From the Executive Director —
I recently had the great honor of closing out the 2020 Academic Library Association of Ohio’s virtual conference. Like many other organizations this year, ALAO had to pivot from an in person to virtual program, and this was reflected in their theme centered on resilience. My initial response when hearing the theme was to confess that I do not feel at all resilient this year, at least based on the Oxford Languages definition of resilience, which is “the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.” Recover? Maybe. Quickly? Definitely not.
Spurred by memories of the 1970’s fire safety mnemonic “Stop, Drop, and Roll,” I used my current uncertainty about resilience to craft a message reminding us that despite what we might be feeling in the moment, we are in fact resilient. Given that I am writing this message days before what has been billed, by the BBC and others, as “the most important election in US history,” it seems a timely reminder.
I don’t know what will happen on November 3. And frankly, by the time you’re reading this a few days later, we may still not have any concrete answers. What I do know is that no matter what happens, we need to remain focused on ensuring that the ideals espoused in the Preamble of the United States Constitution – specifically “Justice, domestic Tranquility, and the Blessings of Liberty” – are realized by all of the people of the United States. We have a long way to go, and our resilience will be more important than ever as our profession and our country continue to evolve.
Take care,
Nancy
