2018 CLA ELECTIONS
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Candidates for President:
Candidates for Secretary
Candidates for Board
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Hillary Theyer, Torrance Public Library
President
When I was 15 and needed a job, my mother recommended that I walk up to the public library, saying a simple “you might like that.” After several years there, watching excellent role models engage with children in powerful ways, I said “I want to do what they are doing” and found my calling. When I enrolled in the Master of Library Science program at UCLA, my first group advisor meeting included at least two people who asked “Am I about to waste two years of time and a lot of money? Are there going to be any jobs?” Our smart advisor told us there would be, and she was right. (Thank you Dr. Walter!) I entered my career at a time of recession, where between getting our first training on the Internet we routinely answered questions like “do we need libraries anymore?” These are questions we still answer today, with a resounding yes, copious examples, hard data, outcomes, and passion. I fell in love with a career and haven’t left it since.
With every job I had I looked around me and kept saying “I want to do what they are doing” so I had the pleasure of Children’s Librarian, Reference Librarian, Branch Manager, Youth Services Supervisor, Principal Librarian, and now I am the City Librarian for the Torrance Public Library. I’ve worked up and down California, as wherever I landed they needed public librarians. Everywhere I went I saw inspirational work, met amazing librarians, and was supported and taught all along the way. I learned to make a puppet, sing every verse of Wheels on the Bus, and match a chapter book to a reluctant reader. Then I learned how to handle a stopped up toilet, make a call to the paramedics, and find technology that improves service. Then I learned to write a performance evaluation, contract for materials, and plan a budget. All from working professionals who held out their hands and taught me what they knew, and much of that through CLA.
As I was aspiring to lead, I knew that I needed more education in order to continue to answer the questions about the need for public libraries. Questions about budgets and return on investment. Questions about management, community assessment, and strategic planning. So I added a Master in Public Administration, attending Cal State Long Beach with another group of passionate people, dedicated to various forms of public service.
I have been helped all along the way by others, and many models of how the profession and the institutions support each other by service to each other. From personal support such as sending me to my first CLA conference (thank you Lois!) to institutional support such as responding to any inquiry, from any library, with the best experience and examples we had (thank you to everyone on CALIX!). To give back to an institution that had given so much to me and to libraries, I first ran for the Board of CLA at the insistence of a friend (thank you Shawna!) who said “you might like that.” I was on the Board for two terms and a bit, with some time as Secretary and on the Executive Committee. Four Executive Directors, three management companies, a retool of Conference, creation of the Interest Groups, times when the budget would not stretch at all, and we had to take things that were established and determine if they fit in the changing world of libraries. That service led to time as the Chair of the Southern California Library Cooperative, trips to National Library Legislative Day, and time now on the Board of Califa. Giving back to the profession by serving on a Board for an organization I believe in, and one that makes libraries stronger, is part of this calling.
Back to my mom, who suggested I might like working at the public library. She was right, but that shouldn’t be a surprise. She’s a librarian.
Candidate Statement
Throughout my career, and it the leadership positions I have chosen to pursue, I have worked from three essential starting places. That assumptions about what libraries do are everywhere, that libraries are one of the last public places of default inclusion and presumed equity, and that we do powerful important work that lasts.
I believe the role of the CLA President needs to include constant political awareness and an ongoing survey of the landscape we work in today. This includes support of the Legislative Committee and advocacy outreach to all Californians. The CLA President also needs to seek information and learning opportunities outside our own realm, bringing that learning back to CLA and the membership. Collaboration and partnership with complementary agencies brings benefit to us both.
The CLA President also needs to be translating the value of our work for other stakeholders. Our economic value, social value, health value, and our human value. Too often the presumptions we encounter are that we are not valued, or not valuable to the person speaking at that time. CLA needs to be the voice that brings evidence of our value to that conversation, wherever it is happening.
The CLA President needs to be ready to respond as things evolve, and ready to converse with other sectors in crafting their responses. I have called upon CLA many times for expertise, guidance, direction, and connections as I tackled the problems I faced. We need to communicate with members that we are watching their backs as they focus on the needs of their communities.
As CLA needs to proactively plan to help libraries meet emerging needs, we need to address the ongoing education and professional development of library staff. These opportunities lift us all, and when we have a crisis we also have an army. I’ve seen this army work, through the complete loss of established state funding, legal basics that underpin our service turned upside down, and the many times someone with a public platform has asked “why do we need libraries?”
I am not a perfect Board Member, or Library Director, or a person for that matter. I have made my share of mistakes, then talked about them at a CLA Leadership Straight Talk. I do bring experience through CLA Board, Califa Board, and the Southern California Library Cooperative in discussing and making tough calls, then standing behind them. I have no hesitation to share my thoughts and analysis on libraries and library issues, in fact as I cheerfully tell my stakeholders at work, sometimes getting me to stop talking is the issue. And I love to learn from a group of smart people who want to share knowledge. That’s why I’m in this profession!
Thank you for reading this statement, and I’m honored to be nominated for CLA President. I pledge to give back to CLA everything this organization has given to me and more, so we can continue to challenge assumptions, fight for equity and inclusion, and do this important work that lasts.
Questionaire
- How do you define leadership?
Stepping up and getting it done – learning as you go and being willing to be vulnerable in public and in front of a team. Owning the errors and the home runs. Having eyes on the horizon and the sky but also knowing where your feet are stepping on the ground.
- Why are you interested in this position?
