large public libraries. Stalcup also has experience working in several academic community college libraries.

Derek’s Emerging Leaders cohort worked on the ACRL (Association of College and Research Libraries) project ACRL Resources for Library School Students. He said that the Emerging Leaders program was a great crash course in the seemingly-impenetrable structure that is ALA.

ACRL tasked our group with developing a guide for library school students interested in making the leap into the world of academic libraries. ACRL has offered low-cost memberships to library school students and this was a way to move that offering to the next level.

Derek said, “More than an opportunity to work on a project that was meaningful for the profession, the Emerging Leaders program helped me overcome my own myopia and embrace the power of such a large organization to move libraries forward. Our workgroup aggregated resources from across the profession and synthesized them in an easy to access resource: acrl.libguides.com/earlycareer.”

The Emerging Leaders program enables newer librarians from across the country to participate in workgroups, network with peers, and gain an inside look into ALA’s structure and have an opportunity to serve the profession in a leadership capacity. Emerging Leaders receive up to $1,000 each to participate in the Midwinter Meeting and Annual Conference and each participant is expected to provide years of service to ALA or one of its units. Go to thethe Emerging Leaders Program website for more information.