Webcast Speakers
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.
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).
Max Macias
Part-time Instructional Librarian at Portland Community College
Max Macias is an independent librarian who teaches information literacy part time for Portland Community College. He grew up in San Jose, CA, but has lived in the Northwest since 1992. Macias’ love of fiction, philosophy, art and ideas led to him becoming a librarian after working in libraries for more than 20 years as a technician. His intellectual interests include Information and Hip-Hop, Whiteness in Education, Racism in the US, Colonialism, Cannabis Resources for Librarians and Education and Policy Analysis.
Twanna Hodge
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Librarian, University of Florida, George A. Smathers Libraries
Twanna Hodge graduated from the University of Washington in 2015 with her master’s degree in library and information science. She is currently the co-chair of the National Conference of African American Librarians XI Conference Programming Committee, co-chair of the ACRL 2021 Scholarships Committee, and more. Her research interests are diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility issues and efforts in the LIS curriculum and workplace, library residencies and fellowships, cultural humility in librarianship, and the retention of minority library staff in librarianship.
Mimosa Shah
Adult Program Coordinator, Skokie Public Library
Mimosa Shah develops, manages, and evaluates informal learning opportunities for adults at Skokie Public Library. She works in collaboration with colleagues across departments to provide a robust slate of events geared toward cultivating curiosity and growth. Her interests include digital and media literacy, photography, zinemaking and paper arts, and space-making for and with underrepresented communities.
Pamela Espinosa de los Monteros
Assistant Professor, Latin American Studies Librarian University Libraries, The Ohio State University
Pamela Espinosa de los Monteros is an Assistant Professor and Latin American Area Studies Librarian at The Ohio State University (OSU). As a bilingual/bicultural information professional, she has supported international research initiatives, developed award-winning educational curriculum, and served as senior project manager in corporate, private, and higher education settings in the United States and Mexico. She has more than 15 years of experience developing leadership and educational programs that promote global citizenship and intercultural exchange.
Yago Cura
President, REFORMA/LA & Bilingual Outreach Librarian, Los Angeles Public Library
Yago S. Cura is a Bilingual Outreach Librarian with the Los Angeles Public Library and President of the Los Angeles Chapter of REFORMA (www.reformala.org). Cura runs HINCHAS Press, which publishes the Librarians with Spines series, with the help of Max Macias and Autumn Anglin, and the online literary journal, Hinchas de Poesia (www.hinchasdepoesia.com), with the help of Jim Heavily and Jennifer Therieau.
Dr. Ana Ndumu
Assistant Professor, UMD College of Information
Dr. Ana Ndumu is an Assistant Professor at the UMD College of Information. Her research and teaching center on libraries and immigrants and achieving racial realism and representation in LIS. Her forthcoming edited book is entitled, Borders and Belonging: Critical Examinations of Library Approaches Toward Immigrants.
Jamie Lin, MLIS
Jamie Lin is a librarian, educator, and designer living in Southern California. She’s a 2014 graduate of the San José State University School of Information, and has worked as a corporate researcher, as well as an instructional designer in online higher education.
Kiera Vargas
Kiera Vargas is an educator who realizes that one of the key components in life is to love. This same key component is needed to educate children. Within this profession, educators, parents, and stakeholders must realize that this is one of the secrets to improving so many things in education. With her diverse educational background, practical experiences, and most importantly love for students, she has experiences, stories, and tools to assist with the plight of the educational system. Vargas has taught grades K-12 through college seniors.
Emily Drabinski
Critical Pedagogy Librarian and Liaison to the School of Labor and Urban Studies at the Graduate Center, City University of New York
Emily Drabinski is critical pedagogy librarian and liaison to the School of Labor and Urban Studies at the Graduate Center, City University of New York. She sits on the editorial boards of College & Research Libraries and Radical Teacher, and edits Gender and Sexuality in Information Studies, a book series from Library Juice Press/Litwin Books. Drabinski is an ALA Councilor at Large and chair of ALA’s International Relations Committee.
Deb Sica
Deputy County Librarian, Alameda County Library
Deb Sica, MFA, MLIS, has been in research, education and libraries since 1993. She is a graduate of the University of Buffalo, Naropa University and San José State University. She has been an archivist, an academic and a public library administrator in both the Texas Gulf Coast and San Francisco Bay Area. She spent the last decades in public libraries working to transform dated, discordant policy into socially just, fully inclusive practice. Sica has been politically active for more than 30 years and continues the fight for equity, diversity and inclusion in libraries and in life.
Dr. Mary Ann Harlan
Teacher Librarian Coordinator, San José State University
Mary Ann Harlan received her Masters in Library and Information Science in 1999 from San José State, and her doctorate from the Gateway program in 2012. She has worked in California public schools for 20 years, 11 of those years in middle and high school libraries. She also has served in leadership positions for both the California School Library Association and American Association of School Libraries.
Her current research focus is on information practices in relation to reading fiction, with an emphasis on girlhood.
Beth Wrenn-Estes
Lecturer, San José State University School of Information
Beth Wrenn-Estes is a lecturer at the San José State University School of Information. She has been teaching courses in the youth services career pathway of the iSchool’s MLIS program for twelve years. Previously, she worked at Lone Tree Library in Douglas County, Colorado as a youth services librarian and was responsible for both programming and services. Fueled by her passion for libraries and youth, Wrenn-Estes is currently researching Early Childhood Literacy and Learning in library and non-library environments.
Dr. David Loertscher
Professor, San José State University
David V. Loertscher has degrees from the University of Utah, the University of Washington and a Ph.D. from Indiana University. He has been a school library media specialist in Nevada and Idaho at both the elementary and secondary school levels. He has taught at Purdue University, The University of Arkansas, The University of Oklahoma, and is presently a professor at the School of Information at San José State University.