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When Stacy Collins was named a 2021 LJ Mover & Shaker, she was the research and instruction librarian for Boston’s Simmons University Library, where she developed the highly regarded Anti-Oppression Guide. LJ reached out to her to learn more about what she’s been doing since 2021, which includes a new position at a boarding school.

LibLearnX made space for needed conversation.

Callan Bignoli, library director at Olin College of Engineering in Needham, MA, was named a Library Journal Mover & Shaker in 2021 for her work advocating for the health and safety of library workers during the pandemic. Much has changed since the early days of COVID’s arrival and spread, including the development of vaccines and boosters, but the need to speak up for library workers remains. LJ recently spoke with Bignoli to learn what’s changed—and what hasn’t—since then.

I’m not the first queer person to say that I was really into Matilda (1996) when I was a child. I loved the scenes of Matilda in awe of her public library, enchanted by the escape it offered from her home life. The library was her safe place. My research is mine.

Sometimes taking the long path fits the work.

In May 2022, Elizabeth Szkirpan was named a Library Journal Mover & Shaker for her advocacy work promoting technical services professionals within libraries. LJ recently reached out to Szkirpan, director of bibliographic services and federal depository coordinator for the McFarlin Library at the University of Tulsa, to learn more about why this work is important and needs more institutional support.

Poet, memoirist, attorney, and MacArthur Fellow Reginald Dwayne Betts recently partnered with artist and filmmaker Titus Kaphar on Redaction (Norton), an innovative collection of art and poetry confronting the abuses of the criminal justice system, drawing on his experience of incarceration. Retired researcher/librarian Eldon Ray James spoke with Betts about the collaboration and where politics and poetry meet and about Betts’s Freedom Reads project, through which he plans to install Freedom Library book collections in every residential prison unit in the United States.

This will be my last editorial for LJ. For me, this news is bittersweet; I’m excited to begin a new role elsewhere in libraryland, as managing editor of CQ Researcher at SAGE Publishing. But I will miss my colleagues, the opportunities I have had here to learn from and collaborate with librarians across the country, and my chance to bend your ear every month.

Virginia Cononie, assistant librarian/coordinator of reference and research at the University of South Carolina Upstate Spartanburg Library, was named one of Library Journal’s 2022 Movers & Shakers for her library advocacy work. LJ recently reached out to Cononie to learn more about her Share Your Story campaign, a collection of success stories from libraries in South Carolina that were compiled into a book and sent to South Carolina lawmakers.

Library advocates have become increasingly sophisticated about collecting the emotional outcome stories that bring to life how libraries change lives. We may, sadly, need to start applying that savvy to collecting the outcomes of what happens when libraries are lost or gutted, whether due to pervasive underfunding, as in the UK, or ideologically driven campaigns against books, displays, and programs that represent LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC experiences, as is being attempted in the U.S.

Barbara Alvarez is a PhD student in Information Science at the University of Wisconsin (UW)–Madison and adjunct faculty at multiple universities. Her work using information science to study the pandemic’s effect on abortion services in Wisconsin won her a 2022 Movers & Shakers Award. Library Journal recently reached out to learn more about her other work in this area.

At LJ’s recent Design Institute in Missoula, MT, the term places of refuge came up several times. It was new to me, but the meaning was clear from the context: individual-scale spots within the larger, communal library. But the refuge the library can offer is inherently temporary. For libraries to help make their whole communities places of refuge, libraries need to facilitate long-term planning for resilience to disasters that are more frequent and severe—plus, support government policy changes to slow and perhaps reverse that progression.

Elisandro Cabada has worn many hats during his career at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Assistant professor for the university library, interim head of the Mathematics Library, and 3-D printing project coordinator, among others. His commitment to developing and using technology for library service and outreach won him a 2022 Movers & Shakers award. Library Journal recently reached out to learn more about his innovative work.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that librarians and other information professionals are pivotal leaders in the fight for our democracy. In a world where social media gatekeepers are doing little to prevent the spread of false information online, this trend is doing serious harm to a well-informed citizenry.

Dr. N.S. ‘Ilaheva Tua’one, assistant professor of Native American and Indigenous studies in the Women’s and Ethnic Studies Program at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs (UCCS), has been named the inaugural Storytelling Professor at the Kraemer Family Library. The three-year rotating endowed professorship will give Tua’one the opportunity to celebrate and diffuse storytelling into the culture of Colorado Springs through an interdisciplinary lens. LJ spoke with Tua’one and Seth Porter, dean of the Kraemer Family Library and lead of online education for academic affairs, to hear more about what the new professorship will involve, why storytelling is important in an academic setting, and how to catch an octopus with a rat.

