Webcast Speakers

Speaker

Becky Calzada
First Latina President of the American Association of School Librarians (AASL)

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Becky Calzada is the 24/25 President of the American Association of School Librarians. District Library Coordinator in Leander, Texas and is a co-founding member of Texas #FReadom Fighters, a grass-roots led group of librarians launched back in October of 2021 in support of intellectual freedom and to highlight the positive work of school librarians. She is a member of the ALA Policy Corp Proactive Advocacy on Book Banning cadre and is a past  member of the ALA Intellectual Freedom Committee.

Speaker

Valentyna Yaroshchuk
Director of Rivne Regional Universal Scientific Library

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Valentyna Petrivna Yaroshchuk
Director of the municipal institution “Rivne Regional Universal Scientific Library” of the Rivne Regional Council

I am a professional librarian. In 1978, I graduated from the Kyiv State Institute of Culture, in 1997 I defended my PhD thesis and received the degree in Historical Sciences. In 2006, I was awarded the title of Honored Worker of Culture of Ukraine.

Speaker

Taryn Reiner
Student Support Specialist

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Taryn Reiner is the Student Support Specialist for the iSchool. Supporting students in their journey for a master’s degree. Her Master’s of Arts degree is in Counseling and Bachelors of Arts is in Social and Behavioral Sciences. 

As a School Counselor for 20 years in the States of California, New Mexico, and Hawaii. She worked at the elementary, high school, continuation high school, and now college levels.

Taryn’s School Counselor experience includes supporting neurodiverse students, AP Coordinator, and AVID certified counselor.

Speaker

Adriana Lebrón White
Children's Librarian, Seguin Public Library

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Adriana Lebrón White is a librarian at the Seguin Public Library. After being diagnosed with autism in her 30s, she now advocates for more inclusive and accessible libraries.

Much of her work focuses on what librarians can learn from neurodivergent patrons and staff. She has led professional development sessions on topics such as autism-friendly programs and procedures, how to support neurodivergent library staff, and authentic representations of neurodiversity and disability in children’s books.

Speaker

Theodore Szpakowski
Student Assistant, Musselman Library, Gettysburg College

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Theodore Szpakowski works in Musselman Library’s User Services and Scholarly Communications departments. During his tenure, he has completed a variety of projects related to disability justice. These include a disabled authors display, an accessibility audit of the library building and services, and the library’s accessibility information webpage. He is currently working to address some of the barriers identified by the audit in conjunction with the User Services department and the library’s DEIB committee.

Speaker

Chancey Fleet
Assistive Technology Coordinator, New York Public Library

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Chancey Fleet is a Blind tech educator and activist based in Brooklyn. She is the founding Assistive Technology Coordinator at the New York Public Library, where she runs a free- peer-powered tech coaching service that connects library patrons with print-reading disabilities to 150 hours of one-to-one coaching each month; curates a rotating selection of workshops on tech topics with accessibility in mind; and runs the Dimensions Lab for free and open tactile graphics creation.

Speaker

Bri M. Watson
PhD Candidate, University of British Columbia

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Bri Watson (@brimwats) is a disabled, white, queer & nonbinary settler hailing from N’dakina in Aln8ba8dwaw8gan (colonially: New Hampshire), now living in Xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh and səlilwətaɬ.

They are a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholar and fourth-year PhD. Candidate at the University of British Columbia’s iSchool. Their research focuses on the multiple histories of information and the contemporary practices of equitable cataloging in galleries, libraries, archives, museums, and special collections.

Speaker

Chloe Misorski
Cataloging Librarian, Cleveland Museum of Art

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Chloe Misorski (she/her) has been the Cataloging Librarian at the Ingalls Library at the Cleveland Museum of Art since January 2020. While in this role she served on a two-person library system implementation task force while working remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She is proud to have implemented critical cataloging policies at the library including alternative subject headings, reparative description, and reclassification of materials.

Speaker

Devon Murphy
Metadata Professional

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Devon Murphy (they/them) is a metadata and digital collections professional, overseeing standards, policies, and data models for a variety of library and archive holdings. Current work projects include PANA (Pan-American Authorities project with the University of Florida) to create a Spanish language thesaurus and being a member of the PCC Task Group on Metadata Relating to Indigenous Peoples.

Speaker

Richard Ashby Jr.
Director of the Sharon Hill Public Library

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Richard E. Ashby, Jr. is a dedicated librarian and community leader who has made a significant impact in the field of librarianship. His passion for making a difference in people’s lives has driven his remarkable journey.

Let’s explore his accomplishments, awards, and offices held:

Professional Background

Speaker

Raymond Pun
Academic and Research Librarian, Alder Graduate School of Education

Raymond Pun

Raymond Pun (he/him/his) is the academic and research librarian at the Alder Graduate School of Education. In this role, he supports all library services from research to scholarly communication. With over 17 years of experience, Ray has worked as a librarian in institutions such as Stanford University, Fresno State, New York University Shanghai, and the New York Public Library. He has published and presented extensively and is an active member of the American Library Association.