Webcast Speakers
Alice L. Hagemeyer
Founding President of Friends of Libraries for Deaf Action
Alice L. Hagemeyer is the founding president of Friends of Libraries for Deaf Action, whose mission is to promote library access and quality deaf cultural resources for the deaf community, and for all, nationally and globally. She was the former librarian at the DC Public Library. She spearheaded the National Deaf History Month, March 13 – April 15 and Clerc-Gallaudet Week, December 3 – 10. She is the current leader of Bridging Deaf Cultures, an interest group of the ALA Office for Diversity, Literacy, and Outreach Services.
Joan Naturale
Reference Librarian for the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, Rochester Institute of Technology Libraries
Joan Naturale is a reference librarian for the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology Libraries. She has a BA in English from Gallaudet University; a Master’s in Education from McDaniel College; an MILS in Library Sciences from the University of RI, and an Ed.D from St. John Fisher College. Naturale has worked in the field of Deaf Education as an instructor and librarian since 1984 in a variety of settings.
Shirley Lew
Dean, School of Arts and Sciences at Vancouver Community College
Shirley Lew has been a librarian for over 20 years with a focus on library systems and leadership. Her current position is dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Vancouver Community College in Vancouver, Canada. She co-edited the collection “Feminists Among Us: Resistance and Advocacy in Library Leadership” and contributed one of the essays. She is vice-chair of the BC Libraries Cooperative and is currently pursuing her doctorate in education at the University of British Columbia.
Shana Higgins
Shana Higgins is the director of the library and learning commons, and a doctoral candidate in the Leadership for Educational Justice program at University of Redlands.
Higgins’ research interests include critical information literacy teaching and learning, social justice issues in librarianship, educational justice, and feminist leadership practices in higher education.
Janine Spears
Associate Professor at Cleveland State University
Janine Spears is an associate professor in information systems. She is on faculty at Cleveland State University in the College of Business where she teaches cybersecurity courses. She holds a PhD from Penn State University. Her research interests include IS security risk assessment; security workforce development; consumer privacy; and digital media literacy. Dr. Spears previously served on the faculty of DePaul University in Chicago. Prior to her academic career, she worked in IT at two major motion picture studios in Los Angeles.
Fobazi Ettarh
Fobazi Ettarh’s research is concerned with the relationships and tensions between the espoused values of librarianship and the realities present in the experiences of marginalized librarians and library users.
Sue Feldman
Professor, Director of Graduate Studies at University of Alabama at Birmingham
Sue Feldman, RN, MEd, PhD, currently serves as director of graduate programs in health informatics in the School of Health Professions at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She is also a senior scientist in the Informatics Institute at the Heersink School of Medicine. Her research focuses on health information systems for social good – from development to evaluation.
Daphne Wood
Director, Planning & Organizational Development Vancouver Public Library, Canada
Daphne Wood is the director of library services, planning and engagement at Greater Victoria Public Library on Vancouver Island, Canada. Prior to this position, she was director of planning and development at the Vancouver Public Library, where she oversaw operations at five library branches, policy and planning functions, and the library’s marketing and communications initiatives. Infrastructure planning is an area of professional interest and expertise.
Kelvin Watson
Executive Director, Las Vegas-Clark County Library District
Kelvin Watson is the executive director of the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District, Kelvin Watson oversees 25 branches run by 600+ employees, spanning 8,000 square miles, with a budget of $77 million and a collection of 3.2 million items. Kelvin has brought innovative, award-winning leadership to Nevada’s largest library system and his deep experience in fundraising, technology, program development, and demonstrated success in addressing the digital divide, has brought a new era to this library system.
Melissa Fraser-Arnott
Director, Parliamentary Relations and Planning Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer
Prior to her current position, Dr. Melissa Fraser-Arnott was the chief of Integrated Reference Services at the Library of Parliament, Canada. She is an experienced library and information management professional and researcher with specialties in library management, professional identity research, information management, e-collaboration and corporate information sharing tools, and training. She holds multiple degrees: PhD, MBA, MLIS, PMP, CIP.
