Webcast Speakers
Patty Wong
ALA President and City Librarian, Santa Clara City Library
Patricia “Patty” Wong is the city librarian of Santa Clara, California. Wong is the president of the American Library Association (ALA) for the 2021-2022 term and is the first Asian American president of the ALA. She has been on the faculty at the San Jose State University iSchool since 2006, teaching subjects such as equitable access to library services, library management, and library services to young people.
Marti Goddard
Access Services Manager at the San Francisco Public Library
Marti Goddard was a teacher at the New Mexico School for the Deaf before curiosity took her to library school at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. With her MLS in hand, she worked as a reference librarian at Pikes Peak Library District in Colorado before returning to NMSD as the school librarian.
In 1989, Goddard became the Deaf services program manager at the San Francisco Public Library. From 1998 until March of 2022, she served as SFPL’s access services manager and ADA coordinator for public programs and services.
Danica Rice
Head Librarian, Luce J. LeBlanc Memorial Library
Danica Rice was born Deaf. She graduated from RIT/NTID in 2007 with a BS in Professional & Technical Communications. During her time as a federal government employee, she became a student at San José State University where she obtained her Master’s degree in Library and Information Science in 2017.
Rosa Rodriguez
Head of the Deaf Literacy Center, Pinellas County Public Library
Rosa Rodriguez is the head of the Deaf Literacy Center at Pinellas County Public Library in Florida. The Deaf Literacy Center provides a bilingual/bicultural learning environment for Deaf community.
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.
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.
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.
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 Kay Brown
President, Black Caucus of the American Library Association; 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. She has also focused on being “professionally active” in state and national library organizations.
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.
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.
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).
Craig Simpson
Director, Special Collections and Archives, San José State University
Craig Simpson is the director of special collections and archives at San José State University, co-author of Above the Shots: An Oral History of the Kent State Shootings (Kent State University Press, 2016), and a contributing author to Orson Welles in Focus: Texts and Contexts (Indiana University Press, 2018). He has worked in the archival profession for 16 years, and been a Certified Archivist for 11 of those years.
Darra Hofman
Doctoral Candidate The University of British Columbia iSchool
Darra Hofman is a doctoral candidate at The University of British Columbia iSchool, where she specializes in archival science, with a focus on the intersection of records, law, and emerging technology, with expected completion spring 2020. Hofman holds a Juris Doctorate and a Certificate in Law, Science, and Technology from Arizona State University. She also holds a Master of Library and Information Science degree from the University of Kentucky. Hofman will join the School of Information at San Jose State University as an assistant professor in fall 2020.