UA’s Naidoo Elected President of ALSC

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Dr. Jamie Campbell Naidoo, the Foster-EBSCO Professor at The University of Alabama School of Library and Information Studies, has been elected vice president/president-elect of the Association for Library Service to Children.

The association is a division of the American Library Association.

In accordance with the Leadership Transition Plan adopted by the ALSC board of directors in March, Naidoo assumes his vice presidential duties immediately.

“I am deeply honored that ALSC membership has elected me to serve during this extremely critical time for libraries,” Naidoo said. “I eagerly anticipate listening to and working with ALSC members to help move our organization forward in the best ways possible to provide excellence in library services to all children from all cultural backgrounds.”

Naidoo has been an ALSC member for 14 years, and an ALA member for 19 years. He is also a member of the Young Adult Library Services Association; Ethnic and Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table; Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Round Table; Social Responsibilities Round Table; and REFORMA, an ALA affiliate.

Naidoo is the ALSC/ALA liaison for the United States Board on Books for Young People board of directors. He is also chair of the 2017 Batchelder Award Committee and a member of the ALA Diversity Research Grants Advisory Committee. Naidoo served on the ALSC board of directors from 2012-2015, and he has worked on many ALA, ALSC, YALSA and REFORMA committees since 2006.

In addition to his work within ALA and REFORMA, Naidoo is director of the National Latino Children’s Literature Conference. A passionate advocate for diversity, he has published numerous articles, book chapters and books related to library services to culturally diverse children and their families.

Most recently, he co-authored “Once Upon a Cuento: Bilingual Storytimes in English and Spanish” (ALA, 2016) with Katie Scherrer. He has received many awards and honors, including the 2016 ALA Achievement in Library Diversity Research Award and the 2015 Humanitarian Award from the Alabama Library Association.

Naidoo earned his Master of Library and Information Studies in 2000 from The University of Alabama, where he went on to receive a doctorate in communication & information studies in 2006.

Before joining the UA School of Library and Information Studies in 2008, Naidoo was assistant professor at the University of South Carolina, School of Library and Information Science from 2006-2008.

Prior to that, he served as an elementary school library media specialist from 2000-2003 for Shelby County Schools in Alabama, and he also held various positions in Alabama public libraries from 1998 to 2006, including head of youth (children’s and young adult) services.

ALSC, a division of ALA, is the world’s largest organization dedicated to the support and enhancement of library service to children. With a network of more than 4,000 children’s and youth librarians, literature experts, publishers and educational faculty, ALSC is committed to creating a better future for children through libraries. To learn more about ALSC, visit their website.

The UA School of Library and Information Studies is a part of the College of Communication and Information Sciences.