Tracie D. Hall was the American Library Association’s 10th executive director in its 143-year history, and the first African American female in the role. She resigned in October 2023. Her work in library and arts administration has been recognized with the National Book Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award and by Time magazine. Hall was the 2023 recipient of the medal for Freedom of Speech and Free Expression by the Franklin D Roosevelt Institute.
Sarah R. Kostelecky is the Director of Digital Initiatives and Scholarly Communication (DISC) for University of New Mexico Libraries. Her research focuses on outreach efforts to underrepresented communities, diversity in academic libraries and library collections, and Native American language resources. Previously at UNM, Sarah has served as the Education Librarian and Access Services Librarian in the Indigenous Nations Library Program (INLP). She earned both her MA in Information Resources and Library Science and BA in Sociology from the University of Arizona. Prior to working at UNM Libraries, Sarah was the Library Director at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, NM, the premiere educational institution for contemporary Native American arts and cultures. Along with David A. Hurley and Paulita Aguilar, she co-edited “Sharing Knowledge and Smashing Stereotypes: Representing Native American, First Nation, and Indigenous Realities in Library Collections,” a special double issue of the journal Collection Management. Sarah has enjoyed working in a variety of libraries including university, public, tribal college, and museum. She is a member of Zuni Pueblo in New Mexico.
Lori Townsend is the Learning Services Coordinator and Engineering Librarian for the University of New Mexico Libraries. Her research interests include threshold concepts and information literacy, academic librarians of color and cultural humility. Lori holds a BA in history from the University of New Mexico and an MLIS from San Jose State University. Before coming to UNM, she worked as the Electronic Collections Librarian at California State University, East Bay from 2005-2010. She is co-author, along with Amy R. Hofer and Silvia Lin Hanick, of the book Transforming Information Literacy Instruction: Threshold Concepts in Theory and Practice (Libraries Unlimited, 2018); she and Silvia Lin Hanick are Series Editors for the just-launched Libraries Unlimited Series on Teaching Information Literacy Today. Lori is a member of the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of Duck Valley.
David A. Hurley is the Web and Discovery Librarian for the University Libraries. In addition to cultural humility, he writes and presents on search, reference services, and information literacy. He was previously the director of the Diné College libraries on the Navajo Nation, chief of the library development bureau at the New Mexico State Library, and branch and digital services manager for the public library of Albuquerque and Bernalillo County. With Sarah R. Kostelecky and Paulita Aguilar, David co-edited “Sharing Knowledge and Smashing Stereotypes: Representing Native American, First Nation, and Indigenous Realities in Library Collections,” a special double issue of the journal Collection Management.
Grace M. Jackson-Brown is a professor for research and instruction at Missouri State University Libraries in Springfield, Missouri. She is chairperson of the Springfield African American Read-In and recipient of the 2014 Zora Neale Hurston Award for promoting African American literature and the Educational Partnership Award of the NAACP Springfield Chapter. Her career spans more than twenty-five years as an academic librarian, much of it devoted to library outreach diversity programming. She holds a master’s degree in library and information management from Emporia State University, Emporia, Kansas, and a PhD in mass communication from Indiana University–Bloomington.
Robin Bradford has earned a BA and MA in English, an MS in Library Science, and a JD, but has found a home in building reader-focused, popular collections in public libraries. She was recognized as RWA’s 2016 Librarian of the Year, and Emerald City Library Conference’s Librarian of the Year in 2022. She is addicted to books and dedicated to helping others discover a love of reading. She has worked with authors to help get their titles into these collections, and wrote the forthcoming ALA’s Guide to Romance Fiction to further help libraries with their romance collection. She also worked with libraries to push for equal treatment of genre fiction, and worked with readers so that they can find their favorite authors on their library’s shelves.
Becky Spratford [MLIS] is a Readers’ Advisor in Illinois specializing in serving patrons ages 13 and up. She trains library staff all over the world on how to match books with readers through the local public library. She runs the critically acclaimed RA training blog RA for All. She is under contract to provide content for EBSCO’s NoveList database and writes reviews for Booklist and a horror review column for Library Journal. Becky is a 21 year locally elected Library Trustee [still serving], a Board member for the Reaching Across Illinois Library System, and on the Executive Board of the Illinois Library Association. Known for her work with horror readers, Becky is the author of The Reader’s Advisory Guide to Horror, Third Edition [ALA Editions, 2021]. She is a proud member of the Horror Writers Association and currently serves as the Association’s Secretary and organizer of their annual Librarians’ Day. You can follow Becky on Twitter @RAforAll.
Sarah Voels is the director of Vogel Library at Wartburg College. She previously worked in collection development, where she began her research and study on diversity audits. These efforts have drawn national attention, and she has presented her findings at multiple conferences, including the Iowa Library Association, Public Library Association, and United for Libraries.
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Syndetics Unbound, from ProQuest and LibraryThing. Today’s show is brought to you by Syndetics Unbound, from ProQuest and LibraryThing. Syndetics Unbound helps public and academic libraries enrich their catalogs and discovery systems with high-interest elements, including reader’s advisory, cover images, summaries, author profiles, similar books, reviews, and more. Syndetics Unbound encourages serendipitous discovery and higher collection usage, and was awarded Platinum distinction in the LibraryWorks 2021 Modern Library Awards
To learn more about Syndetics Unbound, visit Syndetics.com. While there, be sure to visit the Syndetics Unbound Blog for news and analysis, including a break-down of libraries’ top titles and other stories of interest to the library community. Again, that’s Syndetics.com, to learn more about today’s sponsor, Syndetics Unbound.
