Welcome to the start of another academic year! As I write this, I’m watching streams of students arrive with full cars and full enthusiasm. It’s always so energizing when campus comes alive in the fall.
To help our association prepare for this coming year, the MiALA leadership team gathered at MSU Libraries on August 10 for our annual Leadership Retreat. It was a fun day of looking over the past year and setting goals for the year to come.
We began the retreat celebrating our successes by introducing the new annual report, and I want to start this note with that same celebratory energy. My deepest thanks to Julie Garrison, whose steady leadership as President carried us through a year of real accomplishments. Thanks as well to our entire Board of Directors, who give their time and expertise generously and creatively, on top of full jobs at their own institutions. Together we continue to build on those who came before us, and the fruits of those efforts are evident in the report. If you haven’t seen it yet, I hope you’ll spend a few moments with it—you’ll find it at https://www.miala.org/about_miala.php, and every line represents the efforts of our volunteers.
We then turned to the year ahead and spent time discussing a few priorities. Advocacy drew the most energy—we want to get better at capturing our individual campus successes, sharing them, and telling that story out loud, and we want to build talking points and partnerships that make doing that easier. We also committed to improving our web presence and member platform so it’s simpler to find what you need and connect with others who share your interests. Another top priority is to make the pathways into MiALA leadership clearer for all, with better descriptions of what each role actually involves and documented transition plans.
There are even more ways for you to get involved this year. Our Early Career Library Professionals Interest Group is up and running, and a new Pop Culture in Academic Libraries is growing fast. You can find the full list of committees and interest groups and how to join at https://www.miala.org/committees_interest_groups.php. We also are planning leadership development for every career stage, from first-year-on-the-job workshops to peer mentoring and facilitation training. Watch for many more opportunities to jump in as the year progresses.
With gratitude,
Mary O’Kelly
MiALA President 2026-2027
