For Immediate Release
Wednesday, June 1, 2022
CONTACT:
Silvia Lew
Co-Chair, Media & Publicity Committee
Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association
communications@apalaweb.org
The Asian Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA) thanks Springer Nature for its generous donation of $30,000. APALA’s commitment and call to action to combating anti-Asian racism and xenophobia aligned with Springer Nature’s goals and interests. This funding will support the association’s key initiatives and programs with and for our members. The donation came to APALA in December 2021 and will be be applied to these activities for 2021-2022:
- Talk Story Program Funding for 2022
- Creation of new the APALA Career Center
- Joint Conference of Librarians of Color (JCLC) Sponsorship & Four APALA Travel Grants to JCLC 2022
- Trademarking APALA’s Asian Pacific American Award for Literature Seal
- Right to be Training (formerly iHollaback): How to Respond to Anti-Asian/American Harassment When It Happens To You” for APALA members on March 18, 2022
These priorities and activities were discussed by an ad hoc group composed of members from APALA’s Finance and Fundraising Committee, Membership Committee, and Executive Board. In December, APALA’s Executive Board discussed these projects and voted on funding them using Springer Nature’s donation.
Ray Pun, APALA President, shared, “We are so excited to have this support from Springer Nature. They have been a key partner in sponsoring APALA Travel Grants in the past, and now we are thankful to receive this generous donation to support additional projects that will grow APALA’s activities further.”
Danny Jiang, Chair of Springer Nature Asians & Pacific Islanders employee network, adds, “We are delighted to be able to support the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association. Working together on projects like the APALA travel grants, we have seen first-hand the impact the Association has on increasing diversity and opening up opportunities for the AAPI community. Their work clearly aligns with our objectives in the SN Asian & Pacific Islander employee network and our commitment at Springer Nature to make sure our industry is open to everyone. We’re excited about APALA’s upcoming plans and we look forward to continuing to work together.”
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For over 175 years Springer Nature has been advancing discovery by providing the best possible service to the whole research community. We help researchers uncover new ideas, make sure all the research we publish is significant, robust and stands up to objective scrutiny, that it reaches all relevant audiences in the best possible format, and can be discovered, accessed, used, re-used and shared. We support librarians and institutions with innovations in technology and data; and provide quality publishing support to societies. Learn more about our commitment to responsible business here: springernature.com/gp/group/taking-responsibility
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.