Movers

As a librarian at Tazewell–New Tazewell Primary School, TN, Blake Hopper strives to keep the library space student-centered. One of his most ambitious initiatives involves challenging students to read 40 books per school year, which he promotes through family events. He’s made it a priority to have the library collection reflect the diverse student body as well.

As an eighth grade reading teacher in the Rio Grande Valley, Margarita Longoria noticed a lack of literacy events and diversity in curriculum offered for young adults. Most libraries and bookstores focused on elementary readers; Longoria felt that young adults deserved attention, too. She also knew that it was crucial for young people to see themselves in the books and authors they read, so she founded the Border Book Bash festival.

“Literacy justice is critical to social justice,” insists Amy Kyung-Eun Breslin, whose days are spent out in her community spearheading branch-style literacy programs at schools and other stakeholder venues—and busting through access barriers.

Growing up as a Black girl in a suburban neighborhood, Kymberlee Powe found it almost impossible to locate books reflecting her lived experience. Today Powe strives to support libraries in growing their evolving role as community hubs, training librarians to curate collections that reflect a range of people, stories, and experiences.

After completing her MLIS at the University of Rhode Island in 2014, Rhiannon Sorrell, a member of the Dineì (Navajo) nation, returned to reconnect with her community and deepen her work. As instruction and digital services librarian at Diné College—the first tribally governed and accredited college in the United States—Sorrell has taken on projects that dive deeply into Navajo language and culture.

As the lead instructor with the On the Road to Kindergarten mobile library, Irma Fernandez helps transform the lives of children in Howard County’s underserved communities through early literacy programs. The van visits all of the pre–K students at every elementary school in the county, bringing library resources and material to children of all backgrounds to help them get ready for kindergarten.

At the University of Victoria, Ry Moran has brought his experience to the libraries’ work of reconciliation, decolonization, and understanding Indigenous history, supporting students and faculty through a range of initiatives. The most recent of these is hosting and producing a podcast, Taapwaywin, which means “truth” or “speaking truthfully” in Michif, a language of the Métis people.

In addition to being a beloved story time leader and early childhood literacy advocate, Katie Clausen—“Miss Katie” to her youngest stakeholders—holds a professional certification in Adverse Childhood Experiences. When she realized that families in her community needed age-appropriate mental-health resources, she and colleague Elizabeth Forkan created a circulating collection of Resiliency Kits—books, games, activities, and information for adults and children on themes of grief and loss, divorce, addiction, emotions, and bullying.

Jaena Rae Cabrera has a “not-so-secret agenda,” according to Alan Wong, learning and instruction librarian at San Francisco Public Library (SFPL). “She wants to increase Filipino American visibility and representation at [SFPL],” he says. Cabrera’s efforts include joining forces with Pilipinx American Library, a mobile, noncirculating collection and programming platform, on two events at the Public Knowledge project, a collaboration with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, in 2018 and 2019.