Kathy Zappitello, executive director of the Conneaut Public Library, OH, and past president of the Association for Rural and Small Libraries, announced her candidacy for state representative of Ohio’s 99th district in August. Her decision, she said, came about after Former Democratic nominee Abby Kovacs, who won the August 2 primary to run against incumbent Sarah Fowler Arthur (R-Ashtabula), was forced to withdraw from the race after being narrowly disqualified by redistricting.

Lorisia MacLeod, currently learning services librarian at the Alberta Library, Canada, previously worked as an instruction librarian at NorQuest College, Edmonton. A member of the James Smith Cree Nation, MacLeod realized early in her career that there was a major problem with properly citing Native and Indigenous sources in academic papers. The work she set in motion to correct this issue led to her being named a Library Journal 2022 Mover & Shaker. LJ recently caught up with her to learn more about her efforts.

Teachers, librarians, and nurses have some important things in common. They do essential, mission-driven work. They’re mostly women (from 74 percent of teachers to 90 percent of nurses). They’re often underpaid. They’ve faced increased job stressors in the last few years. Many are thinking of leaving their jobs, if not fields—up to 77 percent of Texas teachers in a recent poll. The resulting shortages put more pressure on those who stay.

On September 7, American Library Association executive director Tracie D. Hall was awarded the National Book Foundation (NBF) Literarian Award for 2022. The annual award celebrates an individual “for a lifetime of achievement in expanding the audience for books and reading,” the NBF website states. This marks the second year that the honor has gone to a librarian; 2021’s award was given to Nancy Pearl.

Dr. Gena Cox, organizational psychologist, executive coach, and author of Leading Inclusion: Drive Change Your Employees Can See and Feel (Page Two, Oct.), will deliver the opening keynote at LJ’s Directors Summit in Baltimore this December. LJ caught up with her to learn more about what motivated her to write this book and what lessons she feels can help library leaders make sure their equity, diversity, and inclusion efforts improve the workplace experience for library workers.

A recent study shows truth in the saying, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” Published in Nature, it examined Facebook relationships of 72 million people—84 percent of U.S. adults 25 to 44—and found that the biggest determining factor of a neighborhood’s less wealthy children obtaining positive economic mobility as adults was how much they connected with people outside their economic strata.

It is crucial that libraries help their communities grapple with pressing current issues. But it’s also important to rest, both individually and collectively.

Brooks Rainwater recently stepped into his new role as president and CEO of Urban Libraries Council (ULC). LJ caught up with him as he settled in at ULC to find out more about his move to libraries from a career in public policy.

Lauren Comito, cofounder and former board chair of grassroots advocacy organization Urban Librarians Unite (ULU), stepped into the role of Executive Director on May 20. LJ caught up with her to hear more about what the move entails, plans for ULU, and how to get involved.

Libraries cannot second-guess patron motives or impose barriers based on subject matter. I suggest that the best response is to turn the letter of the law back on attempted saboteurs.

In a new insights report from Gale, academic thought leaders discuss their role in championing EDI on campus—and provide advice to help other colleges and universities develop effective, sustainable programs.

Treshani Perera, Music and Fine Arts Cataloging Librarian at the University of Kentucky, has written and spoken on critical cataloging—looking at knowledge organization though an equity lens, examining not only at how content is described, but why those systems exist and how they can be changed.

In the midst of the myriad problems facing libraries in the United States—from the pandemic to burnout to the drastic increase in materials challenges—I want to celebrate a big win: the shift to libraries as at-scale providers of home connectivity for the digitally disenfranchised in their communities.

Who is in charge of your library? In Kentucky, in 2023, the answer will change. Gov. Andy Beshear’s veto of a state Senate bill was unexpectedly overridden in mid-April, enabling local politicians to take control of public library board appointments, and thus spending, and even the continued existence of facilities.

When former Indianapolis Public Library (IndyPL) CEO Jackie Nytes stepped down in August 2021 amid allegations of systemic racism throughout the system, Nichelle M. Hayes was one of many employees advocating for change. On March 28, the IndyPL Board unanimously voted to appoint Hayes as the library’s next interim CEO, succeeding John Helling, who had served in the role following Nytes’s departure.

