The 2017 APALA Executive Board election will open on Wednesday, March 22, 2017 at 9 AM EDT. The ballot will be open through Wednesday, April 5, 2017 at 9 PM PDT. Eligible members will receive an online ballot on March 22, 2017.
Online voting is open to dues-paying and lifetime APALA members who are members in good standing as of March 13, 2017.
Click to jump to see each set of candidates:
Vice-President
Secretary
Member-at-Large
Vice-President/President-Elect Candidate
Brian Leaf is the Emerging Technologies Coordinator for the National Network of Libraries of Medicine South Central Region. He received his MSLS from UNC-Chapel Hill and worked as the Instructional Design Librarian at The Ohio State University for several years. In that position, he helped lead the Digital Storytelling Program, expanding its reach with on- and off-campus partners. In his current role, he does marketing, outreach, and education for a five-state region. His interests lie in developing solutions around health information to enhance the well-being of under-served communities.
He has presented at a variety of venues on information literacy and digital storytelling, and out of those efforts, co-wrote a chapter in the forthcoming International Handbook of Digital Storytelling. In 2013, he was directly involved in the design and implementation of a survey as part of ALA President Molly Raphael’s initiative, Building Bridges to Mentoring. Brian is a proud alumnus of both the ALA Spectrum Scholarship Program and the ARL Career Enhancement Program.
Statement of Interest
Serving this association as Member-at-Large has been a great honor, and it’s humbling to be considered for VP/President-Elect of APALA. Its mission has always resonated with me, but the dedication, kindness, and authenticity of its members makes me proud to be here. It’s from all of you that I have learned what it means to connect with and serve others. In the process of learning that lesson, and continuing to do so, APALA became my professional home. Just like home and family, service to APALA has been a fulfilling, but not always smooth journey. Whether it was designing a program book for the 35th anniversary celebration, liaising to committees, slogging through iterations of the website, or my current membership drive project, I’ve gained key insights–both big picture and organizationally–into the association.
APALA serves a wide range of communities and provides a crucial APA voice in an increasingly tumultuous climate, and the responsiveness of our current and past presidents to the events of the nation and ALA have been inspiring. Continuing that strong leadership is necessary to enhance the work we do with our communities and to fight for what’s just–and when I say “strong leadership,” I mean everyone that makes up this association. Lately, I’ve asked members about their experience with APALA and received varied responses from how it’s helped shape identities (to which I can relate) to developing leadership skills. There’s no one story, and that’s the beauty of this organization. But our diversity and intersectionality means that in order to grow and make our organization valuable to future members, we need to work together to develop a consistent message around a shared vision. If elected, my focus would be not only strengthening our external relationships with key partners, but strengthening our bonds within so that I–and all of us–can represent and lead APALA forward.
Secretary Candidates
Tarida Anantachai is a Learning Commons Librarian at Syracuse University, where she provides general and interdisciplinary reference, instruction, and outreach. She also serves as the liaison to her campus’ international student services center, English language institute, and multicultural affairs office. She received her MSLIS from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and her BA in English and American Literature from Brandeis University. Tarida was a 2013 ALA Emerging Leader, a participant in the 2014 MN Institute for Early Career Librarians, and stays connected to the library profession as an active contributor to several national and regional associations. In addition to her APALA involvement, she currently holds offices as the Vice-Chair of the ACRL Diversity Committee, a Member-at-Large of the ACRL University Libraries Section, and the Past President of the Eastern NY Chapter of ACRL; she is also a member of groups such as the inaugural ACRL Diversity Alliance Task Force and ACRL 2017 Invited Presentations Committee. Prior to her stint in librarianship, Tarida worked in the academic publishing industry.
