If you are interested in learning more about how to successfully integrate advocacy on behalf of libraries and the communities they serve into a leadership position you hold or hope to hold, we have a wonderful opportunity for you: three California library directors exploring advocacy and leadership in the latest highly interactive 90-minute online workshop provided under the auspices of the California Library Association Ursula Meyer Library Advocacy Training project.

Join us for this free workshop featuring Genesis Hansen (Director, Library and Cultural Services, City of Mission Viejo and current California Library Association President), Michael Lambert (Director, San Francisco Public Library and Immediate Past President, Public Library Association, 2025-26), and Patty Wong (Santa Clara City Librarian and former President, American Library Association) via Zoom on Wednesday, August 13, 2025 from 10-11:30 a.m. PT. Among the items to be explored are the importance of building collaborations with a variety of constituencies; developing your leadership and advocacy skills; and identifying individuals, organizations, and other resources that share your advocacy goals and objectives.

Goal and Objectives:

Participating in this session, you will learn how to better integrate your leadership and advocacy efforts on behalf of libraries and the communities they serve.

By the end of the session, you will:

• Be able to describe at least three ways leaders work with a variety of constituents to develop successful library advocacy efforts
• Have identified at least three ways you can further develop your own leadership and advocacy skills
• Have identified at least three individuals, organizations, and/or resources you will contact as potential partners in an advocacy effort you are currently pursuing or would like to pursue
• Be able to cite at least three resources you can use to further strengthen your own ability to develop and implement a campaign to pass a ballot initiative on behalf of libraries and library services

Presenters:

Genesis Hansen has been the Director of the Mission Viejo Library since 2014. She has a passion for public service, leadership development, and libraries as partners in our communities’ success. Genesis has been involved in CLA in a variety of capacities over the years, including serving on the Leadership Development Committee; three times on Conference Program Committee; once as Conference Sponsorship Chair, and once as Conference Co-Chair. She has served multiple terms on the Board since 2016 and also helped CLA develop the grant-funded program Developing Leaders for California Libraries.

Michael Lambert is the City Librarian for San Francisco, where he has led initiatives such as expanded library hours and the elimination of overdue fines, earning SFPL the 2018 National Library of the Year award. He is the first Asian American to head SFPL and currently serves as President of the Public Library Association. Before joining SFPL, Lambert held leadership roles at libraries in San Mateo County and Charlotte, and began his career at Richland Library in South Carolina, and he is serving as Immediate Past President, Public Library Association (July 2025 - June 2026).

Patty Wong, Santa Clara City Librarian, served as president of the American Library Association (ALA) for 2021–2022; she has also served on the ALA Executive Board; as an at-large councilor for ALA Council; as chair of the ALA Budget Analysis and Review Committee; and as a member of the California Library Association Advocacy and Legislation Committee. Her long-time highly-inspirational work as an advocate for libraries and their communities was partially captured in an interview she did for the Ursula Meyer Library Advocacy Training project in 2021: Interview with Patty Wong (PDF).

Paul Signorelli (moderator/facilitator), a San Francisco-based writer/trainer-facilitator/presenter/consultant, is project manager for the CLA Ursula Meyer Library Advocacy Training project; co-host of the San Jose State University iSchool podcast “Information Gone Wild”; and active in leadership in nonprofit organization boards of directors. His publications include “Change the World Using Social Media” (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021) and (as co-author) “Workplace Learning & Leadership: A Handbook for Library and Nonprofit Trainers” (ALA Editions, 2011).

About the Ursula Meyer Advocacy Fund Training Series

This program is part of an ongoing series of monthly online sessions organized through the Ursula Meyer Advocacy Fund Training Series; sessions are generally held online on the second Wednesday of each month, beginning at 10 am PT; the September 2025 session is scheduled for the third Wednesday of the month to accommodate the presenter’s schedule. The series honors the memory of Ursula Meyer, 1977-78 CLA President, California Library Hall of Fame inductee, longtime director of the Stockton-San Joaquin Public Library, and fierce advocate for library services and intellectual freedom. The Ursula Meyer Fund was established to provide for the training of librarians in all stages of their careers, and library supporters, in political advocacy and political action, in honor of Ursula’s belief that librarians need effective political skills to advocate for library support at all levels of government. Archived recordings of previous sessions are available on the California Library Association YouTube channel at CLA YouTube Channel.

To support the series through a donation, please visit the CLA website at https://www.cla-net.org/donations/fund.asp?id=23440.