Your name, current work place and position (for students, please tell us what school you’re attending and if you have chosen a specialization):
Amy Kyung Eun Breslin (she/her). I was previously working for Cuyahoga County Public Library (Ohio) as a Children’s Services Assistant, but in January 2022, I started as an Outreach Librarian for the Lorain Public Library System (Ohio).
Where did you attend school for your MLIS degree?
Kent State University
How long have you been an APALA member? Why did you first join? Are you currently involved as an APALA officer/committee member/other volunteer?
I was looking to connect with other AAPI folks in the profession and after learning about APALA from an ALA email, I immediately clicked the “join” button! After becoming a member in 2018, I quickly felt a sense of belonging within both the APALA community and the broader profession.
I participated in the Mentoring Program as a protégé and gained so much from my incredible mentor, Johana Orellana Cabrera. Wanting to give back, I am currently serving as a Co-Chair for the Family Literacy Focus committee (FLF) where we manage the Talk Story grant program jointly with AILA. One of the projects that I have had the opportunity to work on with the FLF committee is the APALA Rubric for Evaluating Asian American and Pacific Islander Youth Literature. My hope is that this rubric can support fellow librarians and educators who are seeking to curate collections with representation that embraces the agency, humanity, and diversity of AAPI communities.
We’re very interested in the diversity of ethnic/cultural heritage within APALA. Please share your ethnic/cultural heritage with us and any other background information, as desired.
I am a Korean born, inter-country adoptee. It can be challenging and complicated for transracially adopted folks to talk about their identities whether in white spaces or in AAPI spaces. I hope that by raising visibility of our existence other adoptees will feel affirmed in their identities.
What aspects of librarianship are key to your personal satisfaction at work? Please share some of your professional goals and interests.
What originally brought me to public librarianship was a passion for social justice and a vague desire to empower communities, particularly within under-resourced and disenfranchised populations—although at the time I really did not know what that entailed and my ideas of what it means are still evolving. On a slightly structural level, I find joy and satisfaction in building effective partnerships between the library and other community organizations. I love seeing stakeholders from across the community bring their expertise to the table as we work together to implement community-led solutions to generative issues. On a more grassroots level, I try to work towards collective liberation by creating spaces for facilitating dialogue that connects people’s lived experiences and feelings to common issues and identifies the systems and structures that have brought us to where we are.
I also find joy in serving families and multigenerational households. The Family Literacy Focus committee has really allowed me to dive deeper into exploring and understanding the value of intergenerational services to AAPI families along with the cultural value of oral traditions. Related to the work of FLF and Talk Story, I am interested in further exploring decolonization of library services through language justice and intersectional, intergenerational community building.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Honestly, one of the best parts of my work days are when I have APALA committee meetings. If folks have the time and capacity to serve on an APALA committee, I highly recommend it!