Webcast Speakers
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.
Lynette Dial
Project Manager for the Reading Nation Waterfall Grant Initiative
Lynette Dial has spent two decades serving Hoke County Public Library as program coordinator and staff supervisor. Immersed in the art of storytelling since childhood, she uses her skill to engage, entertain and educate audiences of all ages in library settings and outreach settings. As a Leadership Hoke member, her community affiliations include Raeford-Hoke Museum, Hoke Native American Scholarship Association, Raeford Turkey Festival and Raeford-Hoke Expo. Lynette is an English major with an Emphasis in Literary Studies from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke.
Ashley Minner
Ashley Minner is a community based visual artist from Baltimore, Maryland and an enrolled member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. She received her BFA (‘05) in General Fine Arts, and her MA (’07) and MFA (’11) in Community Arts from Maryland Institute College of Art. She earned her PhD (’20) in American Studies from University of Maryland College Park. Ashley currently works as a professor of the practice and folklorist in the Department of American Studies at University of Maryland Baltimore County, where she also serves as director of the minor in Public Humanities.
Stephen Abrams
Head of Digital Preservation, Harvard Library
Stephen Abrams is head of digital
preservation for the Harvard Library, with responsibility for
policy, strategic planning, innovation, and oversight of
Library’s preservation initiatives, systems, and services.
Nadia Rendon
Spanish Services Coordinator, Denver Public Library
Nadia Rendon was born in Sonora, Mexico, where she earned an engineering degree from the Instituto Tecnológico de Hermosillo. She moved to the United States in 2006 and has been working for the Denver Public Library since 2015, currently serving as the Spanish services coordinator. She received her B.A. from Metro State University with a major in history and a minor in philosophy. Her love for libraries comes from the fact that she was raised in a family where reading was very often more important than eating, though she loves doing both.
Nicanor Diaz
Immigrant Services Manager and Neighborhood Service Manager, Denver Public Library
Nicanor Diaz is the immigrant services manager and neighborhood service manager for the Denver Public Library. Diaz has worked in libraries since 2005, including a 6-month practicum at the Argentinean National Library in Buenos Aires. Diaz has been involved with REFORMA since 2007 as a member and has held different responsibilities in the association including the chair of the Translation Committee, president of the Colorado Chapter of REFORMA, Central Chapter Representative, and now as president.
Dr. Shadrack Katuu
Independent Archives and Records Management Expert
Dr. Shadrack Katuu completed his undergraduate degree in Kenya, master’s studies in Canada and doctoral studies in South Africa. He was previously an information management officer with the United Nations in Baghdad (Iraq), information management officer at the United Nations Mission in Juba (South Sudan), and head of the of the Records Unit at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna (Austria). He also held the position of archives/records officer at the International Monetary Fund in Washington DC. (US).
Xan Goodman
Health Sciences Librarian, Associate Professor, University Libraries, University of Nevada Las Vegas
Xan Goodman is a health sciences librarian at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where she supports three schools in the Division of Health Sciences, the School of Integrated Health Sciences, School of Public Health, and School of Nursing. Goodman is a co-editor of two ACRL publications, Disciplinary Faculty-Librarian Collaborations: Integrating the Information Literacy Framework into Disciplinary Courses (2021) and Applications of Information Literacy Threshold Concepts (2017).
Abby Moscatel
Attorney, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company
Abby Moscatel is a California trial attorney for State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company. She combines her love for the law and passion for emerging technology by writing and presenting on ethics and admissibility of evidence related to IoT and social media. She obtained her JD from Southwestern Law School’s accelerated SCALE program and her BS in Legal Communication from Ohio University.
Rafael Moscatel
Managing Director, Compliance and Privacy Partners
Rafael Moscatel is Managing Director of Compliance and Privacy Partners, based in Los Angeles, California. As a strategic business advisor, Rafael has over twenty years of experience leading successful digital transformation programs for the Fortune 500 including Paramount Pictures and Farmers Insurance. He is responsible for helping organizations develop and refine their IT governance, compliance, and privacy roadmaps.
Robyn K. Rodgers
Senior Archivist Department of Veterans Affairs, VA History Office
Robyn K. Rodgers serves as the inaugural Senior Archivist, leading archival activities within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) History Office. In this role, Ms. Rodgers is responsible for developing archival standards, practices, and operations for the VA History Program and the National VA History Center, to be established on the VA Medical Center Campus in Dayton, Ohio. Ms. Rodgers comes to VA from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), having served as Chief Archivist.