Frieda Afary is an Iranian American librarian, translator and writer. She has served as an adult librarian at the Los Angeles Public Library for over twenty years. Her work has included organizing many library programs on philosophy, literature, economics, feminism, U.S. history and current world events. She is the 2023 – 2024 co-chair of the Pen Translation Committee and an active member of the American Library Association. Her book, Socialist Feminism: A New Approach was just published by Pluto Press.

Wonda Powell, Professor Emerita of History/Ethnic Studies at Los Angeles Southwest College, is a graduate of the University of Michigan and University of California Los Angeles respectively. Her Master’s Program included History and Ethnic Studies with a special interest in African American Folklore. She is a writer, poet, and in the words of Bertolt Brecht, “a worker who reads”. Her long academic career of over 40 years includes teaching in the Los Angeles Community College District, tenure as Department Chair of Behavioral and Social Science, Passage Program at UC Irvine, California State University Los Angeles, and numerous other conference and community engagements.

Kimberli Buckley works as a Senior Community Library Manager with Contra Costa County Library. She has over 15 years of experience in the library field. She especially enjoys planning programs and working with teens. She has a passion for teaching and is currently a lecturer at San Jose State University’s School of Information. Kimberli has done extensive work on serving unhoused patrons at the library and is a strong advocate for homelessness awareness and community outreach. She also teaches classes that focus on adulting & life skills and her book Teaching Life Skills at the Library released in July 2022.

Abby O’Neill is the Library Services Manager at the Contra Costa County Library. Previously she worked at Cuyahoga County Library in Reference, Supervision in Circulation, Branch Staffing Coordinator. She also directed operations for incoming freshman at Cleveland State University, worked as a DJ and Promotions director at WCSB, taught ESOL in Japan, Trained Trainers in Thailand and Vietnam, worked with Project Read, teaching literacy. She recruited, hired, and trained adults living in underserved communities as a JTPA (Job Training Partnership Act) coordinator with the County of Orange. She also worked for the Orange County Sheriff where she designed curriculum and training programs for regional, state, and national agencies.

Gia Paolini has been working in libraries for 20+ years in a variety of positions from academic, art, and public libraries. She has been with Contra Costa County for 14 years, 7 of which have been in her current position as Senior Community Library Manager at the San Pablo Library, an urban library serving a diverse city of 35,000 plus portions of Richmond. Gia oversees a staff of 12 who offer engaging and innovative programs for all community members.

Derek Wolfgram is Director of Redwood City Public Library, where he focuses on community collaborations, equity, and inclusion efforts, and creating experiences to help people share the joys of literacy and learning. Since earning his MLS from Kent State University, Derek’s 25-year career in public libraries also included administrative roles at Denver Public Library, Butte County Library, and Santa Clara County Library District. Derek is Treasurer and past President of California Library Association, Chair of the PLA Leadership Development Committee, and a Community Advisory Board Member for San Mateo County Pride Center, in addition to several other local board responsibilities.

Lauren Hancock has spent more than 20 years working as an educator and advocate for studentcentered learning. Since 2017, Lauren has worked to support and develop the San Jose Public Library (SJPL)'s Education and Digital Literacy Strategy. As a Program Administrator her work strengthens SJPL’s expanded learning programs through the Student Library Card Initiative, overseeing relevant workforce development programs, and expanding the library’s network of outside education providers through partnerships and advocacy. Prior to her work with SJPL she was a project fellow at the Stafford School and worked in Family Programs at Google.

Nathan Brumley is the Assistant Library Services Director at the Livermore Public Library. In addition to general library management duties, he directly oversees Youth Services, which includes children, teens, and families. Community partnerships have always been a focus for him, and he was fortunate enough to be there when talks (with an amazing partner) around a Student Success program with the local school district began.