Statement of Interest
I am absolutely honored for the nomination to run for APALA Secretary. At the time a freshly minted librarian attending the 2012 JCLC Conference, I remember feeling both immediately embraced by the APALA members I met for the first time there, as well as eager to follow up this experience by seeking out opportunities to further connect with the organization. For every year since then, I have been delighted to participate on the Literature Awards Committee for Adult Fiction and three times on the Literature Awards Committee for Children’s Literature (on which I am still currently serving); for the former, I was humbled to also serve as its Chair from 2014-2016. While these have allowed me to collaborate and learn from a diverse range of colleagues across APALA, I have been especially appreciative of the dialogues they have also stimulated on issues ranging from APA identity to the significance of APA representation in literature and media, among others. It is this overall sense of community, social activism, and inclusiveness that makes APALA an organization of which I am proud to call myself a member.
Throughout my still-growing career in librarianship, I have maintained a strong interest in issues related to diversity and inclusion, as well as in supporting the development of library professionals from underrepresented groups. It is this same passion that I hope to bring with me as APALA’s incoming Secretary. I believe that my experience advocating for APA and diverse communities, my organizational skills as a former project manager, and my partnership-building experience working with groups across the library profession, have equipped me with the drive and skillsets not only to fulfill the duties of this position, but also to further champion the needs and continued growth of the APALA community.
Sheeji Kathuria is an Assistant Professor and Social Sciences Librarian at Mississippi State University (MSU). Since 2014, she has been the subject specialist for the departments of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures, Political Science and Public Administration, Psychology, and Sociology, as well as the embedded librarian with the Social Science Research Center. As of 2016, she is also MSU Libraries’ Social Media Research Librarian, where she chairs the library’s social media committee as well as teaches workshops and provides research support related to effective online presence and social media. Before coming to Mississippi State University, she was an Instruction Librarian at the University of Alabama in Huntsville and a Reference Librarian at Georgia Perimeter College.
She received her MLIS from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 2011, and Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the University of Georgia in 2006.
Statement of Interest
While in graduate school I was a scholarship recipient in the Association of Research Libraries’ (ARL) Initiative to Recruit a Diverse Workforce (2009-2011 cohort), where I had the unique opportunity to network with librarians of color and was introduced to APALA as an organization. This experience taught me how crucial it is for minority librarian populations to network and connect with each other. As a result, I have been an active member of APALA since 2012. I have served back-to-back one year terms on both the Membership Committee and Mentoring Committees since 2014.
On the Membership committee, I have promoted the benefits of APALA membership to various library oriented listservs, helped maintain the membership database for lapsed memberships, and reached out to lapsed members to encourage them to rejoin. It is crucial that we not only recruit interested librarians to APALA, but retain the members we have, and serving on the Membership Committee has allowed me to play a role in this mission. On the Mentoring committee, I have reviewed the applications for potential mentors and protégés, and helped pair up like-minded librarians leading to fruitful relationships. I was also selected to serve as a mentor to a protégé APALA member in 2015, with whom I remain in regular contact. APALA has provided wonderful opportunities to new and often-siloed Asian and Pacific American librarians, and it’s been a distinct pleasure of mine to help us connect with each other across the country.
I am committed to the work APALA does and will continue to do going forward. It would be an honor to serve as Secretary to this organization. I am committed to meeting the unique needs of Asian and Pacific American librarians and those who serve Asian and Pacific American communities. I feel our mission is currently more crucial now than ever, and I’m ready for this exciting challenge.
Annie Pho is the Inquiry and Instruction Librarian for Peer-to-Peer Services and Powell Public Programs at UCLA. In her role at UCLA, she wears many hats including providing leadership for Powell Library’s peer services, as well as coordinating events and exhibits for the library. She has a Bachelor’s in Art History from San Francisco State University and an Master’s in Library Science from Indiana University – Indianapolis. She serves on the editorial board for In the Library With the Lead Pipe, is co-editing the book Pushing the Margins: Women of Color and Intersectionality in LIS and is the co-editor of the Critical Race and Multiculturalism Series for Library Juice Press along with Rose Chou. Her research interests include intersectionality and women of color in LIS, student research behavior, and feminist pedagogy in information literacy instruction. In her free time, she likes to hang out with her cats, explore the city of Los Angeles, and spends way too much time reading comments on the internet.