Becky Spratford [MLIS] is a Readers’ Advisor in Illinois specializing in serving patrons ages 13 and up. She trains library staff all over the world on how to match books with readers through the local public library. She runs the critically acclaimed RA training blog RA for All. She is under contract to provide content for EBSCO’s NoveList database and writes reviews for Booklist and a horror review column for Library Journal. Becky is a 20 year locally elected Library Trustee [still serving] and a Board member for the Reaching Across Illinois Library System. Known for her work with horror readers, Becky is the author of The Readers’ Advisory Guide to Horror, Third Edition [ALA Editions, 2021]. She is a proud member of the Horror Writers Association and currently serves as the Association’s Secretary and organizer of their annual Librarians’ Day. You can follow Becky on Twitter @RAforAll.
Today’s show is brought to you by Syndetics Unbound, from ProQuest and LibraryThing. Syndetics Unbound helps public and academic libraries enrich their catalogs and discovery systems with high-interest elements, including cover images, summaries, author profiles, similar books, reviews, and more. Syndetics Unbound encourages serendipitous discovery and higher collection usage, and was recently awarded Platinum distinction in the LibraryWorks 2021 Modern Library Awards. To learn more about Syndetics Unbound, visit Syndetics.com. While there, be sure to visit their “News” tab to check out the Syndetics Unbound Blog for news and analysis, including a break-down of 2020’s most popular titles in public and academic libraries.
Judi Moreillon, PhD, is an editor, author, literacies and libraries consultant, and a former school librarian educator. She began teaching preservice school librarians in 1995. Her research and publications focus on school librarian leadership and classroom teacher – school librarian instructional partnerships. A former classroom teacher, literacy coach, and classroom teacher educator, Judi served as a collaborating school librarian at all three instructional levels. She is the editor of Core Values in School Librarianship: Responding with Commitment and Courage (Libraries Unlimited 2021) and the author of four other professional books for school librarians and four books for children and families. She earned the 2019 Scholastic Publishing Award. Judi currently serves on the Advisory Council for the SLIDE research project and as co-chair of the Teacher Librarian Division of the Arizona Library Association. She earned both an MLS and a PhD in education at the University of Arizona. Judi’s homepage is storytrail.com. She blogs at schoollibrarianleadership.com and tweets @CactusWoman.
Today’s show is brought to you by Syndetics Unbound, from ProQuest and LibraryThing. Syndetics Unbound helps public and academic libraries enrich their catalogs and discovery systems with high-interest elements, including cover images, summaries, author profiles, similar books, reviews, and more. Syndetics Unbound encourages serendipitous discovery and higher collection usage, and was recently awarded Platinum distinction in the LibraryWorks 2021 Modern Library Awards. To learn more about Syndetics Unbound, visit Syndetics.com. While there, be sure to visit their “News” tab to check out the Syndetics Unbound Blog for news and analysis, including a break-down of 2020’s most popular titles in public and academic libraries.
Carrie Rogers-Whitehead worked in libraries for nearly a decade and now consults and trains with librarians around the nation. As a librarian in Utah, she created the first library program aimed at individuals on the spectrum in the state. She later expanded that work to teens and adults on the spectrum. Carrie is the author of the book Teen Fandom and Geek Programming and Digital Citizenship: Teaching and Practice from the Field (Rowman & Littlefield) She is the founder of Digital Respons-Ability, a mission-based company that educates students, parents and educators on digital citizenship. She continues to work with individuals with autism in her current work.
Shauntee Burns-Simpson is currently the Manager, School Support and Outreach at the New York Public Library (NYPL) where she has held several positions. She was formerly an Outreach Librarian for MyLibraryNYC and Outreach Specialist for HomeworkNYC. She has been a NYPL employee since 1996.
As a Young Adult Librarian Mrs. Burns- Simpson had a great interest in children and their education. She implemented programs that NYPL adopted as programming for young adults. Outreaching to schools and other community agencies is very important to her. In her career path she visits schools and community based organizations to talk about library resources, the importance of having a library card, and provides professional development opportunities to educators on using the library.
She is currently the President of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA) and is proud to hold the position during the organization’s 50th anniversary. She is the former Chair of ALA’s Committee on Diversity, member of the Association for Library Services to Children (ALSC) & the Young Adult Library Services Association’s (YALSA) Train the Trainer project. Past President of the Reference Adult Services Section of the New York Library Association (NYLA) 2012-2013 and New York Black Librarians Caucus 2013-2015.
Mrs. Burns-Simpson holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Long Island University and a Masters of Information & Library Science from Queens College.
Amanda Clay Powers is dean of library services at Mississippi University for Women, email: acpowers@muw.edu, twitter: @AmandaClay
Martin Garnar is dean of Kraemer Family Library at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, email: mgarnar@uccs.edu, twitter: @MartinGarnar
Dustin Fife is director of library services at Western State Colorado University, email: dfife@western.edu, twitter: @DustinTheFife
Sarah Clark is Dean and University Librarian at La Salle University in Philadelphia, PA. in her spare time she knits, cooks, and is currently attempting to learn pottery. Sarah writes about issues in educational and library leadership at the Kind Leadership Guild.
Circulating Ideas 