I know our professional associations bring great value to us, to our institutions, and to the people we serve. Being a member of the Board and serving in that capacity taught me a great deal about the importance of CLA. As a Library Director I have reached out many times to my connections made through CLA, and to the CLA organization. My Library Commission, and my Finance Department, rely on CLA to explain, interpret, and provide context for state legislation and funding. I am proud to support this organization.
- How would you describe your personal leadership/communication style?
When there are thorny things to untangle, and important things to decide, I am best with a group of smart people in a room. I love facilitating the conversation, drawing out the expertise, and working on the process. I can bring divergent points of view to the same table, and keep the doors open for evolution of ideas. I am best when I am engaged in management by walking around, working public service desks, and hearing from the stakeholders – in this case, the members. When I advocate for needs, I can speak directly from the front line, and am adept at combing outcomes, data, and stories to make my case for change.
- What strengths would you bring to the position?
Experience on a variety of Boards, elected and appointed, and in leadership positions. A passionate advocacy for CLA and the work CLA does for the profession and in the state. Flexible time to devote and the ability to work in person or via technology to handle tasks, manage meetings, or make decisions.
- What experience do you bring to this position?
- CLA Board Member, Executive Committee, Secretary – from the first Board seated in the “new” configuration in 2011 through 2015.
- CLA Interest Group Committee Chair – 2010 - 2015
- Califa Board Member – 2015 to current
- Southern California Library Cooperative Administrative Council; Vice Chair, Chair, Past Chair; Executive -
Committee and Finance Committee
- Get Involved Project (California State Library) Regional Network Leader, Multi-State Advisory Committee
- Leadership Torrance Class Leader (Torrance Area Chamber of Commerce)
- Speaker and Presenter at many California Library Association conferences
- What issues or trends are particularly informing your work at this time?
- As the Director of a public library in California – our aging population; increasing income disparity, poverty, and food insecurity; public education opportunities; our social structure and supports
- As a member of the profession – continuing our advocacy at the state and national level, informing legislators about how public libraries support and are influenced by legislation; continuing support of library staff in and out of school, and in their pursuits of continuing or advanced education
- As a member of CLA – continuing relationships with the California State Library, the national Associations such as ALA, continued direction in lobbying and advocacy priorities, and continued support for libraries in the state
- Who are the thought leaders (in libraries or in other fields) who interest you?
- Now retired – José Aponte – I could listen to him speak on anything, and still use his description of “air game and ground game” to frame my work as a Director. Jackie Griffin.
- Authors – Simon Sinek Start With Why; Peter Senge The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization; Susan Scott Fierce Conversations
- In the profession – Cheryl Gould, Susan Hildreth, Derek Wolfgram, Natalie Cole, Michelle Perera, Paymaneh Maghsoudi, Diane Satchwell, Wayne Walker.
- Companies – I follow Starbucks and Southwest Airlines as companies, through the good and the bad. I want to know when they change something as they were huge innovators, they have very public facing brands, and they reach a lot of people.
- Who are the regional and statewide stakeholders libraries need to be in communication with?
The entire government of California – including industry, veterans, corrections, courts, education, finance, justice and finance. Even if they don’t know libraries are watching and listening, we need to be watching and listening. Specifically the funding areas, and regulatory bodies on our services from building codes to technology interface. We are too often caught after something has passed, and they didn’t think of libraries, and we were not there. For example, many years ago a law passed related to used toys including printed products. Until it was signed, nobody worked out what that meant for library books. One regulation change meant to solve a single problem can cause many more. We need to be there.
Local government arms – League of California Cities, Special District Association, and the like. Public libraries in particular are embedded in local government, and the impact locally is often where advocacy and support will come from. If we can help members speak to their City Council, County Board, Library Board, Friends of the Library about what that means there, we can get our message sent from constituents about the impact on their communities.
- What do you feel are the most critical challenges and opportunities facing California libraries right now?
The shifting environment – we need to build infrastructure for the future, but able to take a shifting environment without crumbling. Basically, like building earthquake tolerance into a bridge. If one regulation change can devastate a decade of work, or erode a high level of support for a critical service, we need to be ready for that. This means having our eyes on broad landscape, and supporting our members and their libraries to do the same.
Make the support of broadband to all California libraries a done deal. Continue to tell the stories, collect the data, and share the impact. Use this to help localities understand and support this work.
Target the income disparity, poverty, and food insecurity concerns in California. Lunch at the Library provides lessons that can be expanded, and is an immediate and local impact that can then be shared. Show how libraries belong at this table to work on this societal gap, the same way we were there for the digital divide right at the outset.
Be at the table for facing the state’s aging population, from services to people with disabilities to socialization and health. This will hit every library ready or not, and nobody is ready.
- Describe your experience serving on Association committees and/or interest groups.
I was on the group that re-established the Interest Groups from the old incarnation to the new, drafted and implemented the processes and procedures, and worked on details for aspects such as IG sponsorship of programs at CLA, programs in Spring Fling, and communication among IGs. We crafted and implemented the first incarnation of groups forming, working, and disbanding.
I created the Volunteer Engagement IG to support and companion the Get Involved Project. I also crated the Library Facilities IG.
- Describe your network of connections with library professionals and library stakeholders in California.
I am an avid reader on and contributor to Calix, SCLC Directors list, and PubLib along with ALA Connect. I have taught the Public Libraries elective at UCLA, and spoken at CLA Conferences, and at a Leadership Development event. I am an active participant with SCLC, and in connection with statewide issues as part of the Califa Board. I have represented SCLC at National Library Legislative Day for the past three years.
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