Statement of Interest
It is an honor to have been nominated for the APALA Secretary position. In my work as a librarian, I have a lot of experience coordinating professional efforts with colleagues in a variety of institutions across the country. In this position, I would strive to keep open lines of communication among the Executive Board members and be diligent about documenting the meetings to keep the decision-making process of the Board transparent to all APALA members.
APALA has been one of my main professional homes in the few years that I have been in the field, and I have served on a variety of committees and task forces throughout that time. For the last 4 years, I have served on and co-chaired the Diversity and Outreach Poster Fair Task Force where we are tasked with highlighting the work of APALA Members at the ALA Annual conference. In 2015, I also served on the Executive Board as a Member-at-Large, where I served as a liaison for APALA Committees and the Board. I look forward to continuing to serve APALA and make stronger connections with our community.
Susie Oh Quinn is currently a member of APALA Archives Task Force and Program Planning Committee for 2016-2017. Susie is a Cataloging Librarian for the County of Los Angeles Public Library. She also works as a Reference Assistant with Whittier Library on her free time and works Sunday Reference with COLAPL. She currently serves on COLAPL’s Homeless Services Think Tank. She is passionate about helping others improve their lives.
Susie has over 15 years of experience in various aspects of web development as a freelance developer and New Media Author/Designer with DCA Advertising. Her first taste in the library world was as a Slide Librarian at Scripps College between 1997-1999; where she digitized their art history analog slide collection, as well as trained work-study students on the digitization process. After she completed her MLIS from San Jose State University, SLIS in May of 2010,, she worked briefly at Southern California Library Cooperative (SCLC), as a Reference Librarian. She provided second level reference to member libraries, reference through Instant Librarian, and developed webcasts, highlighting SCLC’s webliographies. She was employed with the Sierra Madre Public Library as an Associate Librarian for about a year and a half, where she provided reference services, provided web and online support for the City and Library website using Joomla! CMS. She also helped with the digitization of city documents, purchased electronic books via Overdrive for the library, and assisted patrons on the use of the library’s collections and services. She also volunteered with her sons’ school library, where she helped them obtain a contract with Overdrive.
Susie is mostly busy with her two boys and enjoys many types of exercise to stay active and healthy. Her favorite types of books to read are anything sci-fi, technology-related, autobiographies, and historical fiction. Some of her favorite books are The Road, The Devil in the White City, Neuromancer, 1984, Utopia, and Ender’s Game.
Statement of Interest
Susie is interested in running as Secretary for APALA so she can become more involved in committee work and to improve upon her leadership skills. This year, she is serving on the Archives Task Force and the Program Planning Committee. Her tasks for the Archives Task Force was to write up a draft for a Records Inventory Survey and to create a letter of intent to survey APALA’s records situation. Her tasks with the Program Planning committee was to solicit speakers for the APALA President’s Program at the upcoming 2017 ALA Conference in Chicago, come up with additional program ideas, and will be to help with organization and logistics for the program.
Member-at-Large Candidates
Lana Adlawan is currently the Supervising Librarian for Teen Services with the Oakland Public Library (CA). Lana began her career at the Oakland Public Library, first starting as a Library Aide and then Library Assistant before heading off to Brooklyn, New York, to participate in the Public Urban Librarian Service Education (PULSE), an IMLS grant program in partnership with the Brooklyn Public Library. Lana was hired as a PULSE librarian trainee for the Brooklyn Public Library while enrolled in Pratt Institute’s Master of Science in Library and Information Science Program. She received her MSLIS in 2008, and was hired as a Children’s Librarian with the Brooklyn Public Library. In 2010, Lana made the move back to sunny California as a Youth Services Librarian with the Sacramento Public Library, being promoted to Library Supervisor II & III positions before transitioning back to her current position with the Oakland Public Library in 2013. Lana was born and raised on the island of Oahu in Hawaii, and moved to California at age 12. Sunshine, living and working in ethnically diverse communities, and being a member of APALA are essential to her both personally and professionally.
