Dear IRRT Members,
As the 2023-24 Chair of the International Relations Round Table (IRRT) of the American Library Association, it is my great pleasure and honor to extend a warm and heartfelt welcome to each and every one of you as we embark on a new ALA year! As a roundtable, we stand at the beginning of a year that promises to bring exciting change and great celebration for our community. As we prepare to mark the 75th anniversary of IRRT at the next Annual Conference, we take time to honor the visionaries who laid the foundations for the round table and the countless individuals who have propelled its mission forward. We also recognize the changing landscape and the need to adapt to the new ways of working that have become ubiquitous. For this reason, I have chosen "The Impact of IRRT: Celebrating our Past and Looking to our Future" as the Chair's theme for this year.
This year, we have a unique opportunity to reflect upon and celebrate the remarkable milestones of the round table's past. For three-quarters of a century, IRRT has worked to promote cultural exchange and understanding within librarianship and across borders, and I want to express my deepest gratitude for your unwavering commitment and invaluable contributions to IRRT. It is because of your dedication, passion, and collective efforts that we have been able to foster an effective community. Together, we have overcome challenges, embraced change, and championed global collaboration within ALA and the field more broadly while delivering high-impact programming and initiatives. I look forward to celebrating this milestone and legacy in San Diego next June!
As we celebrate our history, we must also embrace the opportunities for change with which we find ourselves presented. Our 75th anniversary year marks a pivotal moment in the round table's journey, one where we will actively engage in transformation and progress. It is a time for us to innovate, evolve, and redefine our structure in a world of Zoom meetings, webinars, and greater international connectivity. On the agenda for this year is a rewriting of, and voting on, our bylaws in coordination with the new Round Table Coordinating Assembly bylaws template, reestablishing mechanisms for organizational communication and documentation, and a proposed reorganization of our committee structure. With the proposed changes, we have the opportunity to continue robust support for the well-established and vibrant slate of events, programs, and initiatives associated with ALA Annual while also ensuring that we can sustain innovative new initiatives like the IRRT webinar series and International Librarian Networking Program.
On behalf of the Executive Committee, I encourage you to actively participate, share your insights, and contribute to the collective wisdom of IRRT. Your voice matters, and it is your ideas, skills, and expertise that drive the transformative change we aspire to achieve. Together, we can create a legacy that will inspire future generations of librarians, promote cultural understanding, and fostering connections across borders.
To that end, we will be hosting a webinar on Wednesday, July 26th at 10am Central (USA) time to present the IRRT Committee Restructuring Proposal for IRRT members who were not able to attend the in-person session at the Annual Conference in Chicago and to solicit feedback prior to the Executive Committee vote in August or September. We will also record the session for those not able to attend live. Registration for the webinar is at:
https://ala-events.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_WZRVd4MjS8G02lEg_GUZ9Q
In closing, I want to reiterate my gratitude for your support for, and dedication to, the International Relations Round Table. As we look to the next 75 years, let us embrace the winds of change with open arms, celebrating our past while looking forward to our future.
Welcome to a year filled with exciting change and joyful celebration!
Mark Mattson
Chair, International Relations Round Table
American Library Association
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Mark Mattson
Global Partnerships and Outreach Librarian
Penn State University
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