For Immediate Release
Monday, 02/13/2017
CONTACT:
Melissa Cardenas-Dow
Co-chair, Communications & Media Committee
Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association
(909) 793-2030
melissa.cardenasdow@gmail.com
APALA congratulates Lessa Kanani’opua Pelayo-Lozada and Patty Wong on their election to the ALA Executive Board
With great pride and joy, the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA) extends its congratulations to Lessa Kanani’opua Pelayo-Lozada, current APALA President and lifetime member, and Patricia (Patty) M. Wong, former APALA President and lifetime member. Both were elected to the American Library Association (ALA) Executive Board during the 2017 Midwinter Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia held from January 20 to 24.
They, along with Trevor A. Dawes, long-time member of the Black Caucus of ALA (BCALA) and former President of the Association of Research & College Libraries (ACRL), will start their positions on the ALA Executive Board in July 2017. Other APALA members who currently serve on the ALA Executive Board are Loida Garcia-Febo, Mike Marlin, ALA President-Elect Jim Neal, and ALA President Julie Todaro. Along with current BCALA members Julius C. Jefferson, Jr. and Karen Downing, the addition of Dawes, Pelayo-Lozada, and Wong will create the most ethnically diverse ALA Executive Board in history.
Of her new ALA Executive Board position, APALA President Lessa Pelayo-Lozada states: “I see my election to the ALA Executive Board as our–APALA’s–election. We are proof that APALA’s focus on mentorship and support of its members works. Whether APALA’s support is through stellar programs and projects for our communities, leadership in our communities through library workers, managers, and directors, or work in our larger professional organizations, we have impact. APALA may be a small organization, but it is mighty. It will make its voice, and the voices of its brother- and sister-affiliates, heard louder than ever before.”
Patty Wong is the former Yolo County Librarian and Archivist in California. She is currently in the process of relocating and will be the incoming City Librarian of Santa Monica, California.
Dawes, Pelayo-Lozada, and Wong will be serving on the ALA Executive Board from Fall 2017 to Summer 2020.
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About the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA)
Founded in 1980, the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. All donations to APALA are tax deductible and support our work for library services, programs, scholarships, awards, and grants related to library services benefiting Asian/Pacific Americans and Asian/Pacific American librarians.