Dear Safranim, With permissions, and with contact info redacted, I am sharing a recent letter of support for ALA Presidential Candidate Kelvin Watson from Mrs. Hannah Hostyk. As you are considering your choices for ALA President, this may be helpful. In addition, it's great to see that we have allies in ALA leadership who are working with the Jewish community. Best regards, Sally
[text of email below] Hi Sally! It’s so nice that Kelvin connected us! I am the co-president of the Stirling Library Friends and although our group is large (over 400 members), our library is a small one, nestled within a heavily Jewish area. For years before Kelvin came to Broward County, we had actively campaigned to have our library open on Sundays (because our library was a small one, our hours had been reduced and we were open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday). All prior directors ignored our request and I believe none of them truly understood how key a library was to our community. I was so surprised by the insensitivity of the library staff to take our situation seriously or to dialogue with us about this issue. Everything changed once Kelvin became the BCL Director. He visited our branch often and took the time to understand the neighborhood around the library. He advocated on our behalf to the Broward County Board of Commissioners and worked with our branch’s somewhat resistant staff to explain how opening up on Sundays would benefit the community and thus would be a good thing for all of us. Ultimately, Kelvin succeeded in opening up our library on Sundays and we were the only library of our size to do so. We will always be grateful to him for the time and energy he spent in getting this done. Kelvin also took an active role in dealing with an outside group that used our library as a venue for what was seen by the community as an anti-Israel program. He spoke with leaders from the Jewish community and discussed this also with me and found ways to diffuse the situation. He spent time educating the library staff on why this program was not a wise choice for this location. He was involved with ensuring proper security to make sure that there would be no incidents. Again, he went the extra mile for us. I have always been impressed by Kelvin’s dedication, professionalism, and leadership but I especially appreciate that he puts in the time to understand the different communities served by the public library. He has gone out of his way to include the Jewish community as a community with specific needs, at least in Hollywood, Florida and I am so appreciative for his sensitivity and vision in addressing our concerns. [end of email text] -- Sally Stieglitz she/her Communications and Outreach Coordinator *Liaison to Academic, Hospital, and Special Libraries * Long Island Library Resources Council 631.675.1570 ext. 2005 sstiegl...@lilrc.org https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.lilrc.org__;!!KGKeukY!l1dRjnXOSTJfn-lWk-R7ig4pqwPSGyOp0h5U9tco1OCRDgGgdM25oUR9nINQq4s0694$ [image: ORCID] https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1552-9188__;!!KGKeukY!l1dRjnXOSTJfn-lWk-R7ig4pqwPSGyOp0h5U9tco1OCRDgGgdM25oUR9nINQ5SEhb2I$ LILRC is a member of the Empire State Library Network (ESLN <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.esln.org/__;!!KGKeukY!l1dRjnXOSTJfn-lWk-R7ig4pqwPSGyOp0h5U9tco1OCRDgGgdM25oUR9nINQsb6qIGg$ >) Follow LILRC on Facebook <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.facebook.com/LILRCouncil/__;!!KGKeukY!l1dRjnXOSTJfn-lWk-R7ig4pqwPSGyOp0h5U9tco1OCRDgGgdM25oUR9nINQq7c05rU$ > Twitter <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://twitter.com/lilrc__;!!KGKeukY!l1dRjnXOSTJfn-lWk-R7ig4pqwPSGyOp0h5U9tco1OCRDgGgdM25oUR9nINQw0y2P-M$ > Instagram <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.instagram.com/lilrcevents/__;!!KGKeukY!l1dRjnXOSTJfn-lWk-R7ig4pqwPSGyOp0h5U9tco1OCRDgGgdM25oUR9nINQwe0Wv6I$ >
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