In April 2015 I wrote the LJ article “We Are the Monuments Men” in response to the burning of the Mosul Public Library by ISIS. I asked, What can be done to protect libraries, cultural properties, and artifacts? Sadly, seven years later, the world is witnessing a new conflict, and I am again asking what can we do as librarians to protect, preserve, save information, special collections, cultural artifacts, and rare items in times of conflict?

Book challenges are here; here’s how to respond.

If attendees of PLA 2022 needed a good reason to wake up early on the final day of the conference, Amy Schneider’s Big Ideas talk was it. Schneider, a former software engineer, made history from November 2021 through this past January with her 40-game winning streak on Jeopardy!—the most successful woman to compete on the show, with the second-longest run (Ken Jennings, who won 74 games, was the show’s host during her appearance), and the first openly transgender contestant to qualify for the Tournament of Champions.

At the end of February Steven Potter, CEO and director of Mid Continent Public Library (MCPL), Kansas City, MO, announced his plans to retire after 34 years with the library—12 of them as director—effective June 30. LJ caught up with him shortly before the PLA Conference to talk about his tenure at MCPL and his plans on retirement (spoiler alert: nothing).

30 years of underfunding will take decades to fix.

Academic appointments at University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill, New Mexico State, UMass Amherst, and others; New York Library Association has a new Executive Director; Indianapolis Public Library gets a DEI Officer; and more people news for February 21, 2022.

Help stressed ex-readers get their groove back.

Founded in 1970, the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA) is a leading advocate for libraries serving the nation’s African-American community. The award celebrates extraordinary achievement in the presentation of the cultural, historical, and sociopolitical aspects of the Black Diaspora.

The field needs to support innovation to meet our changing communities’ needs—but focus on invention can lead to taking essential duties, and the people who do them, for granted.

From October through December, Andi Cloud served as the first Madison Public Library (MPL), WI, Native American Storyteller-in-Residence. Cloud, an enrolled member of the Ho-Chunk Nation, grew up in Black River Falls, WI. Her residency combined virtual and in-person events, including interactive storytelling, guest speaker Zoom events, art workshops, activity kits, and story times.

There is no more time to waste. Climate action is needed NOW. Libraries should be visible leaders and partner in this effort not only to protect the assets the public has entrusted them with but also to ensure library workers and community members have the support they need, through libraries, in the face of disruption.

We interviewed five directors of new or returning 2021 Star Libraries to learn how their libraries were positioned to cope with the pandemic, how they changed their operations to cope with the pandemic, and how their libraries rose to the challenges of the pandemic.

Tanisha Mitchell’s love of music enabled her to connect two roles, as curator and consultant for the Metropolitan Opera Music Library and reference librarian and performing arts coordinator for the Freeport Public Library, NY, where she brings rich classical music programming to a popular audience.

Book challenges are, of course, nothing new to libraries. But they are ramping up in both frequency and intensity, and will take teamwork to resist.

LJ interviewed Baker & Taylor President and CEO Amandeep Kochar about his leading a private investment group’s recent acquisition of the company from its previous owner, Follett, on November 4.

Growing up, Rebecca Cline adored the film Mary Poppins, but as a budding Disney fan, she had no idea that one day she would have an up-close view of the carousel horses that the titular nanny and her charges ride, or the snow globe that Mary holds as she sings “Feed the Birds.” The director of the Walt Disney Archives, Cline now has access to these props and many others.

The movement in public libraries toward eliminating late fines for borrowed materials is equitable—and practical.

Catherine Sheldrick Ross died on September 11. Professor, dean, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, she was a renowned library and information scholar. She leaves a legacy of research and publications critical to reader, reference, and public services.

Virtually every public library has something in its local history or current circumstances that could serve as the seed of a program that personalizes big-picture issues by focusing on their relevance to patrons’ own lives and communities.

Elaine Rice Bachmann is the new Maryland State Archivist, Ralph Bingham is named Director of LibraryLinkNJ, Allison Grubbs takes the helm at Broward County, and more library people news for September 21, 2021.

The National Book Foundation (NBF) announced on September 8 that Nancy Pearl, a renowned librarian and former executive director of the Washington Center for the Book at Seattle Public Library, is the 2021 recipient of its Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community.

It remains to be seen whether governments that relaxed or eliminated their mask mandates will move as quickly and decisively to put them back in place. But libraries shouldn’t wait for them to do so.

