CALA - Chinese American Librarians Association 華人圖書館員協會

Dear CALA Members:

We are very pleased to announce that Ms. Barbara Ford, a CALA life member and Director and Distinguished Professor at the Mortenson Center for International Library Programs of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, has been selected the recipient of the2012 CALA Distinguished Service Award.

A well-known library professional, both nationally and internationally, Ms. Barbara Ford has held the position of Director and Distinguished Professor at the Mortenson Center for International Library Programs of the University of Illinois since 2003.  Prior to this position she was the Assistant Commissioner for Central Library Services at the Chicago Public Library, Associate Director at Trinity University, and as Assistant Professor and Department Head at University of Illinois at Chicago.  In addition to her distinguished professional career, Ms. Ford served on many taskforces, committees, award jury positions, and executive boards with ALA and its divisions and roundtables.  She is the 1997-1998 ALA president.  Ms. Ford was appointed to the ALA Representative to the U.S. Commission of UNESCO in 2011.

An inspirational leader in library profession and an extraordinary CALA life member, Ms. Ford has made important contributions to our organization. She played an instrumental role to the success of the IMLS funded project, Think Globally, Act Globally, and served as the keynote speaker at the CALA 21st Century Librarian Seminar held in Kunming, Yunnan, China in July 2007. Her publications and presentations continue to promote information access and public services to library users around the globe.

Ms. Ford’s contribution to international librarianship is magnificent.  As Director of the Mortenson Center for International Library Programs at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), Ms. Ford’s initiative on international librarianship has been further strengthened by the various innovative programs she leads, including the training of over 1,000 librarians from over 90 countries, including China, South Africa, Ukraine, among others. There is no doubt that Ms. Ford’s distinguished contributions to the profession have made profound impact to the professional development of librarians and students worldwide.

Ms. Ford’s outstanding professional credentials, her incredible record as an inspirational and remarkable leader in many national and international library organizations, and her scholarly achievements are impressive.  Her tireless and effective efforts to promoting international librarianship and her significant contributions to Chinese-American librarianship in particular, exemplify the very essence of the CALA Distinguished Service Award. The CALA Board has unanimously approved the recommendation from the Awards Committee that Ms. Barbara Ford be the recipient of the 2012 CALA Distinguished Service Award.

Please join us in congratulating Ms. Barbara Ford for her outstanding accomplishments and for being selected the recipient of the 2012 CALA Distinguished Service Award!

Min Chou, CALA President

Haipeng Li, CALA Executive Director

Dear CALA Members:

I am very pleased to announce that the CALA Board has unanimously approved that Dr. Clara Chu, Dr. Mengxiong Liu, and Dr. Sha Li Zhang be the 2012 CALA President’s Recognition Award recipients.

The three award recipients, as individuals and as a group, possess a philosophy of dedication, quality of service, and professional integrity for their significant contributions to the library community that have shown leadership in many areas of great importance to the mission and goals of CALA, and particularly in their important roles to advise, support, and shape CALA’s long term success through the Presidential Initiatives this year in the theme of diversity and international collaboration.

Dr. Clara Chu is the Chair and Professor of the Department of Library and Information Studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She is a prolific and leading scholar on multicultural library and information services, has consulted and presented her research findings internationally, and also served on editorial boards of many prestigious journals.  A Peruvian-born, Chinese Canadian American, her transnational and ethnic experiences have shaped her distinctive view and unique perspective on the issues of multicultural education and library services to diverse population.  Dr. Chu has taken actions in recruiting people of diverse backgrounds into the information profession through the program called PRAXIS (Practice, Reflection, Advocacy, eXcellence, Inquiry, Solutions) that she designed and coordinated.  She also successfully obtained IMLS National Leadership Grant to support this meaningful endeavor.

Dr. Chu is very active in national and international professional associations promoting multicultural librarianship.  She co-chairs the IFLA Section on Education and Training, and was on the Steering Committee of the Section on Library Services to Multicultural Populations.  Her achievements are duly recognized in the many awards and honors she has received, i.e. the ALA Library Diversity Research Honor Lecturer in 2008, a Library Journal Mover & Shaker in 2005, the ALA Equality Award in 2002, just to name a few.  She is one of the Chinese Americans who has exerted a significant impact upon examining the issue of barriers to information in multicultural communities through a critical and distinctive angle.