Amanda Folk
Assistant Professor, Head, Teaching & Learning, The Ohio State University Library
Dr. Amanda L. Folk is an assistant professor and head of the Teaching and Learning Department in the University Libraries. In this role, Folk leads the Teaching and Learning Department to identify scalable and sustainable approaches to developing the information literacy of Ohio State students. Prior to joining Ohio State, Folk was the director of the Millstein Library at the University of Pittsburgh and coordinator of Pitt’s regional campus libraries.
Shannon Jones
Director of Libraries, Medical University of South Carolina; President-Elect, Medical Library Association
Shannon Jones (she/her/hers) is the Director of Libraries for the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. Jones is also Director for Region 2 of the Network of the National Library of Medicine headquartered at MUSC. Prior to her arrival at MUSC, Shannon worked as the Associate Director for Research and Education for Tompkins-McCaw Library for the Health Sciences at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. Jones focuses her research on staff recruitment and retention, diversity, equity, and inclusion in libraries, and leadership in academic health sciences libraries.
Jené D. Brown
Director of Emerging Technologies and Collections, Los Angeles Public Library
Jené D. Brown is the director of emerging technologies and collections at Los Angeles Public Library. In this role, she provides leadership and oversight of library acquisitions, cataloging, digital content and services, and staff development.
Brown has worked in public libraries for 24 years holding the positions of children’s librarian, senior branch manager, and principal librarian, managing budgets, personnel, programs, and services.
Yolande Wilburn
Director, Santa Cruz Public Libraries
Yolande Wilburn is the newly appointed director of the Santa Cruz Public Libraries, a joint powers of authority library system that consists of 10 libraries that serve the cities of Capitola, Scotts Valley, Santa Cruz, and Santa Cruz County. Wilburn has held a variety of leadership positions in public, academic, rural and urban libraries, that also includes an international stint in Dubai. She is a member of the California Library Association’s board of directors.
Wanda Brown
Past ALA President (2019-2020); Director, Library Services at C.G. O'Kelly Library at Winston-Salem State University
Wanda Kay Brown is the director of library services at the C. G. O’Kelly Library at Winston-Salem State University (WSSU). Prior to her appointment, she served as the Associate Dean of Wake Forest University’s Z. Smith Reynolds Library. Brown has spent some 40 years in the profession. Along the way she has focused on being “professionally active” in state and national library organizations. In April of 2018 she was elected as President-Elect of the American Library Association. As ALA president, Brown will be the chief elected officer for the largest library association in the world.
Brian Hart
Director, Forsyth County Public Libraries
Brian Hart is at the confluence of a national conversation about the image of librarians and librarianship among the public. He is a 2012 MLIS graduate from the University of South Carolina, where he was was awarded the Ethel Bolden Minority Scholarship. He is Director of Libraries for Forsyth County, North Carolina and also earned a Master’s of Public Administration from Georgia College and State University in 2020.
Forrest Foster
Associate Professor, Assistant Dean of Library Services, F.D. Bluford Library, North Carolina A&T State University
Forrest Foster is the Assistant Dean of Library Services at North Carolina A&T State University. Foster has been a contributor and innovator in the field of higher education for nearly 20 years.
Julius Jefferson
Past ALA President (2020-2021); Section Head of the Research and Library Services Section in the Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division at Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress
Julius C. Jefferson, Jr., is the Section Head of the Research and Library Services Section in the Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division at Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress. In this role, Jefferson leads research librarians who provide public policy research assistance exclusively to Members of Congress, Congressional Committees and Staffers. He also previously served as the Acting Chief of Research & Reference Services at the Library of Congress.
Rae Lynn Haliday
Registrar, Saint Louis Zoo
Rae Lynn Haliday began her zoological career at the San Antonio Zoo in 1985 working in different capacities. She accepted the newly created position of registrar at the Saint Louis Zoo in 1991 and celebrated 30 years working for this amazing zoo in January 2021. She has a long history of leadership service in key organizations including ARMA International, the St.