 LJ ’s first readers’ advisory (RA) survey in eight years found that RA is a growing practice, but librarians want more training and tools to do it better, particularly in genres they don’t read for pleasure. Can crowdsourcing help RA keep up?

On June 4, Joy Bivins was named Director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, a research division of The New York Public Library. LJ caught up with her as she settled into her new role to discuss the overlap between collecting for museums and libraries, what has changed in the past year and a half, and what the Schomburg’s users can expect.

The 2021 ParkScore rankings, conducted annually by the Trust for Public Land, show a significant shakeup. It’s not because of major changes to the parks in the past year, but to the scoring: this year the Trust added equity to its decision matrix, which includes access, investment, amenities, and acreage. The resulting change in the lineup of top-scoring park systems shows how inadequate measuring overall access is for learning whether everyone is well served.

This year’s featured MLIS programs trained numerous library leaders honored by Library Journal as Movers & Shakers. Read more to find out which programs helped launch these talented members of the library community.

I never imagined that we would find ourselves honoring a second class of Movers & Shakers at a distance owing to the pandemic—albeit now with an end, perhaps, in sight.

While teaching a challenging concept to middle schoolers, Ozy Aloziem told a student, “Practice makes perfect.” The student responded, “Practice doesn’t make perfect; practice makes progress”—a light bulb moment for Aloziem that would guide and shape her approach to her work. She believes that we must keep working, she says, and if we fail, learn and try again.

Whether he’s helping community members impacted by wildfires or creating a storywalk and drive-thru storytime during quarantine, County Librarian Todd Deck takes his cues from Tehama County Library patrons’ needs. “Connecting with the community is a foundational tool in being a catalyst for positive change,” says Deck.

When Google’s sister company Wing began using drones in 2019, Kelly Passek’s family was an early adopter. Passek realized the technology could help her meet library goals: She wanted to increase book checkouts and prevent summer slide.

Millie Plotkin’s recovery from an eating disorder began during library school, when she received treatment. Several years later, she heard someone use the phrase “eating disorders information clearinghouse” at a conference. “That planted the seed of an idea that I could combine these two important parts of my life,” says Plotkin. 

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck last spring, Nini Beegan, organizational learning and innovation coordinator for Maryland State Library (MSL), quickly realized how Zoom could help libraries during quarantine. “I noticed how much our libraries were struggling with communication—amongst staff, with customers, and amongst libraries,” Beegan said. “Maryland has a history of libraries working very closely together, and we are used to communicating easily.”

Bridget B. Striker was en route to her own wedding when she told her groom that her favorite part of her career as an archaeologist and mapping specialist was researching at libraries. It brought to mind the Purpose Diagram, which shows that purpose exists where one’s passion, profession, vocation, and mission intersect. She decided in that moment to pursue her MLS. The rest, she says, is local history.

Four days after her school closed due to COVID-19, Amanda Jones, Teacher-Librarian at Live Oak Middle Library in Watson, LA, launched her first virtual trip for students and their families. To date, she’s completed 50 such trips, with topics ranging from the Renaissance and the Mars Perseverance Rover to Uganda and Nepal.

Whether he’s tossing books at pep rallies, writing grants, developing community partnerships, or convening a student roundtable to improve the school, Dustin Hensley is driven to serve students.

When students came to the library looking for their course textbooks because they couldn’t afford to buy them, Capital Community College’s Director of Library Services Eileen Rhodes started promoting Open Educational Resources (OER). “This became a passion of mine, as I saw…the relief on students’ faces when I informed them that their book was available online for free,” she says.

For the past five years, Heather De Forest has worked to expand the Community Scholars Program, which provides free access to scholarly publications to staff members at nonprofits and charities throughout British Columbia.

When the pandemic began, Marzena Ermler knew job seekers would need help beyond the résumé critiques and mock interviews that New York Public Library’s (NYPL) Career Services team previously offered. “I began brainstorming for a new pandemic-friendly job search service,” she says. Ermler launched what she calls resilience coaching, helping job seekers manage their stress and mental health. Volunteers have provided over 2,500 hours of coaching, she says. 

In summer 2017, Jennifer Sturge took part in the Lilead Fellowship Summer Institute. Participants were challenged to find their why—their core mission as a school librarian. When she returned to her district, she surveyed her colleagues about their whys. One shared realization was the need for diversified collections that reflect the student population. “I want them to see themselves in our collection,” she says.