As an invited speaker of the 2011 CALA Annual Program: Embracing the Changes: Diversity and Global Vision in a Digital Age during the 2011 ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans, she contributed to the great success of the Program by her presentation “A CALL (Change, Advocacy, Leadership in Libraries) to LEADD (Librarians Enhancing Access, Diversity and Development).  The Program has opened a dialogue on the theme of diversity and global reach, set the stage for a series of activities/projects during 2011-12 year to demonstrate CALA's commitment to taking a leadership role in promoting cultural diversity and international collaboration in library profession.   Dr. Chu serves on the 2011-12 CALA Presidential Initiative Advisory Board, and also as a CALA representative to the ALA’s Diversity Working Group on Diversity and LIS Education. CALA is fortunate to have Dr. Chu in these roles utilizing her experience and expertise.  A life member of CALA, and a former board member and chair of Scholarship Committee, Dr. Chu has contributed to CALA tremendously and CALA is so proud of her extraordinary contributions to our professional communities nationally and internationally.

Dr. Mengxiong Liu is an Engineering Librarian and Professor of Library and Information Science at San Jose State University.  She is a great source of inspiration and encouragement to many young librarians in CALA and elsewhere. In her distinguished service and contribution to CALA as a president and a board member, among many other roles, Dr. Liu has tirelessly promoted Chinese American librarian cooperation.  Under her unparallel leadership, CALA played a critical role in co-organizing the first China-US Library Conference on Global Information Access: Challenges and Opportunities, held in Beijing in 1996.  On behalf of CALA, Dr. Liu made an opening speech at the Conference, as then ALA President Betty Turock, CALA’s visionary founding member Dr. Hwa-Wei Lee and many distinguished library leaders of both countries gathered to discuss key issues on global information infrastructures, challenges and opportunities related to information access on the Internet and the international communications. This conference set the stage for the development of many collaborations and exchange programs among libraries in the United States and China down the road.

Dr. Liu has continued to contribute her experience and expertise in strengthening many China-U.S. library collaboration activities.  She has become a sought after speaker and consultant for academic libraries in China. She has also served as an adviser for the Evergreen Education Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving education and libraries in rural China. In 2007, Dr. Liu received the Fulbright Senior Specialists Award to give advice for postgraduate programs in digital libraries in Uruguay.  Furthermore, she has gone beyond CALA  to have served on the ALA Diversity Council, the Steering Committee of ALA Spectrum Initiative, the Research & Statistics Committee of ALA, just to name a few.  She is also a prolific author and well known speaker.  She has published numerous scholarly articles and book chapters, and presented at national and international conferences.  She has received many awards, honors, and grants.  Dr. Liu is regarded as an excellent mentor and role model to young librarians from diverse background as she exemplifies the best quality of extraordinary commitment to librarianship, professional service, and leading with integrity.

Serving on the 2011-12 CALA Presidential Initiative Taskforce, she is instrumental in giving unwavering support and encouragement to the president in the promotion of diversity and international collaboration to further CALA’s mission and goals.  The impact of her leadership and contributions has been felt throughout the local, national, and/or global community of libraries.  She is consistently one of the favorites among CALA colleagues for her dedication, intelligence, collegiality, warmth and elegance. She is simply excellent.

Dr. Sha Li Zhang is the Assistant Dean for Collections & Technical Services at University of North Carolina at Greensboro. In her distinguished service and contribution to CALA, as a president and a board member, among many other roles, she has tirelessly promoted international collaboration between U.S. and China, fostered and sustained connections of key library organizations - ALA, CALA, and Library Society of China - in the promotion of cross cultural exchange of core values of libraries that benefit libraries and librarians of both countries. Dr. Zhang has carried out her leadership vision in intentional perspective through her participation and contribution in professional organizations such as the ALA and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA). She played an important role in making CALA membership at IFLA a reality. Her extensive involvement and leadership experience in library organizations, at national and international levels, have been invaluable in helping achieve the strategic objectives of CALA in international outreach and collaboration.

