Candidate for President-Elect

Melissa Gross Ph.D.

Professor

School of Library and Information Studies

College of Communication and Information

Florida State University

Candidate’s Statement

Like many members, I attended my first ALISE conference as a doctoral student, thinking about my first faculty position. Over the years, I have become increasingly involved in ALISE and believe that I am in a unique position to provide continuity in the development and application of ALISE policy and procedures as the Association continues to move forward. I am committed to furthering the ALISE mission that makes it the premier association promoting excellence in library and information science education. My recent contributions to ALISE include:

• Director for Membership Services, 2007-2010. In this role I finalized the procedures for conference planning, and (with a talented and hard working committee!) instituted a new program of continuing education called the ALISE Academy.
• Co-chair of the ALISE Conference Planning Committee, 2006 to 2007.  I also organized the Curriculum Vita and Portfolio Review sessions held at the 2006 and 2007 ALISE annual conferences.
• Co-convener of the Youth Services Special Interest Group, 2006 -2007.  Under this charge, I was responsible for the youth SIG sessions at the annual ALISE meeting winter, 2007. During this time, Nancy Everhart and Don Latham (both School of Library and Information Studies Faculty), and I established the ALISE/Linworth Youth Services Special Interest Group Paper Award, which recognizes an outstanding paper reporting innovative research in youth services with a $1,000 award. The first year this award was given, I co-chaired the Linworth/ALISE Youth Services Special Interest Group Paper Award Committee (2007 to 2008).
• I have also served as a reviewer for the juried papers and currently chair the ALISE Juried Paper Proposals Committee.

Biography

Melissa Gross, Professor, School of Library and Information Studies, College of  Communication and Information, Florida State University, attended her first ALISE conference in 1997, when she was a Ph.D. candidate. Dr. Gross is currently Chair of the ALISE Juried Paper Proposals committee. She received her Ph.D. in Library and Information Science from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1998, received the prestigious American Association of University Women Recognition Award for Emerging Scholars in 2001, and has published extensively in the areas of information seeking behavior, library program and service evaluation, and information resources for youth. Current projects include investigations into the information literacy needs of undergraduates and the HIV/AIDS content of materials developed for a young adult audience. Dr. Gross’ most recent books are HIV/AIDS in Young Adult Novels: An Annotated Bibliography., co-authored with Annette Goldsmith and Debi Carruth (Scarecrow Press, forthcoming); Studying Children’s Questions: Information Seeking Behavior in School, (Scarecrow Press, 2006 ); and Dynamic Youth Services through Outcome Based Planning and Evaluation, co-authored with Eliza Dresang and Leslie Holt (ALA Publications, 2006).

Her complete vita is available at: http://directory.slis.fsu.edu/Directory/profile.php?id=54&info=summary