After the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd in 2020, Christopher Stewart, library media specialist at Bell High School, part of the District of Columbia Public Schools, knew his students wanted to protest peacefully and was determined to help. Armed with books, water, snacks, milk (in case students were teargassed), and hand sanitizer, Stewart joined them in protests.

“I came to librarianship with a problem,” says Shaneé Yvette Murrain, director of community engagement at Digital Public Library of America (DPLA). As both an undergraduate at the HBCU Bethune-Cookman University and a master’s student in divinity at Drew University, she couldn’t find primary sources documenting historic Black churches—traditions, women’s leadership, memberships—in digital collections. In her final year, the university’s theological librarian introduced her to the field.

Inspired to pursue librarianship by the range of services provided at her local public library, Zeineb Yousif has worked tirelessly to promote digital access to her university’s research and collections. “I loved the idea of having a job where I could help lots of different people while getting to regularly try doing something new,” she says.

A stack of bundled newspapers from a defunct bookstore in Cairo. Dailies from Republican-era China. Imperial Russian broadsheets dating as far back as 1782. More than 1,000 independent and revolutionary newspapers from 19th-century Mexico. These are a few of the multilingual, globe-spanning media resources that Bryan Benilous has digitized through the East View Global Press Archive.

Emma Molls works with researchers who are interested in shaking things up in publishing—and so is she. As Publishing Services Librarian for the University of Minnesota (UMN) Libraries, Molls leads the development of her department’s core principles. These statements outline the program’s values to guide Publishing Services through changes and shifts in open access (OA) and scholarly publishing.

Not only does Makiba Foster run her own library’s African American Research Library and Cultural Center, she is also a key convener of such centers across the country. She leads Archiving the Black Web, a project that brings together Black collecting institutions, from public libraries to Historically Black Colleges and Universities, to map out the future of digitally curating the Black experience. This first-of-its-kind initiative launched during the pandemic—funded by a $150,000 National Leadership Grant from the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program—focuses on how to best archive the plethora of digitally born Black culture and content.

As libraries began closing their buildings in March 2020, Callan Bignoli noticed a disconnect between the message being sent by administrators—that libraries should continue to demonstrate value and resilience in the face of looming budget cuts—and what she was hearing from workers, that they felt unsafe being asked to continue working, even behind the scenes or providing curbside pickup; afraid for their jobs if they refused (or even if they didn’t); and dismissed by those telling them to step up.

From her start in publishing to her current work as a librarian at Simmons University, Stacy Collins has always called for structural change. In her own words, she aims not only to educate others about systems of oppression but also to disrupt those interrelated systems through her work and scholarship.

When she served as field manager for OCLC’s Geek the Library community awareness campaign, Jennifer Pearson traveled to libraries across the country. She realized that rural libraries were doing amazing work in their communities, and that led her to take a directorship in a small town, a move that also let her return to the South.

As a PhD student in library and information science in the U.S., Claudia Șerbănuță aimed to apply her learning to the libraries of Romania, her home country. She wrote her thesis on what happened to Romanian libraries under communist rule in the 1970s and ’80s, and worked with Susan Schnuer on a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation training program for 12 Romanian public librarians. Șerbănuță not only facilitated language translation but contextualized the learning for the visiting librarians, some of whom went on to take leadership roles in Romanian librarianship.

After Shannon Jones landed a library job at Eastern Virginia Medical School, her interest in medical librarianship was ignited when she watched the librarians interact with physician teams to help with patient care and clinical work. She had not even known such a position existed, and she saw the power of the work to help both medical professionals and patients.

Currently SFPL’s African American Center manager—her “dream job”—Shawna Sherman works to improve the library’s support for Black youth and families. She’s partnered with San Francisco Unified School District’s (SFUSD) African American Parent Advisory Council and Black Student Union, 100% College Prep Institute, and the San Francisco Alliance of Black Educators, attending their meetings to share what’s going on at the African American Center and connect with Black families in the district.

While the past year has been a severely challenging time for libraries to provide basic services, let alone examine and revamp them through a racial equity lens, a trio of Madison Public Library (MPL) employees were determined to do just that. Dominic Davis, Jody Mohrbacher, and Yesianne Ramírez-Madera, coleaders of MPL’s Racial Equity Change Team (RECT), kicked their efforts into high gear following the library’s closure in March 2020—and succeeded on many fronts.