Dr. Zhang served as a councilor-at-large at ALA Council and on many committees.  She has held leadership positions at ALA’s International Relations Committee, the International Relations Roundtable, the Association of Library Collections and Technical Services, and the Association of College and Research Libraries. She is a prolific speaker and has delivered engaging and thought-provoking presentations to the library community at national and international levels. Dr. Zhang has published numerous articles in scholarly journals, and she has extensive experience at many editorial boards.  She has also received many awards, honors, and grants, including CALA Distinguished Service Award. She has received IMLS grants for her University to recruit and prepare minority librarians to promote diversity in library profession and library service to people with all cultural backgrounds.  Dr. Zhang is an excellent mentor and role model who has demonstrated remarkable achievements in librarianship, professional service, and leadership.  Serving on the 2011-12 CALA Presidential Initiative Taskforce, she has been effective in giving support and advice in carrying out activities and projects in promoting diversity and international collaboration to enhance CALA’s mission and goals. 

Please join me in celebrating the outstanding contributions from these three extraordinary individuals to CALA and to our profession and in congratulating them on being awarded this honor!

With warmest regards,

Min Chou, CALA President 2011-12

Dear CALA members and friends,

The CALA Committee for the Jing Liao Award for the Best Research in All Media is pleased to announce the 2012 recipient of the Jing Liao Award: Sharon Q. Yang. 

Ms. Yang is currently Systems Librarian at Rider University Libraries, Lawrenceville, New Jersey. She is selected as the winner of the inaugural 2012 Jing Liao Award for the Best Research in All Media for her publication "Next Generation or Current Generation? A Study of OPACs of 260 Academic Libraries in the United states and Canada," Library Hi Tech 29 (2): 266-300 (2011), which she co-authored with Melissa A. Hofmann of the same institution. Ms. Yang will receive an award of $500 from the Jing Liao Memorial Fund. The award ceremony will be held on Sunday June 24, 2012 at the CALA Annual Awards Banquet, in conjunction with the 2012 ALA Annual Conference to be held in Anaheim.

Ms. Yang's article was selected for its originality and high quality. It is clearly a well-researched paper with an interesting and relevant topic, and solid data collection from 260 college and university libraries in the US and Canada. This is the first and only study on a large scale that evaluates the progress towards the Next Generation Catalog in academic libraries in North America. It contributes significantly to identifying areas for improvement and providing input on how to develop the next generation catalogs in order to maximize the use of library information and services.

Please join us in congratulating Sharon and wish her continued success in pursuit of excellence in research.

The pursuit of excellence in research and service was what defined the career of Jing Liao (1954-2011), a long-time CALA member and a devoted and accomplished librarian at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The establishment of this memorial fund honors the memory of Jing Liao by encouraging CALA members to strive for excellence of research in all media.

CALA Committee for the Jing Liao Award for the Best Research in All Media, 2011-2012

Karen Wei, Chair kwei@illinois.edu

Vickie Fu Doll (from December 16, 2011) vdoll@ku.edu

Yuan Li (through December 15, 2011) yli115@syr.edu

Wen-ling Liu wliu@indiana.edu

Liang Lei Qi lqi@cheyney.edu

Xiaocan Wang Xiaocan.Wang@indstate.edu

Dear CALA Members,

On behalf of the CALA 2012 Election Ad hoc Committee, I am pleased to announce the results of the 2012 CALA Election. The following candidates have been elected:

2nd Vice-President, 2012/2013; Vice President, 2013/2014; President, 2014/2015

• Carol Ka-chuen Gee

Treasurer, 2012-2014

• Maria Fung

Board of Directors 2012/2013-2014/2015

• Qi Chen
• Bonnie Fong
• Li Fu
• Wen-Ling Liu
• Songqian Lu
• Cecilia Poon

Cecilia Poon replaces Nancy Hershoff starting immediately and ending in June 2013.

Congratulations to the CALA newly elected leaders!

The 2012 CALA Election was held from May 7 to May 21, 2012. The 2012 CALA Election Ad hoc Committee sent out a total of 500 ballots to CALA members, including 40 Paper Ballots to those members without email addresses. In total, 283 valid ballots were received including 278 e-ballots and 5 paper ballots. We are very pleased with the voting rate of 56.66% in the 2012 CALA Election.