Professional Service
2017 Member, YALSA Margaret A. Edwards Committee
2015 Member, California Library Association (CLA) John and Patricia Beatty Award Committee 2013-2014 Member, Coretta Scott King Book Awards Committee
2013 Paul Harris Fellow, Rotary International
2011 California Library Association, Eureka! Leadership Institute Fellow
2010- 2011 Chair, APALA Young Adult Literature Award Committee 2010-2011 Member, APALA Scholarship Committee
2009-2011 Member, YALSA Alex Awards Committee
2009 ALA Emerging Leader, sponsored by APALA
Statement of Interest
I would be honored to join APALA’s Executive Board as Member-at-Large. I first joined APALA in 2006 and immediately felt at home in its membership. In 2008, I was sponsored by APALA for the ALA Emerging Leaders Program, and in 2010-2011, served on both the Scholarship Committee and chaired the Young Adult Literature Committee. In 2015, I also took part in APALA’s 35th Anniversary Symposium, Building Bridges: Connecting Communities Through Librarianship & Advocacy, serving on the “Choosing Leadership” panel with other APALA members. I have been professionally active for a number of years in both the American Library and California Library Associations, and if elected Member-at-Large, would work actively to recruit new APALA members as well as continue to promote APALA’s work to members of other divisions within ALA and the larger library profession. APALA provided an immense amount of support to me at the beginning of my career by sponsoring me for the ALA Emerging Leaders Program and I’d like to return that support by taking a larger leadership role within APALA, to work in partnership with other members of the APALA Executive Board for the 2017-2019 term.
Jaena Rae Cabrera is an adult services librarian at the Excelsior Branch of the San Francisco Public Library. She also worked as a sub/floater librarian throughout SFPL’s 27 branches, providing a variety of services, from running adult and teen programs to taking on storytimes on the fly. Before SFPL, Jaena was a web producer and archivist at Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting in the San Francisco Bay Area. Jaena is Filipina-American and has a BA in journalism from San Francisco State University, with a minor in philosophy and religion. Jaena received her MLIS from Syracuse University in 2013, with an emphasis on digital libraries. In addition to APALA, she volunteers for BayNet, a library and information network for the SF Bay Area. Jaena is also a member of the American Library Association and the California Library Association. Her professional interests include digital literacy, and outreach and engagement; she strongly believes in diversity and inclusion. The library is a place where all are welcome. Jaena is originally from Carson, CA but now calls San Francisco home.
Statement of Interest
I am extremely honored to be considered for a Member-at-Large position. I hope to use my professional experience in social media, community engagement and project management to help APALA in all of its endeavours. Because of my journalism and communications background, I can facilitate and generate dialogue between a variety of groups, as well as implement strategies that arise from these collaborations. I strongly value the importance of shared knowledge and how it can contribute to the well-being and growth of the group. As a Member-at-Large, I will contribute more heavily to making APALA a forum and support group for librarians to engage in pertinent issues in our field, as well as the larger issues of the APA community and beyond. Being on the Executive Board will connect me with the movers and shakers in library leadership. APALA, along with other library organizations, is in a unique position to leverage discussions about diversity, gender, and accessibility. If elected, I will strive to strengthen our APALA community and make our ideas heard. I entered the library world because of my belief in the transformational power of libraries as a community space. We provide information and are instrumental against tyranny, “fake news” and alternative facts.
Past and current APALA involvement
I joined APALA in 2011 when I first began my MLIS program; I was eager to begin learning and growing in the APA library community. I first participated in APALA’s Mentoring Program, which introduced me to a number of library professionals in the Bay Area, which really helped me with my coursework and familiarizing myself with the profession. I currently serve on APALA’s communications and media committee as the Layout Newsletter Editor. I redesigned the quarterly newsletter. I also joined the President’s Program Planning Committee last year, procuring and being the liaison for speakers at APALA programs in Orlando. Previously, I was on the web content subcommittee as an editor and writer, and served on APALA’s web committee, and the newsletter and publications committee.
