New Presidents for YALSA, AASL, ALSC

By Joan Oleck -- School Library Journal, 5/2/2007 1:58:00 PM

The three youth associations of the American Library Association have elected new presidents. First Amendment expert Pat Scales will head the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), former teen librarian Sarah Cornish Debraski will oversee the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), and educational specialist Ann Martin will lead the American Association of School Libraries (AASL).

All three will assume their presidencies for the 2008-2009 term.

Cornish Debraski was most recently head of youth services at Warren Library, a branch of New Jersey’s Somerset County system. Writing on YALSA’s blog, Debraski said her five year plan for the association was to help expand its virtual membership and activities. "Another reasonable five-year goal is expanded course offerings and institutes," she wrote. Cornish Debraski defeated Kevin Scanlon, a librarian with the Henderson District Public Library in Las Vegas by a vote of 648 to 426.

Scales, a First Amendment expert and columnist with School Library Journal, recently retired as a middle school librarian in Greenville, SC. She defeated Randy Enos by 682 to 329.

Martin, an educational specialist in library information service for Henrico County Public Schools in Richmond, VA, has worked as a library media specialist at the elementary, middle, and high school levels for more than 11 years. She defeated Floyd Pentlin 1424 to 471.