VALLers,
How time flies! Almost a year ago, although it feels just like yesterday, I stepped up to the call to be your servant leader. Just as there is time for everything, I have come to the end of my tenure.
I thank all the members, especially the members of my board and various committees. I also thank some people in particular, including Evelyn Campbell, Sally Wambold, Fred Dingledy and Michele Genhardt for their advice and untiring efforts at keeping our association strong and virile. With their help and the goodwill of all the members, I am glad to pass on the baton to a new executive. I am also filled with deep appreciation for my library Director, Prof. Barbara Baxter for her encouragement and support throughout my tenure. Julie Stuckey and Eric Kistler (my colleagues at the Ehrhorn Law Library, Liberty University School of Law), you guys made the difference in picking the pieces for me while I travelled to attend all VALL meetings this past year.
Working with a crop of talented and committed members made all the difference in the modest achievements VALL recorded during my tenure. We made our association more visible to the members and our community by exploiting the huge potentials that technology offers. This in turn allowed us to provide timely information to the members and increased attendance at VALL events. We also amended our Bylaws in order to reflect the current economic reality by cutting down the mandatory meetings of the association. This year, too, our association set up a grant in honor of our late colleague – Barbara Cumming. Thanks to the efforts and vision of Jean Holcomb, Donna Bausch, and Michele Gernhardt.
Gail Zwirner, Lyn Warmath, and Sally Wambold also did us proud by winning the prestigious AALL Marketing Award in recognition of the immense contributions of our association and her members to the library community and legal profession in Virginia. In all of these, I pride myself on the caliber of talents in VALL and their unwavering willingness to serve.
Thank you all for the opportunity you gave me to serve. It is particularly both honor and privilege for me to work with and get to know many of you individually.
I will always remain,
Anthony Brown Ikwueme
