Midori Clark (MS '17), director of community relations, development & strategic initiatives for the Pueblo (CO) City-County Library District; Amita Lonial (MS '09), assistant director of the Tacoma (WA) Public Library; and Nataliya Papushina (MS '15), branch supervisor for the Indian Trails Public Library District in Wheeling (IL), are among the twenty-eight public librarians selected to participate in the Spring 2019 PLA Leadership Academy, which will be held March 25-29 in Chicago. The PLA Leadership Academy empowers public library professionals to become innovative and successful leaders of change, shifting their libraries from an internal approach—focused on organizational operations—to an external approach—focused on community needs. The centerpiece of the PLA Leadership Academy is a dynamic in-person event that includes four days of interactive education and networking.
The PLA Leadership Academy: Navigating Change · Building Community is a program developed in partnership with the International City and County Management Association and Adam Goodman, director of the Center for Leadership, Northwestern University, with support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Since the program's inception in 2013, a total of four academies have been held and 114 leaders have been trained.