While she wears numerous hats at North Carolina State University Libraries, Tarida Anantachai says that “my work is centered on people and supporting not just who they are as fellow colleagues, but especially who they are more personally, and their individual lived experiences.”

When she was in college, Dr. Shamella Cromartie had a job at a public library where leadership and others were Black, which encouraged her to pursue a career in the field. “It’s important to see people that look like you in these positions so that you know that you can do it, too,” she says.

Jenay Dougherty aims to increase representation of Pacific Islanders in leadership roles, both within librarianship and in everyday life.

Thanks to Nardia Cumberbatch’s leadership, Valencia College in Orlando, FL, was the first library in Florida (and second academic library overall) to complete the Sustainable Library Certification Program.

Dr. Aisha Johnson’s research, publication, and consulting on African American librarianship dates to her undergraduate years at Florida State, where—after growing up in a diverse area of south Florida—she found herself one of the few Black political science students.

As Head, Advanced Research Services and Digital Scholarship Librarian with the University of Victoria Libraries, Matt Huculak examines librarians’ role in scholarly communication, archiving, and collecting, while collaborating with other disciplines to bring that documentation to life.

In her scholarship, as in her instruction, Allison Jennings-Roche aims to seize opportunities to make people think critically about libraries as public institutions and about the information systems that impact their lives.

“Librarians have the wit and grit to get things done,” says Scott Summers, a former high school English teacher and school librarian who now brings that experience to his work as assistant director of the Media and Education Technology Resource Center at NC State University’s College of Education.

As an American Library Association Emerging Leader, Nicollette Davis is always looking for ways to improve the library field. Through the We Here organization, she helps BIPOC library and information science professionals support each other in a welcoming space.