Larry Romans

My concerns for librarianship, ALA, and Council

• reinventing our services to meet user needs during continuous technological changes;
• increasing public awareness of the value of libraries and library staff;
• encouraging all types of libraries to share resources;
• adding electronic members and meetings to promote member participation;
• expanding grassroots advocacy, especially by chapters, to empower citizens and library staff to promote libraries to legislators and the media;
• renewing our advocacy of the SKILLS Act for school librarians, LSTA, modifying the Patriot Act, and other legislation;
• increasing minority scholarships, recruitment, and retention;
• defending user privacy, intellectual freedom, balanced intellectual property rights, and the right-to-know;
• adding a $5 donation check-box for ALA-APA on the membership renewal form to help advance better salaries and continuing education;
• encouraging all types of libraries to share resources;
• working to improve communication, cooperation, and understanding, especially between ALA and its chapters and round tables.

• balancing while on the ALA Executive Board the needs of ALA as a whole with those of ALA units;
• dealing while on its Finance and Audit Committee with ALA's finances and budget cuts that require difficult choices;
• participating in drafting the 2015 plan;
• initiating successful resolutions, including urging library websites and vendor products to adapt to sight-impaired users;
• working to make member voices heard by my initiatives to reduce the membership-meeting quorum and chairing the Membership Meeting Committee;
• appointing newer members as Chair of both the Legislation Committee chair and GODORT;
• being a former member of the Spectrum Initiative Minority Scholarship Jury and the PLA Internal Revenue Service Committee;
• pushing as a chapter leader for a stronger chapter presence, especially in grassroots advocacy;
• serving as a long-term advocate for round tables and initiating the resolution that gave larger round tables Council representation;
• continuing to press for round-table representation with new ALA initiatives and serving as Executive Board liaison to six round tables;
• receiving GODORT awards for leadership and lifetime contributions.

Stetson University DeLand, FL | B.A. (Economics and Political Science), 1967

Tulane University New Orleans, LA | M.A. (Political Science), 1978

Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN | Peabody College | M.L.S., 1983

ALA Executive Board

• Member, 2007-2010
• Member, Finance and Audit Committee, 2007-2010
• Liaison to ACRL, International Relations Committee, Resolutions Committee, Membership Meeting Committee, GLBTRT, GODORT, IRRT, LIRT, and recently Reforma

ALA Council

• Chapter Councilor for Tennessee, 1992-2000
• Co-convener, Chapter Councilor Caucus, 1993-2000
• Councilor-at-Large, 2000-2009

ALA Committees and Other Units

• Committee on Committees
• ALA Legislation Committee, 2002-2006 (chair, 2005-2006)
• Government Information Subcommittee, 2002-2003, Grassroots Advocacy Subcommittee, 2005-2007
• Membership Meeting Committee (chair, 2003-2004, 2006-2008)
• Resolutions Committee, 1998-2000, 2008-2010
• Planning and Budget Assembly, 1998-2000
• Spectrum Initiative Minority Scholarship Jury, 1998-1999
• Structure Revision Task Force, 1995-97
• Special Presidential Task Force on the Membership Meeting Quorum (chair), 2002-2003

ALA Divisions

• Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), 1983-present
  • ALA Executive Board Liaison, 2007-2009
  • Chapters Council — Legnet Coordinator/Representative, 2002-2008
  • Government Relations Committee, ex officio, 2002-2008
  • ACRL Ad Hoc Task Force on Advocacy, 2003-2004
• Public Library Association Internal Revenue Service Committee, 1997-99

Government Documents Round Table (GODORT)

• Chair, 1999-2000
• Steering Committee, 1988-91, 1994-95, 1997-present
• Federal Documents Task Force (FDTF) (Coordinator, 1997-98;
• Steering Committee, 1996-98)
• Coordinator of Handout Exchange, from 1988
• Education Committee, 1988-91, 1995-96, 2002-2004 (Chair, 1988-91)
• Government Information Technology Committee (GITCO), 1991-95 (Chair, 1994-95)
• ALA Executive Board Liaison, 2007-2010

State Library Association

• Tennessee Library Association, 1987-present
• Executive Board, 1989-90, 1992-2003, 2009-2011
• ALA Chapter Councilor, 1992-2000
• TLA Government Documents Round Table (TLA GODORT), 1988-present (Chair, 1989-90, 2002-2003, 2010-2011)
• Co-Chair, TLA Legislation Committee, 2009-2010

• American Library Association/Government Documents Round Table (ALA/GODORT)/LexisNexis (CIS) Documents to the People Award, for "outstanding leadership as an advocate of effective public access to government information," 1995
• American Library Association/Government Documents Round Table (ALA/GODORT) James Bennett Childs Award for "a lifetime and significant contribution to the field of documents librarianship, 2008"