I am a bit tardy is posting about my adventures at ALA. I made it to some great sessions, attended a lot of meetings, and gave a presentation or two. But it is the people and their stories that stick with me long after I have returned to my normal daily routine. Here are three people whose stories moved and motivated me.

John Tull
John Tull, from Wallens Ridge State Prison in Virginia, attended a Spanish Language Outreach Workshop in Virginia earlier this year. At our Follow-Up Session for SLO Workshop Participants, John described the outreach activities he is implementing to better meet the needs of the Spanish speakers at his prison library, including the translation of signs and procedural documents into Spanish. His outreach efforts have been well received by inmates and prison staff. John explained that the special conditions faced by prison libraries make it critical to take small, incremental steps when implementing outreach. Our curriculum developer, Emily Inlow, has been collaborating with prison libraries to customize our Spanish Outreach Workshop Curriculum. Stay tuned for more info on the customized curriculum later this summer!

Toni Bissessar
Carmen Toni Bissessar is the Branch Manager of the Columbia Pike and Glencarlyn Branches of the Arlington County Public Library. She was awarded the 2007 Arnolfo D. Trejo Librarian of the Year Award, also known as the REFORMA LOTY Award. She was honored for her contributions to REFORMA, excellence in promoting and advocating services to the Spanish-speaking and Latino communities, and advocacy work on behalf of underrepresented diverse communities. When she accepted the LOTY award, Toni talked about one of her early teachers. The teacher sent her postcards from around the world that Toni would then take to her local library so she could learn about the city or country. The postcards and her library visits sparked a love of information and libraries. The story still chokes me up.

Sara Peté
I really enjoyed meeting Sara (our Diversity Fair Scholarship Winner!) and presenting with her on the OCLC panel about serving Diverse Communities. Sara is doing an amazing job of connecting with the local Spanish-speaking community in the Olympia, WA area. She is involved in her local Hispanic Roundtable. She is always on the look out for ways to strengthen her libraries’ resources for Spanish speakers and get the word out to the community about what the library has to offer. She participates, listens, shares information, and gets involved! An outstanding model for successful outreach.

There were many, many more librarians and co-workers at ALA who inspired me! What about you? Share the stories that stuck with you on the WJ Discussion Boards.