Georgia Southern University Libraries staff members Lee Bareford and Kelli-Anne Gecawich have been selected to participate in the American Library Association’s (ALA) 2023 Emerging Leaders Program.
Both located at the Lane Library on the Armstrong Campus in Savannah, Bareford, associate professor and head of the Learning Commons, and Gecawich, media and circulations associate, are two of only 50 participants selected from a nationwide pool of candidates each year.
“I am so proud that Kelli-Anne and Lee have been selected among hundreds of candidates as emerging library leaders and that they will represent the University Libraries and Georgia Southern University,” said Lisa R. Carmichael, Ph.D., dean of University Libraries. “We look forward to seeing how Kelli-Anne’s and Lee’s participation in this renowned program benefits them, the libraries and the University.”
The ALA Emerging Leaders Program is a leadership development program that enables library workers across the country who are new to the field to participate in problem-solving work groups, network with peers, gain an inside look into ALA structure and have an opportunity to serve the profession in a leadership capacity. It puts participants on the fast track to ALA committee volunteerism, as well as other professional library-related organizations.
Bareford and Gecawich will take part in leadership workshops during the annual LibLearnX Conference in New Orleans in January. Following, they will collaborate in groups over the next five months on special projects that will be presented at ALA’s annual conference in Chicago next June.
In addition to being selected to participate in the Emerging Leaders Program, Bareford and Gecawich were also awarded sponsorship by the Association of College and Research Libraries and the Georgia Library Association, respectively, to cover conference expenses.
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