Panelist Biographies
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Emily Sheketoff, Associate Executive Director, American Library Association
Emily Sheketoff is the Associate Executive Director of the American Library Association (ALA), managing the Washington Office. In that capacity, she directs lobbying efforts before Congress and the Executive Branch to fund libraries, and works on initiatives important to the library community such as family literacy, public access to government information, first amendment protection, and intellectual property and copyright issues. Ms. Sheketoff also oversees the policy work done by the Office for Information Technology Policy (OITP), an office that promotes the development and utilization of electronic access to information as a means to ensure the publics right to a free and open information society.
Prior to coming to the ALA Washington Office, Ms. Sheketoff was the Budget Coordinator for the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor, advising labor agencies on budget initiatives, and developing institutional strategies to communicate their ideas more effectively. Prior to that, as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA, she ran the day-to-day operations of this government enforcement agency, working with the staff to be more responsive to the public and small business.
Ms. SheketoffÕs previous positions include Director of Interagency Affairs and White House Liaison for the Office of Personnel Management, Deputy Director for the Office of Priority Placement, Office of Presidential Personnel in the Clinton Administration, and Special Assistant to the Director of the White House Office of Administration in the Carter Administration. In the U.S. Senate, Ms. Sheketoff was a researcher and aide to former Connecticut Senator Lowell P. Weicker on the Senate Watergate Committee, and she also served as an investigator and aide to the Staff Director on the House Intelligence Committee -- investigating the intelligence community.
In the media, Ms. Sheketoff served as the Washington Bureau Producer for the Monitor Channel of the Christian Science Monitor, and covered the Pentagon during the Gulf War. As an assignment editor with the World Monitor, she produced commentaries and made assignments to 20 reporters and 30 producers worldwide. Ms. Sheketoff also worked for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in the CBCÕs Washington Bureau.
She holds a BachelorÕs Degree in American studies from George Washington University, and spent her junior year at the University of Copenhagen.
June 2005