From the Chair

Summer in Chicago

Kian Flynn

The last time I was in Chicago, a chapter of my life had just ended. I had just graduated from Carleton College in Northfield, MN, and took a summer road trip with family south and east from the Carleton campus to the Windy City. We caught a Cubs game at the iconic Wrigley Field, watched the July 4th fireworks over Navy Pier, and posed for photos under the Bean. As I basked in a glorious Chicago summer week, I wasn’t sure what the next chapter of my life would be. Applying for library school was still a year away.

I look forward to returning to Chicago this month, over ten years later, at the closing of another chapter of my professional life. It has been a true honor to serve as the Chair of the Government Documents Round Table over the past year. It has been a pleasure working with my colleagues on the GODORT Steering Committee, promoting GODORT and our services to the broader association and membership, and thinking about how we can continue to be instrumental in promoting access to government information in libraries.

Though my year as Chair will be coming to a close in Chicago, I won’t be going anywhere, and I look forward to contributing in the future to GODORT. I know I’ll be leaving the chairship in the capable hands of Benjamin Aldred.

But before I pass on the gavel, we have a busy and exciting month ahead of us. First, we hope to see you all at the virtual GODORT meetings (https://godort.libguides.com/2023annual) that will be taking place the week before the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago. These meetings are a great opportunity for old and new members alike to get up to speed on what is happening in GODORT.

The week after, we hope you will join us in Chicago for an exciting weekend of events. GODORT has a nice mix of educational programming, social events, and celebrations lined up to supplement the many other great programs on tap at the conference. A few highlights:

1. GODORT will be sponsoring three different programs at Annual, all three highlighting Chicago libraries and collections: Chicago Data in Action with PPIRS, Advocacy Stories from Chicago Libraries (GODORT Chair’s Program), and Revealing Chicago’s Planning Past Digitally with MAGIRT
2. GODORT’s five ALA Emerging Leaders—Jennifer Castle, Laura Tadena, Kelly Bilz, Amanda He, and Hale Polebaum-Freeman—will be presenting their work on the GODORT Library Communities Vote project at the Emerging Leaders poster session
3. GODORT will celebrate our Award recipients at our Awards Reception on Sunday night (June 25th) at the Glessner House. Join us for light refreshments and a toast to our award-winning colleagues: Stephen Hayes, Nia Rodgers, Marie Concannon, Mary Sine Clark, Ben Amata, James Church, Kay Cassell, and Kathryn Tallman.

In order for GODORT to continue offering these types of programs and events, we encourage you to consider donating to GODORT this summer or bidding in our GODORT Silent Auction sponsored by Readex for vacation rentals in Vermont and Florida.

As we come to the end of the ’22–’23 GODORT year, I also would like to thank all of our committee chairs and members for their contributions to GODORT this year. I look forward to toasting your accomplishments in Chicago. If you haven’t already, I highly encourage you to consider volunteering for service on a committee this year and keeping the great work of GODORT moving forward.

Kian Flynn (flynnk7@uw.edu), Geography and Global Studies Librarian, University of Washington.