Your name, current work place and position, and a little bit about the path that’s taken you to where you are (i.e., where else have you worked? How have you been able to grow professionally?)?
I’m Annie Pho and I’m the Head of Instruction and Outreach at Gleeson Library, University of San Francisco. Prior to working at USF, I was a librarian at UCLA and University of Illinois Chicago. I grew up in the Bay Area and consider it my home, although I had to leave for a few years for library school and to establish my career as a librarian. I feel like a central tenet of my career has been focused on being student-centered, public services, and teaching. My first full-time librarian position was focused on managing a reference desk, which led to running peer-learning programs at UCLA, and then I pivoted to focus more on leading a library instruction program, first as an instruction coordinator and now as a department head. After 10 years of being a librarian, I feel really fortunate to be a librarian at USF and be in a city that I love.
How long have you been an APALA member? Why have you continued to be an APALA member? Are you currently involved as an APALA officer/committee member/other volunteer?
I remember attending JCLC in 2012, right after I graduated from library school, and I attended the APALA reception where I learned that there was an Asian American and Pacific Islander affinity group within the library profession. Since I went to school in a primarily white program, I had no idea APALA existed, none of my professors or classmates had told me about it. I remember I felt like I had found my family in this profession and more importantly, like I had found my professional home. I’ve pretty much have consistently volunteered with APALA since joining. I served as a member-at-large, secretary, and on the Diversity and Outreach Poster Fair Task Force. Now I am excited to step into my role as the APALA President.
What aspects of librarianship are key to your personal satisfaction at work? Has that changed since you entered librarianship?
Helping people has always been at the core of what I have wanted to do as a librarian and that hasn’t really changed over my career. But what I think has shifted has been my ability to articulate what I mean by “helping people.” As an academic librarian, I have become more focused on uplifting the voices and centering the experiences of BIPOC students. In my scholarship, I have worked with my friend and co-researcher Rose Chou on centering the experiences of women of color, which you can read about in our chapter “Intersectionality at the Reference Desk: Lived Experiences of Women of Color Librarians” and our book Pushing the Margins: WOC and Intersectionality in LIS.
If you could go back in time a few years ago, to when you participated in the Member Highlights series, what would you tell your younger self?
I had to go back and read what I had written in my last Member Highlight which was from 2013, almost 10 years ago. A lot has changed in my career and my life—I was so green back then! I would have told my younger self not to worry so much, to slow down and appreciate the present moment, and that I would find community and my place in it. Rather than worrying and being focused on the next step, have trust in myself that I would adapt to life’s inevitable changes. That adaptability and flexibility would be the most important thing, rather than the anxiety about what’s to come. I was raised by immigrant parents to work really hard all the time in order to make it, and so I have to remind myself that I really am enough.
What’s next for you? If you’ve got a big move, publication, webinar, conference presentation, or social media presence that you’d like APALA members to know about, let us know here!
My next big move is serving as the APALA President! We have a good year ahead with JCLC 2022, and the various APALA programs and initiatives that we have planned. We are a 100% volunteer run organization that does such impactful and important work. I’m looking forward to serving out my term.
If you are social media inclined, I am happy to connect on Twitter or IG. 😊
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Big thank you to the Media and Publicity Committee for putting together this series! It’s always fun to learn more about our members.