Webcast Speakers

Dr. Lesley Farmer, Professor at California State University (CSU) Long Beach, coordinates the Teacher Librarianship program, and was named as the university’s Outstanding Professor. She also manages the CSU ICT Literacy Project. She earned her M.S. in Library Science at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, and received her doctorate in Adult Education from Temple University.

Roma Calatayud-Stocks, an award-winning author and composer, holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Minnesota. Roma is the author of three historical novels: A Song in My Heart, A Symphony of Rivals, and An Unveiling Light of Beauty (Published expected date 2023). Roma’s stories highlight the contributions of many cultures through the arts while addressing poignant issues, politics of the era, and historical figures. 

Author and educator Francisco Jiménez emigrated from Tlaquepaque, Mexico to California, working alongside his parents as a child in the fields of California.

Kassian Rye Lemke-Elznic (he/they) is a recent graduate of the University of Kentucky’s MLS program. As the current library specialist with the Papillion Public Library’s Digital Library and project assistant at the University of Nebraska’s Archives and Special Collections, they are interested in queer community archives and libraries, the civic responsibility of libraries and collections, and the intersection of gender and labor.

Elizabeth Batte (they/she) is the director of the Ellender Memorial Library and the Open Education Resource Coordinator for the Nicholls State University. They are an active member in library services within Louisiana, serving as president of Louisiana’s ARCL chapter, assistant editor for the ACRL-LA open access peer-reviewed journal CODEX, and columns editor for the Journal of Open Educational Resources in Higher Education.

Binnie Tate Wilkin, writer, consultant and professional storyteller resides in Las Vegas, Nevada. During 2022, she provided a JUNETEENTH, online storytelling symposium for SJSU School of Information. She served as consultant for Godfrey’s Associates, lectured at the California Library Association annual meeting, served on a professional panel regarding library services in cultural communities and presented storytelling programs virtually.

Gayathri Kanth is the library services director of the Palo Alto Library. Gayathri is also a MidPeninsula Media Center board member. Prior to this assignment, Gayathri was the community librarian of the Cupertino and the Saratoga Libraries. Gayathri is a fellow of the 2017 national leadership cohort in the Public Library Association and a 2020 fellow of the Palo Alto Leadership group. Gayathri believes that the library’s critical role is to provide accurate information and library resources to the community.

Nancy Kim Phillips is the community engagement manager at Skokie Public Library, where she and her team collaborate with other library departments and partner organizations in response to community interests and needs. These efforts include programs, services, and projects around early childhood development, school services, immigrant services, accessibility, aging, economic well-being, health, neighborhood engagement, and equity. Prior to librarianship, Phillips worked extensively with nonprofit organizations in the areas of collaboration and strategic planning.

Heidi Kim is a professor in the Department of English and Comparative Literature and the director of the Asian American Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research ranges through nineteenth and twentieth-century American literature and Asian American studies. She is the author of two monographs about the literature by and about Asian Americans during the Cold War: Illegal Immigrants/Model Minorities: The Cold War of Chinese American Literature (Temple University Press, 2021 and Invisible Subjects: Asian Americans in Postwar Literature (Oxford UP, 2016).