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I have just returned from the American Library Association’s 2014 National Library Legislative Day in Washington, D.C, and I give a big thanks to Martha Hutzel of Central Rappahannock Regional Library who bravely took up the mantle this year as Virginia’s Federal Legislative Coordinator. I also very much appreciate the delegation of Virginia librarians who assisted Martha in her lobbying efforts, including delegates Christie Hoerneman, Mutahara Mobashar, Margaret Howard, Jacqueline Sullivan, James Sanderson, Katie Hoskins, Alan Sonner, Suzanna Panter, Lisa Varga, Laura Horne-Popp, and Tina McPherson. The ALA legislative agenda not only consisted of budget appropriations such as Innovative Approaches to Literacy (IAL) and the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA), but also involved legislation about early learning, E-Rate discounts, school libraries, cyber privacy and surveillance, network neutrality, workforce investment, and open access to research and information.

At the beginning of this New Year I cannot help but think of David Bowie’s song “Changes.” The lyrics “Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes, turn and face the strain, Ch-ch-changes…” echo in my mind more and more as each day passes. Every day those of us in the library profession are presented with something new — opportunities for growth, experimentation, and exploration. But this has been the nature of libraries since the beginning of recorded knowledge. I am sure many of you have seen the quote on T-shirts or Facebook, “Change is good, you go first.” With that in mind I am always impressed with libraries that are brave enough to be the first to make changes in traditional library service or be the first to try out new things like open source information management systems. Kudos to everyone who has embarked on an adventure like Evergreen (the open source system developed by the Georgia PINES consortium).

It has been almost two months since our annual conference as I write my first President’s Column for the Virginia Library Association’s quarterly journal. It is easy to feel overwhelmed since the president’s responsibilities begin the second the gavel is passed. However, behind every successful president is a very well organized chief of staff, and mine is Executive Director Lisa Varga.