Tarri Ryan is Library Manager, Youth and Outreach for Mountain View Public Library. She has worked in museums and libraries throughout her career and actively seeks ways to combine best practices and research from both sectors to enhance public libraries. Having grown up on a remote island in Alaska, she is keenly aware of how library access broadens experiences. Tarri earned her MLIS from Wayne State University and completed further post graduate work in children's literature from the University of Roehampton. Her current pile of books includes titles about children's educational environments and post-WWII history. Find her on weekends pulling on her wetsuit or seeking the best hidden spots in San Francisco.

Mary Corpora is a Librarian at the Pleasanton Public Library where she has worked for the last 20 years. Before coming to Pleasanton, she worked at the Livermore Public Library and before that was a special librarian at the Maxtor Corporation. She began coordinating Pleasanton’s Student Success program in 2020, after its initial launch in 2017. When not making library services more easily available to the youthful masses, she enjoys quoting Brooklyn 99 with her 14-year-old son, discussing skincare products with her 12-year-old daughter, and drinking mai-tais with her husband and friends.

Thomas Fassett is an adult services librarian with Sunnyvale Public Library. Under his guidance, Sunnyvale's Library of Things has developed from a scattering of odd objects into a cohesive, branded collection that made its debut to the public this summer. He runs technology-related programs at the Library, as well as large events and cultural programs.

Tierney Alvarado is a youth services librarian with the Livermore Public Library. She led the creation of a Library of Things there in 2016, starting with board games, telescopes, and sewing machines. Community feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, and the Library of Things has now expanded to include some 400 items.

Rainn Shaw is the Senior Library Assistant as Oakland Public Library. Rainn has been with Oakland Public Library since 2013, as manager of the Tool Lending Library since 2018. She is currently attending San Jose State University in pursuit of a graduate degree in Library and Information Science. Her long-term career goals include curating a social justice-oriented collection in adult services as a branch manager and adult reference librarian. Rainn’s proudest accomplishment is sharing information with other library systems starting their own special collection of tools.

Megan Stroup Tristao has fused her love of the outdoors and her love of libraries by creating a circulating hiking collection at the Santa Clara City Library. Special items include hiking backpacks, hiking poles and bear canisters, all of which have been very popular in the community. She also created book club kits for checkout. In both cases, she worked closely with other library divisions including Technical Services and Circulation to make these programs a success.

Joanna Messer Kimmitt is the Director of Library Programs & Services at Cabrillo College. She has extensive experience in public and academic library consortium services, personnel management, systems and metadata, instruction in both professional development and academic programs, and user experience assessment in online and face-to-face environments. Joanna's recent work has focused on textbook affordability, controlled digital lending, person-centered management, and responses to burnout through organizing efforts in libraries. She is active in ALA's Core and ACRL divisions and is the current chair for MOBAC's Administrative Council.

Where we place our attention affects our sense of reality. In this workshop, participants will learn about the brain’s negativity bias and how to shift towards positivity to reconnect to abundance.

• Aiko Michot, Remembering True Nature

This session will focus on the transformative power of empathetic listening. It will explore why empathy matters in different spheres of life, at work, at home, and in our communities. Yuri and Nethra will share insights and frameworks from Nonviolent Communication (NVC) that support participants in deepening their understanding of what it means to listen and be heard. The session will also include guided activities and prompts that support each participant in deepening their abilities to listen.

• Nethra Samarawickrema & Yuri Zaitsev, The Lab for Listening

Over the past year and a half, we have experienced perhaps more than ever in modern times the limitations of our institutions to creatively solve our most complex challenges. We have also experienced the importance of creative, people-led and community-centered initiatives to care for one another, effectively communicate critical information in ways, bolster local economies, and nurture our overall wellbeing. As we step into continually more uncertain times, Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) offers time-tested practices that libraries, their staff and leaders can utilize to unlock the hidden capacities within their communities while partnering effectively with community members and groups. In this session, ABCD Institute Faculty April Doner cover a brief history of ABCD, the differences between a service-centered and a community-centered approach, the six community assets, and core asset-based practices.

