Hayden, Strauch Vie for ALA Presidency

Election day is looming for two candidates seeking the American Library Association's (ALA) 2003–2004 presidency. Carla Hayden, executive director of the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, MD, and Katina Strauch, head of collection development at the College of Charleston (SC) Libraries, both began their careers working with children's librarians who inspired them to make library services a career.

Hayden, a former member of Newbery and Caldecott committees, says her eight years as a children's librarian at the Chicago Public Library prepared her for helping to improve children's services.

Strauch says that she believes "we can make lemonade out of the current lemon—obsessing on dangers to children from the Internet. Now that public attention is focused on the fact that children in large numbers do use libraries, we should be able to make use of that attention constructively."