APALA Travel Grant

Hana Kim

Hana Kim is currently the Director of the Cheng Yu Tung East Asian Library at the University of Toronto, Canada. Prior to that, she was the Head Librarian of the Asian Library at the University of British Columbia (2014-2016) in Vancouver, Canada, Acting Director of the East Asian Library at the University of Toronto (2012, 2014), and Korean Studies Librarian at the University of Toronto (2003-2014). In her current position, she leads a team of librarians, technicians, and student employees in all areas of library operations and ensures responsive interactions with the University community and Asian Canadian communities, as well as allied organizations, working locally and internationally to identify and implement mutual goals.

She holds a Bachelor’s of Education from the Korean National University of Education and a Master’s in Library and Information Science from McGill University, Canada. She has published on Asian Canadian heritage, rare material management, library management, collection development and Korean studies librarianship. She is broadly interested in collaborative collection development, Asian Canadian heritage, diversity, library advancement and digital humanities. In 2009, in collaboration with the University of British Columbia, she launched a nationwide Korean Canadian Heritage Archives Project. She is the recipient of numerous grants, fellowships, and awards including the 2018 Korean Canadian Heritage Award. She currently serves as the President of Council on East Asian Libraries (CEAL) in North America.

She has been a lifetime APALA member since 2012 and served as a member of the APALA 35th Anniversary Planning Committee (Fundraising Committee) from 2014 to 2015. During the period of 2018-2019, she also served as a member of the APALA Mentoring Committee and a mentor for the committee. Participating in the mentorship program was an unforgettable experience for Hana.

Andrew Carlos

Andrew Carlos (he/him) works at California State University, East Bay University Libraries as the Web Services Librarian. His work focuses on the intersection of emerging technologies and instruction, with an interest in outreach and community building. He previously worked as an on-call librarian at San Jose Public Library, as well as an electronic resources librarian at a small private high school in San Jose. Before earning his MLIS, he served as a circulation assistant, as a microform assistant, and an acquisitions assistant at a variety of library types. He is currently Membership Director of the California Academic & Reference Libraries (CARL) Association, as well as an active member of APALA. 

In his spare time, Andrew plays games online with friends and has picked up a drawing habit after years of wanting to learn how to become better at drawing. He also loves to cook, and has been collecting recipes for whenever he can cook for friends again.

Mitsuko Brooks

Mitsuko Brooks (she/her) is a graduate student pursuing a Master’s of Library and Information Studies and a Certificate in Archives and Preservation of Cultural Materials at Queens College (CUNY) and resides in the Land of the Munsee Lenape (Brooklyn). Mitsuko is the Social Media Coordinator for ARLIS/NA New York Chapter. She was awarded The American Library Association Spectrum Scholarship (2020), Queens College’s Graduate Student Endowment Scholarship (2019) and was a student council member of Queens College’s Asian/American Center (AAC) (2019). She holds an M.F.A. in Painting & Drawing from UCLA and a B.F.A. from Cooper Union School of Art. Mitsuko assists an artist inventorying her book collection, is a part-time reference librarian at the Cooper Union Library, and has previously interned at the Asian American Art Centre’s Artist Archive. She will begin as the Archive Project Summer Intern at Visual AIDS in June 2021. 

The 2021 ALA Annual Conference will be Mitsuko’s first time attending the ALA Annual Conference. Her interests are in serving BIPOC organizations, collections, and the digitization of visual-based archives.

The APALA Travel Grant provides $500.00 to support attendance at the American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference. Due to the ALA Annual Conference taking place virtually this year, the APALA Travel Grant was able to provide funding for the full cost of registration for three APALA members! Grant recipients will write reflections on their time attending the conference, and their reflections will be published in the APALA website/newsletter.

APALA Scholarship Award

Amrita S. Patel

Amrita S. Patel, alumna of University of Central Florida, is a Library Coordinator/Supervisor at Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, providing sensory, literacy and workforce development programs and services to non-traditional populations. In her role in Outreach, Amrita works with residents in the central and north Detention Centers facilitating programs that support GED instruction for youthful offenders, job search and financial literacy programs for re-entry populations, and literacy engagement activities that encourage self-reflection for residents incarcerated long term. Amrita caters to older adults in memory care facilities, adults in rehabilitation centers, and neurodiverse populations of all ages, facilitating literacy-based sensory programs, and also provides early literacy, school age, and college and career readiness library outreach services.

Amrita has designed and presented training curricula on local, state and national levels on a variety of subject matter, including the relevance and importance of sensory programs in libraries, developing inclusive customer service strategies, the benefits of outreach programs and services, and more recently racial equity and inclusion. With a delicate and deliberate approach, Amrita creates safe spaces to discuss challenging ideas. More recently, Amrita was invited to create “How to Talk About Race,” a 5-week learning circle designed to help educators facilitate conversations about race and racism. In her spare time, she serves as the Board President for Disability Rights & Resources, a grass roots agency whose mission is “to create a fully inclusive community in which all people, with and without disabilities, may pursue their own goals and choices for living and working together.

The APALA Scholarship will provide $1,000.00 of financial assistance to a student of Asian or Pacific background who is enrolled in, or has been accepted into, a master’s or doctoral degree program in library and/or information science at a school accredited by the American Library Association (ALA).

Congratulations to our 2021 Travel Grant and Scholarship Award recipients!

Sponsored by Springer Nature, the APALA Travel Grant provides $500.00 to support attendance at the American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference. Due to the ALA Annual Conference taking place virtually this year, the APALA Travel Grant was able to provide funding for the full cost of registration for three APALA members! Grant recipients will write reflections on their time attending the conference, and their reflections will be published in the APALA website/newsletter.