As Madison Public Library (MPL) director of public services, Krissy Wick not only transitioned traditional librarian roles to community engagement librarian positions, but instituted robust partnerships with the Madison community. Wick collaborated with the Madison Metropolitan School District and many others to develop the Read Up summer children’s program. More than 75 percent of participating kids maintained or increased their reading levels in the first two years.

When Alison Williams began as Copper Queen Library’s (CQL) program coordinator five years ago, budget cuts only allowed for a part-time position. In her interview, she made it clear that she wanted to increase staff hours, the budget, and community participation, which was in steep decline. Thanks to her work, the role is now full-time, two new positions have been added, and community engagement is on the rebound. She’s also written and been awarded more than $155,000 in grants for new programs and collections.

As a bilingual Family Literacy Coordinator at Nashville Public Library (NPL), Klem-Marí Cajigas believes it isn’t enough to offer Spanish-language content and programs. She scrutinizes books to make sure that translations are of the same caliber as the English versions. In her work delivering literacy workshops to families in Spanish for a grant-funded project between NPL and Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Cajigas reinterpreted the entire curriculum so that it was culturally relevant to Nashville’s Spanish-speaking population; the project reached nearly 600 families over eight years.

Southern California is home to the largest Farsi-speaking community in the diaspora. In his three years and counting at the Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL), M. Ramin Naderi, acting senior librarian at the Venice–Abbot Kinney Memorial Branch, has become a driving force behind much of LAPL’s service to that population of approximately 700,000 people.

Amy DelPo saw firsthand how ageism impacted her parents, especially as each was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Witnessing how the world treats older adults, particularly those with dementia, motivated her to create Older Adult Services at the Denver Public Library (DPL), one of the few libraries with an administrator devoted solely to aging adults.

David Kelsey spent most of his life volunteering at senior facilities, so his outreach programs at St. Charles Public Library are a natural extension. “I wanted to be a minister growing up,” he says, but chose the “outreach ministry” of librarianship instead.

When the pandemic made it impossible for families to attend school, meet with in-person tutors, or take advantage of other educational enrichment opportunities, Hayward Public Library’s (HPL) Education Services Manager Lindsey Vien reached out to her community partners for solutions.

When Allison Waukau originated the Native American liaison position at Hennepin County Library in June 2018, the role was to be grant-funded for 18 months. It has just been made permanent, thanks largely to her ongoing initiatives supporting the library’s Native community.

Christina Jupp Grove has fond childhood library memories, but one bad experience gave her insight that influenced her future. During college, she offered to work off library fines. Library staff rejected that and suggested she pay by credit card. “It made me super cognizant of the default middle-class expectations of public libraries and the barriers that exist for accessing library services for a lot of people,” she said.

Nichelle Hayes has two major passions: her work as a genealogist and the library. She’s married the two, coupling her love of family history with the research skills of librarianship. She is a genealogist with a focus on African ancestry and a special collections librarian with a focus on the African diaspora.

In her 12th year at Microsoft, Carmi Parker wondered, “If I were independently wealthy, what would I do?” The answer surprised her: She’d be a librarian. In 2016, she became an online experience coordinator for Whatcom County Library System, launching a career in which her two loves, books and tech, merged to meet a growing need.

“If you want to see change, find a way to be a part of it,” says Christina Fuller-Gregory. She honed her knowledge of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) best practices as part of the 2017 ALA Emerging Leaders cohort’s Advancing Diversity in Public Libraries project, and at Spartanburg County Public Library (SCPL), SC, developed the SCPL EDI Lexicon, a glossary that defines common social justice terminology for library workers.

During a tumultuous year of COVID-19 and demonstrations against police violence toward Black people, Baltimore County Public Library (BCPL) Adult and Community Engagement Coordinator Brenda Johnson-Perkins found the opportunity to put into action her belief that “anyone can bring their whole heart into librarianship to make opportunity and visibility accessible for others.”

The federal E-Rate program provides vital discounts that make it possible for many U.S. schools and public libraries to afford broadband services and equipment. But the application process can be challenging. As manager of E-Rate Services for the Arkansas State Library, Amber Gregory has helped libraries throughout the state navigate the complex process, securing millions of dollars in discounts during the past 10 years.

Emily Dowie, who started working in libraries as a 17-year-old page, created and leads the NYLA Roundtable Coalition for Library Workers of Color. Points of action for the organization include library sponsorship of support staff attending library school, library staff workshops around undoing racism, and the formation of a mentorship program.