• April Doner, ABCD Institute

• Derek Wolfgram, Redwood City Public Library
• Sally Thomas, Hayward Public Library w/ Community Partner

In the world of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI), the word “Power” surfaces a lot, but many people/institutions don’t know exactly how to operationally define, locate, strategically use, disrupt, or dismantle it. The gap that exists between an organization’s or individual’s espoused values and their actions suggests a need to more fundamentally understand how power functions in order to confront it for racial equity. During this one-hour event, Yejin Lee, an equity & justice coach and consultant, will provide an overview of power (with a focus on social/racial and positional powers), how they cause or compound racial harm to staff and visitors of color, and how to genuinely begin the humbling journey of embodying values of equity & justice.

• Yejin Lee

Presently we are at a precarious point in history. Perhaps we’ve always been in one but this one feels particularly piercing. If this is our reality, a reality filled with global grief, fear & uncertainty, what kind of future is possible for us? Where is it we are actually trying to go and have we spent enough time imagining it?

It takes a lot of creativity to imagine a world that doesn’t exist while living within the realities of a world filled with a tremendous amount of suffering and oppression. In 2020, DPL EDI Manager Ozy Aloziem and Colorado Poet Laureate Bobby LeFebre conceived of a radical imagination game as a part of Proyecto Sobremesa, a project that gathers and engages Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) artists and cultural workers in intimate dinners to discuss and plan a liberated future. They recognized a need for radical imagination, accountability, and collaboration in creating the communities and organizations we desire. The purpose of the game is to collectively practice radical imagination so that new innovative ideas and solutions can come to light. It’s important to practice this muscle of radical imagination so that we can imagine and then create the institutions we’re all deserving of but that don't yet currently exist. This presentation will define what radical imagination is in both theory & praxis and why it is needed now moreso than ever before. This workshop will also engage participants in practicing radical imagination. By activating radical imagination collectively, individuals begin to recognize that there are tangible steps that we can all take to really move in the direction of sustainable change.

• Ozy Aloziem, Denver Central Library

In this session you will hear about strategies for normalizing, organizing, and operationalizing racial equity at all parts of a public library. Topics covered will include racial equity tools for policy and decision making, strategies for successful staff-led racial equity teams, and resources for how to initiate staff dialogue spaces at your library.

• Amita Lonial, Tacoma Public Library

(Max: 100 participants)

Do you have a hard time expressing yourself and feeling heard at work? Are you looking for places where you get to be real, to process, and heal with others who get the challenges you face?

Even amidst the increasing awareness of the importance of empathy and listening at work, many employees, particularly from historically marginalized communities, find it hard to freely talk about what’s really going on for them amidst other co-workers. And yet, many of us are hungry for environments where we can be truly real and heard with empathy without having to perform.

In this session, we will create a safe space to talk about: 1) Healing from difficult experiences and relationships at work. 2) Empowerment at work where you learn to connect with your needs, find your voice, and express yourself. 3) Balancing work life with creative projects. 5) Burn out, self-care, and boundaries.

• Nethra Samarawickrema & Yuri Zaitsev, The Lab for Listening

Oppression can show up in many ways. The purpose of this session is to provide a shared framework of what oppression is and how it appears in four common levels. This session will also include relevant examples, so we can use this as an ongoing tool to further Diversity Equity and Inclusion across the Pacific Library Partnership.

• Celesté Martinez, Owner and Founder, Celestial Alegria, LLC

Our institutional language, when left unexamined and uninterrogated, becomes a tool of the status quo and undermines our efforts to even name the extent of our problems. This talk will discuss the role of language in the LIS field's decades-old stagnation with regard to equity and diversity, and will offer some ways to reframe our use of language as we continue to push for progress.

• Stacy Collins, Research and Instruction Librarian, Simmons University

The drag scene adapted quickly to virtual environments, featuring amazing editing and a way to stay connected to audiences. With their performances we see beautiful representation and pieces surrounding identity, as well as just a good time! All rights belong to the artist! Find them at https://www.instagram.com/cocobuttah85/?hl=en 

• Coco Buttah

The Cultivating Race Equity & Inclusion Initiative launched in 2019, funded by the California State Library with LSTA funds. Patty and Chantel will discuss various aspects of the work done in Year 1, and what’s to come.

