2   INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND LIBRARIES  |  JuNE 2007

I 
write my final President’s column a month after 
the Midwinter Meeting in Seattle. You will read it 
as preparations for the ALA Annual Conference in 

Washington, D.C. are well underway. Despite that discon­
nect in time, I am confident that the level of enthusiasm 
will continue uninterrupted between the two events. 
Indeed, the Midwinter Meeting was highly charged with 
positive energy and excitement. The feelings are reignited 
if you listen to the numerous podcasts now found on the 
LITA blog. The LITA bloggers and podcasters were omni­
present reporting on all of the meetings and recording 
the musings of the LITA Top Tech Trendsters. By the time 
you have read this you will have also, hopefully, cast your 
ballot for LITA officers and directors after having had the 
opportunity to listen to brief podcast interviews with the 
candidates. The LITA Board approved the election pod­
casts at the Annual Conference in New Orleans. Thanks 
to the collaborative efforts of the nominating committee 
and the BIGWIG members, we have this new input into 
our voting decision­making. 

The most exciting aspects of the Midwinter Meeting 
were the face­to­face, networking opportunities that make 
LITA so great. The LITA happy hour crowd filled the Six 
Arms bar and lit it up with the wonderful LITA glow 
badges. What was particularly gratifying to me was the 
number of new LITA members alongside those of us who 
have been around longer than we care to count. The net­
working that went on there was phenomenal! The other 
important networking opportunity for LITA members was 
the LITA Town Meeting led by LITA Vice President Mark 
Beatty. The room was packed with eager members ready 
to brainstorm about what they think LITA should be doing 
after consuming a wonderful breakfast. LITA’s sponsored 
Emerging Leader, Michelle Boule, and Mark have collated 
the findings and will be working with the other emerging 
leaders to fine­tune a direction. The podcast interview of 
Michelle and Mark is an excellent summary of what you 
can expect in the next year when Mark is president. 

As stated earlier, this is my last President’s column, 
which means my term is winding down. Using LITA’s 
strategic plan as a guide, I have worked with many of 

you in LITA to ensure that we have a structure in place 
that allows us to be more adaptable to the rapidly chang­
ing world and to make sure that LITA is relevant to 
LITA members 365 X 24 X 7 and not just at conferences 
and LITA National Forum. Attracting and retaining new 
members is critical for the health of any organization and 
in that vein, Mark and I have used the ALA Emerging 
Leaders program as a jumping off point to work with 
LITA’s Emerging Leaders. The BIGWIG group is foment­
ing with energy and excitement as they rally bloggers and 
have this past year launched the podcasting initiative and 
the LITA wiki. All of these things are making it easier for 
members to communicate about issues of interest in their 
work as well as to conduct LITA business. The LITA blog 
had over nine thousand downloads of its podcasts in 
the first three weeks after Midwinter which confirms the 
desire for these types of communications! 

I appointed two task forces that provided recommen­
dations to the LITA Board at Midwinter. The Assessment 
and Research Task Force has recommended that a perma­
nent committee be established to monitor the collection 
of feedback and assessment data on LITA programs and 
services. Having an established assessment process will 
enable the board to know how well we are accomplishing 
our strategic plan and to keep us on the correct course 
to meet membership needs. The Education Working 
Group has recommended the merger of two committees, 
the Education and Regional Institutes Committees, into 
one Education Committee. This merged committee will 
develop a variety of educational opportunities including 
online and face­to­face sessions. We hope to have both 
of these committees up and going later in 2007. Happily, 
the feedback from the Town Meeting parallels the recom­
mendations of the task forces. The board will be revisit­
ing the strategic plan at the Annual Conference using 
information gathered at the Town Meeting. We will also 
be looking at what new services we should be initiating. 
All arrows seem to be pointing towards more educational 
and networking opportunities both virtual and in person. 
I anticipate that LITA members will see some great new 
things happening in the next year. 

I have very much enjoyed the opportunity to serve as 
the LITA president this past year. The best part has been 
getting to know so many LITA members who have such 
creative ideas and who roll up their sleeves and dig in to 
get the work done. I am very grateful for everyone who 
has volunteered their time and talents to make LITA such 
a great organization. 

Bonnie Postlethwaite (postlethwaiteb@umkc.edu)	 is	 LITA	
President	2006/2007	and	Associate	Dean	of	Libraries,	University	
of	Missouri–Kansas	City.	

President’s Column Bonnie Postlethwaite