By Ray Pun and Lessa Kanani’opua Pelayo-Lozada
In spring 2021, a few of us discussed a potential project that would support APALA members in a meaningful way. One enduring issue within the profession that APIA library workers experience is barriers to leadership. What are some of these challenges? What opportunities would enable such leadership development in formal and informal roles? Hence, a collaborative project came about to bring together 100+ people to explore these topics. This project became known as the Path to Leadership: National Forum on Advancing Asian/Pacific Islander American Librarianship.
Funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and co-sponsored jointly by the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA) and the Chinese American Librarians Association (CALA), this project convened a virtual forum in January 2022. Facilitated by Alanna Aiko Moore and Dr. Ling Hwey Jeng, over 100 participants discussed the leadership barriers and opportunities for APIA library workers. Initially it was planned for in-person, but due to COVID-19, we transitioned to virtual, which enabled more participants to join us.
The project also created a webinar series, open to forum participants as well as APALA and CALA members, and produced a white paper to document all the activities, responses and notes from the forum. In addition, the IMLS grant enabled 40+ participants to attend the reunion meeting in-person at ALA Annual Conference 2022 in Washington, D.C. It was a wonderful opportunity for many first-time ALA conference attendees to connect in person and also to attend this conference under the ALA presidency of Patty Wong, a CALA and APALA member and the first Asian American president of ALA. At this conference, both APALA and CALA hosted panel discussions from select participants to share their experiences, how they have grown personally and professionally as leaders, and how they build community. Thanks to our panelists: Elizabeth Joseph, Denise Quintel, Caterina Reed, Amanda E. Landis, Anna Coats, Tarida Anantachai, Crystal Chen, Binh Le, and Wenli Gao.
We are also super thankful for APALA members being involved in the process at all levels and for participating in the activities! We encourage you to explore our website to learn more about the project and white paper: https://apialibrarianship.org
We hope this project inspires APALA members and institutions to explore new ways to enable leadership opportunities for APIA library workers at all levels. We encourage APALA members to develop their own leadership institutions and/or carry out similar projects! It’s reenergizing to see our colleagues work on these important projects to uplift APIA library workers.