Candidate for Director, Membership:

Dr. Daniella Smith
Professor
University of North Texas, USA

Candidate's Statement:
It is a pleasure to run for the ALISE Director, Membership position. I can personally attest to the impact that ALISE can have on members. My introduction to ALISE began when my doctoral advisor encouraged me to participate in ALISE. Attending the conference changed the trajectory of my life. During the conference, I met the search committee that hired me for my current position at UNT. Three days of networking at the conference broadened my viewpoint of academia and helped me actualize my goal of becoming a faculty member at a research university. The members' care in providing feedback on my presentation, the exposure to multiple interviews, and the conversations about LIS signaled that I made the correct career choice. I felt like part of a supportive community. The experience resonated with me because I was surrounded by people with an important mission. I want the opportunity to provide other LIS professionals with similar encounters. The power of such quality events cannot be underestimated. They are valuable for the continuance of our profession. We need experiences that reinforce the importance of LIS. In addition, maintaining a community of knowledgeable, supportive professionals is crucial for the evolution of our pedagogy. I acknowledge that members are the strength, heart, and guiding forces of organizations.

In this position, I envision supporting ALISE’s mission to educate information professionals “through engagement, advocacy, and research.” My goal will be to implement a multifaceted vision of ALISE as an organization that does the following.

• Implements outreach programs to assist current and prospective members with understanding the role of LIS professionals as global leaders.
• Excels as the premier organization for recruiting members from diverse backgrounds and empowering them to be advocates for LIS. Endeavors to unite LIS with allied professions and organizations to facilitate its mission
• Supports members with understanding the facets of diversity and how to capitalize upon them to adapt to trends and to prepare for the profession’s future
• Utilizes opportunities to research the needs of LIS professionals to provide enhanced member support My experience as a program director, educator, and chair of multiple groups has taught me that engagement through activities and conversations is vital for understanding organizational members.

I will implement my vision through several activities, including webinars, membership spotlights on members with diverse backgrounds, developing leadership experiences, and outreach to LIS and allied professional programs to encourage membership. Programs will be informed of events and SIGs relevant to their interests. I will also make understanding the concerns of members a priority by conducting research using methods such as focus groups, surveys, and analyzing existing data. In all, members should be the utmost priority for any organization. As the Director of Membership, I will be committed to understanding the needs of the LIS community and our stakeholders. As we look to the future, ALISE must prepare LIS professionals to withstand threats and to transform them into opportunities. I humbly request your vote to assist with these tasks.

Biography:

Daniella Smith, Ph.D. is the Hazel Harvey Peace Endowed Professor, Director of the Information Science Ph.D. Program, and Founding Director of the Multiple Literacies Lab, in the Department of Information Science at the University of North Texas (UNT). She has been a member of the UNT faculty since 2011. She earned her Ph.D. in Information Studies from the College of Communication and Information at Florida State University (FSU). Before joining UNT, she was the Research Program Coordinator of the Partnerships Advancing Library Media (PALM) Center at FSU. She is also an experienced school librarian and public youth services librarian. She has served in several leadership capacities, including being an ALA Councilor at Large since 2014, the current co-chair of the ALA Code of Conduct Committee, the immediate past chair (2020-2021) of the AASL ESLS Section, and currently serves on the board. Moreover, she co-chaired the SITE Information Literacy SIG (2017-2019) and is a former member of the Laura Bush Foundation for America's Libraries advisory committee member (2014-2020). She is a versatile researcher and is published in JELIS, Library Hi Tech, the Journal of Library Administration, Library Trends, and School Library Research. Regarding ALISE, she has been a conference session moderator, judge for the Jean Tague Sutcliffe Doctoral Poster Session, reviewer for the Gar eld Dissertation Competition, and a LMC Paper Award Committee member. Her research interests include leadership development, STEM education in K-20 environments, diversity in LIS, and social media information-seeking and sharing behaviors. Daniella is currently the Principal Investigator of the School Librarians Facilitating English Language Learner Success grant (IMLS RE-250111-OLS-21).

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