• Patty Wong, ALA President-Elect; City Librarian Santa Monica Public Library
• Chantel Walker, Assistant Director of County Library Systems, Marin County Free Library

In 2019, Denver Public Library (DPL) received a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to conduct a comprehensive research/assessment project using an equity framework to better understand effective strategies to reshape its workforce so it reflects the diversity of the community. Ultimately, the goal of Building a Pipeline of Community Connection project is to determine practical, effective models that libraries can implement to ensure that people from populations historically underrepresented in librarianship can join and grow in the field, with a supportive, inclusive institutional culture. This work is urgently needed, as the librarianship field has failed to equitably reflect the nation’s increasing diversity and promote a truly racially inclusive institutional culture. This session will feature a preliminary summary of findings with recommendations and immediately actionable steps that libraries can take to advance racial equity & inclusion in the workplace.

• Ozy Aloziem, Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion Manager, Denver Public Library

• Ozy Aloziem, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Manager, Denver Public Library
• Stacy Collins, Research & Instruction Librarian, Simmons University
• Alison Macrina, Founder & Director, Library Freedom Project
• Chantel Walker, Assistant Director of County Library Systems, Marin County Free Library

Day 1 - Full Conference Transcript
Day 1 - Full Chat Transcript

In the era of a global pandemic, uprisings for Black lives, a growing funding crisis in libraries, and increasing threats to democracy and civil liberties, how can we defend the values of librarianship and adapt to the changing times? How do we live our professional values in "The New Normal" without resorting to normalization? Tess Wilson of the Library Freedom Project, will talk about the future of libraries in dark times and how we can stand up for our values of intellectual freedom, privacy, democracy, and social responsibility.

• Tess Wilson, Library Freedom Project

Libraries are known for adapting to their everchanging environments. Though current social distancing practices do not allow for in-person library programming, libraries have continued to find ways to serve the community in creative ways. OC Public Libraries’ Literacy program, OC READ, has employed various strategies to sustain community engagement in not only their literacy program, but also in their recently completed 2020 Book to Action program series.

• Liz Romero, Orange County Public Library

From the early days of shelter-in-place, Redwood City Public Library's Youth Services team worked to maintain continuity with their families by providing a variety of virtual storytime programs. The team soon realized that rather than being restricted to the library building stories could be filmed at any time and in a variety of locations. This paved the way for Stories From Your Community, a weekly series that welcomes community partners to read stories and discuss their work all over the community--in train depots, fire stations, shipping ports, cultural centers, parks, and more.

• Pam Evans, Redwood City Public Library

With work through United for Libraries, the group will discuss the reality-perception gap and advocating using the E’s of Libraries during the period of COVID.

• Alan Fishel, Author of Proving Your Library’s Value: Persuasive, Organized, and Memorable Messaging; ALA United for Libraries Board Member, Counsel to ALA
• Skip Dye, SVP, Library Sales and Digital Strategy, Penguin Random House, United for Libraries Board Member and 2018-2019 President
• Paula Miller, Director, Baltimore County Library

The REopening Archives, Libraries, and Museums (REALM) project is drawing upon authoritative scientific research and Battelle laboratory testing to produce, widely disseminate, and periodically update evidence-based information that can inform operational considerations for reducing the risk of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) through libraries, archives, and museums (LAMs) to their staff and visitors. Join this session for an update on what is currently known and unknown about the virus, the results of REALM testing thus far, and how to incorporate the information into your local decision making.

• Sharon Streams, Realm Project Director, OCLC
• Carol Frost, CEO, Pacific Library Partnership; Executive Director, Peninsula Library System

This presentation will discuss accessibility concerns and best practices for connecting with patrons in a virtual environment. The presenters will specifically address social media, planning events, executing events, and post-event accessibility considerations.

