OK, so obviously, I’ve been an EL for all of a few days, really, so there are aspects of this I can’t comment on at all. But I do think this feedback has been taken at least somewhat to heart. The leadership orientation stuff on Friday was much more participatory & discussion-oriented than what you describe. It wasn’t a huge immersive leadership workshop, but they were also clear that it wasn’t meant to be that — that the whole program is a leadership experience, and that Friday was more of food for thought to get us started. Groups do now have mentors who are often past ELs, as well as liaisons from our project sponsors.

That said the projects still seem to vary widely in how much commitment-to-implementation is behind them. (I had gotten this feedback from past ELs so my most important project selection criterion was evidence of genuine institutional support — a reason to believe I’d be *implementing* something.) Too many of the projects are still of the form “write some recommendations”, with no authority delegated to ELs for implementation and no real evidence that the sponsors intend to implement them. And I’m also — concerned? optimistic? skeptical? — about ALA’s willingness (or ability) to change, to empower members to act on their energy. (Really this is one of the big reasons I’m in EL: I want to understand how ALA works. Well, insofar as anyone can understand that. ;)

When I put together that slideshow that you mentioned early in your article, I was happy that I went through the program (2007), but I was frustrated by so many things, most of which has already been communicated in this post. It is frustrating to see that so many of the problems I listed in that slideshow still exist. But like Peter Bromberg and others suggested in previous comments, I think it’s time for me to stop sitting on the sidelines and listening to other people complain about the program, but time to get involved to help make it a better program for all involved.

On a side note, the wiki says to contact someone from the ALA Office for Human Resource Development and Recruitment, but I have tried twice to contact this person about getting more involved, and I get no response. Kim – you said you sent your survey out to the listserv, and I’ve changed jobs since my involvement in the EL program and thus never got the announcement. I suspect that there are many others in the same boat. I have kept my email current with ALA, so I’m not sure what the holdup is. So it might be good to post the information about the planning meeting at ALA in Chicago in multiple places for the time being, while Project V does their thing in getting the communication channels laid out.

I hope other “Emerged Leaders” will be become more involved in the future of the Emerging Leaders program, too. Thanks for your inspiration, Kim!