Susan Hoang is a Librarian at Santa Ana College, a community college, where she provides reference and instruction and also oversees systems and technical services. She believes strongly in the transformative role of education in people’s lives and the role that libraries and librarians play in providing educational access to our communities. She graduated with a BA in History from Pomona College, worked in non-profit and community development, and then received her MLIS from San Jose State in 2009. She has worked as a librarian at Whittier College, East Los Angeles College and Carleton College in MN. A member of APALA, ACRL, and ALA, she has been active in the Women and Gender Studies Section of ACRL and was an ALA Emerging Leader in 2013. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she now lives in Long Beach, CA, and is taking a wilderness class so she can enjoy the outdoors in a way she never could as a kid growing up in the city.
Statement of Interest
I am honored and excited to run as a Member-at-Large for APALA, whose mission as a supportive space for APA librarians and the communities we serve is something I feel strongly about. I have been a member of APALA since library school in 2010 when I was introduced to the organization as a Spectrum Scholar. Since then, I have served on the Scholarships and Awards Committee, Membership and Mentoring Committee, and the Literature Awards committee, including previously as Chair of the Picture Book subcommittee and currently Chair of the Children’s Literature subcommittee. In 2013, I was sponsored by APALA to be an Emerging Leader, helping to craft a member survey. These were all enriching and rewarding experiences for my professional and personal development. I’m excited for an opportunity to continue to grow and build community with my colleagues in APALA.
Valeria E. Molteni has a Licensure in Librarianship and Documentation from the National University of Mar del Plata, Argentina; a Master of Science in Information Studies from the University of Texas, Austin and she completed the coursework for the PhD Program for Scientific Information and Documentation from the University of Granada, Spain. Before coming to the US, she worked as a librarian for more than ten years in Argentina where she developed a career in the area of special and academic libraries and taught university level courses related to Library Science. She has published journal and conference articles on the analysis of academic information science (scientometrics, bibliometrics, and webometrics), on methods and evaluation for university research systems, on electronic journal collections, and on academic library services for minorities’ populations and international students. In the United States, she worked at the Benson Collection at University of Texas, Austin; as the Multicultural and Outreach Librarian at the University Library, CSU Dominguez Hills, Carson, California; and Academic Liaison Librarian at the Martin Luther King Jr. Library, San José State University, where she obtained tenure in May of 2015. Between August 2015 and December 2016, she was the Interim Associate Dean for Research and Scholarship at the Martin Luther King Library, San José State University, San José, CA. Currently, she is an Associate Librarian at the same institution.
Statement of Interest
I have been a member of APALA since 2011 with an active role in the Association. My participation in the Scholarships & Awards Committee from 2011 to 2016, first as a member and then as a chair, gave me the opportunity to return to my peers and community what I have received through my professional life since my studies were financed with scholarships and fellowships. I am an immigrant in this country, who found in APALA a professionally nurturing space. I have a strong commitment to the values of the public education and the concepts of diversity and cultural competences. I see diversity in the practice of the library profession as being about adopting an attitude of inclusion at different levels and spaces in libraries. APALA has been the perfect place to fulfill this commitment. I have had the opportunity to be trained in the leadership arena through three important professional venues: ALA Emerging Leaders (2010), ALA Leadership Institute (2014) and lastly, the Harvard Leadership Institute for Academic Librarians (2016). I am looking forward to working with the APALA Executive Board and put to practice the skills I gained. APALA is a very inclusive organization, which has supported my professional growth through networking and the opportunity of active participation in its committees. The nomination to Member-at-Large is another step in my professional journey and I await the opportunity to work with and for the members to make an even better APALA!!!