According to the CALA Bylaws Article IX. Amendments, Section 2, "Any proposed amendment to the Bylaws shall be ratified at an annual membership meeting by a vote of two-thirds of the voting members of the Association present at the meeting, or if determined by the Board, by mail or electronic vote of two-thirds of the voting members of the Association." Voting on the CALA Bylaw amendment did not reach the two thirds figure (188) of the voting members as required by the Bylaws, and therefore it failed.

Again congratulations to the newly elected officers. For those candidates who did not win this year, we thank you for your interest in serving CALA and we encourage you to run again in the future. Your continuing support to CALA is deeply appreciated. We look forward to working with you.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your participation and to thank members of the CALA 2012 Election Ad hoc Committee and those who lent support in this process for their hard work and for following the CALA election rules and procedures. Your contributions to CALA are deeply appreciated.

Best wishes for your continuing success.

Respectfully submitted by,

Best,

2012 CALA Election Ad hoc Committee

• Haipeng Li, Chair, haipeng4cala@gmail.com
• Vincci Kwong,  vkwong@iusb.edu
• Jen-chien Yu,  jenchienyu@yahoo.com
• Bin Zhang,  bzhang@csus.edu
• Dora Ho, dora4ala@yahoo.com
• Kuang Pei Tu, kuangpei@lapl.org
• Theresa Webster, twebster@lapl.org
• Min Chou, ex officio

Dear CALA members:

We are pleased to announce the forthcoming 2012 Chinese American Library Association (CALA) elections.  To be eligible to vote, individuals must be CALA members in good standing as of April 30, 2012.

The Nominating Committee and the Election Ad hoc Committee follow CALA Bylaws, Article VII for Nominations and Elections and Article VIII for Electronic or Mail Vote for election.

CALA 2012 Election for the following vacant positions :
1)      Vice-President/President-Elect (2013/2014)
2)      Treasurer (2012/2014)
3)      Five Directors of the Board (2012/2015)

Below is the slate of candidates approved by the CALA Board in alphabetical order:

For the 2nd Vice-President/President Elect, 2014/2015:
Carol Ka-chuen Gee             
Haiwang Yuan

For the Treasurer, 2012/2014:
Fu-Waye Bender                 
Maria Yuen-Hung Fung

For Board of Directors, 2012/2015:
Qi Chen                        
Bonnie L. Fong                 
Li Fu                          
Denise Kwan                    
Guoying Liu                    
Wen-Ling Liu
Songqian Lu
Cecilia Siu-Wah Poon
Hanrong Wang
Xiaoyin, Zhang

Their biographical information and statements and amendment to Constitution & Bylaws will be available with the ballots in the
election.

We are testing the election system to ensure that it will work smoothly.  In the process, we have discovered that the election system
needs to use the latest version of IE (version 8) or another browser (Firefox, Chrome, Safari, etc.).

Polls will open at 9:00 a.m. EST on Monday May 7th, 2012 and close on Monday, May 21st at 11:59 p.m. EST.  We will notify voters
by e-mail, providing them with their unique passcodes and instructions about how to vote online.

During the voting period if you experience any problems, please contact Bin Zhang at bzhang@csus.edu or any other members of the Election Ad hoc Committee. We want to ensure that you have a pleasant experience in the 2012 CALA election process. Please watch for the email announcements for online voting information and the open of the polls.

Ballots for the Mail Vote will be mailed to those eligible members who do not have email address. 

We look forward to your participation.
Sincerely yours,
2012 CALA Election Ad hoc Committee
Haipeng Li, Chair, <haipeng4cala@gmail.com> 
Vincci Kwong <vkwong@iusb.edu>
Jen-chien Yu <jenchienyu@yahoo.com>
Bin Zhang Bin Zhang <bzhang@csus.edu>
Dora Ho <dora4ala@yahoo.com>
Kuang Pei Tu  <kuangpei@lapl.org>
Theresa Webster <twebster@lapl.org>
Min Chou, ex officio <minchou.njcu@gmail.com>