Dr. Camila Alire

CHICAGO — Monte Vista native Dr. Camila Alire, dean emerita at the University of New Mexico and Colorado State University in Fort Collins began her term as 2009-10 president of the American Library Association (ALA) at ALA’s  national conference in Chicago.

As ALA president, Alire is the first Hispanic to head the group and the first Coloradan to hold the post in more than 100 years.

She is chief elected officer of the oldest and largest library organization in the world.

Established in 1876, the American Library Association has more than 65,000 members. Its mission is to provide leadership for the development, promotion and improvement of library and information services and the profession of librarianship in order to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all.

ALA also sets professional standards for the field and serves as the watchdog in Congress and the courts for the nation’s many libraries.

Alire is currently adjunct professor of practice (adjunct) for Simmons College’s Ph.D. program in managerial leadership and adjunct professor for San Jose State University Library and Information Science’s executive MLIS managerial leadership program. 

She served as dean of libraries at the University of Colorado at Denver and worked as a community college library director, special library director, school librarian (K-12) and assistant to the dean/instructor at the University of Denver’s LIS program.

Alire is a past president of the Association for College and Research Libraries (ACRL) (2005) and served as the national president (1993-94) of the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking (REFORMA). She received National REFORMA’s Librarian of the Year and was honored by Hispanic Business Magazine one year as one of the 100 most influential Hispanics in the country.

She also co-authored books on library services to Latino communities, disaster recovery and leadership and has written extensively on diversity.

The Monte Vista High School graduate earned her BA from Adams State College in 1970 with a minor in library science and took her first librarian job in Dulce, N.M.

A daughter of Mary and the late Joe D. Alire of Monte Vista, she earned her Master of Library Science degree from the University of Denver, and Ed.D. from the University of Northern Colorado.  She currently resides in Sedalia, Colo.