• Rachel Fager, Cataloging & Metadata Librarian, Saint Joseph’s University
• Lauren Wittek, Assistant Professor and User Experience & Assessment Librarian, Central Washington University’s James E. Brooks Library

When two weeks sheltering in place turned to four, to six and longer, we quickly identified which of our programs could easily transition to a virtual live program. Just as quickly as we transitioned, our patrons jumped on board for the ride. Learn how experimenting with platforms and marketing strategies brought virtual programming into the homes of our patrons.

• Stacy Lein, South San Francisco Library

Angi Brzycki shares some of the virtual programs she's had since LAPL closed to the public.

• Angi Brzycki, Los Angeles Public Library

Day 2 - Full Conference Transcript
Day 2 - Full Chat Transcript

How can we repair the disconnect between designers and users, producers and consumers, and tech elites and the rest of us?  The internet is both an enabler of frictionless efficiency and a dirty tangle of politics, economics, and other inefficient, inharmonious human activities. We may love the immediacy of Google search results, the convenience of buying from Amazon, and the elegance and power of our Apple devices, but it's a one-way, top-down process. We're not asked for our input, or our opinions—only for our data. The recent Cambridge Analytica and Russian misinformation scandals exemplify the imbalance of a digital world that puts profits before inclusivity and democracy. What can we learn about creating a more democratic internet from the “design labs” of rural, low-income, and indigenous people around the world? To make a better internet, we need a new ethic of diversity, openness, and inclusivity, empowering those now excluded from decisions about how technologies are designed, who profits from them, and who are surveilled and exploited by them. This talk will engage the audience to conceive of libraries’ role in a more just and humane digital future.

• Ramesh Srinivasan, Professor, UCLA and Director, UC Digital Cultures Lab

What does it mean to be operationally literate in the future?  At a time when you can search billions of texts in milliseconds, scan over trillions of online images, and look deeply into planet-wide maps, we need to rethink what it means to be literate, and to be a learner.  We live in a time when the nature of work is rapidly shifting, and we need citizens who are more than merely functionally literate--if anything, they need the ability to learn and re-learn over the course of their life.  Although you might think that "literacy" is one of the great constants that transcend the ages, the skills of a literate person have changed substantially over time as texts and technology allow for new kinds of reading and understanding.  Knowing how to read is just the beginning of it - knowing how to organize your own learning, frame a question, pose a query, interpret the texts that you find, organize (and use) the information you discover, and understand your metacognition - these are all critical parts of being literate workers and citizens in the future as well. How will all of our newest technologies (such virtual- and augmented-realities, online virtual assistance, and increasingly sophisticated NLP) affect the way we reason, understand, and think?

• Dan Russell, Senior Research Scientist, Google

• Erin Berman, Division Director of the Learning Group, Alameda County Library
• Dan Russell, Senior Research Scientist, Google
• Ramesh Srinivasan, Professor, UCLA and Director, UC Digital Cultures Lab

This presentation will expand traditional concepts of outreach by exploring community-building programs run by staff other than librarians. The presenters will give examples of how the skills, experience, identities and cultural and socio-economic backgrounds of non-librarian staff can connect the public library to the community it serves. Examples will be given of projects at the Oakland Public Library, for which the presenters have primary responsibilities, which would not be considered outreach in a traditional sense. These projects, however, bring people together and deepen the library’s understanding of the community and how the library can serve it. The presenters will ask for audience participation to challenge individuals’ concepts of both outreach and the roles of non-librarian staff while soliciting other examples to broaden both.

• Andrea Guzman, Community Relations Library Assistant, Oakland Public Library
• Peggy Simmons, Library Assistant, Oakland Public Library
• Stephanie Yun, Library Aide, Oakland Public Library

The decennial Census is conducted in an attempt to accurately count every person living in the United States. An accurate Census count is crucial to your community. The 2020 Census poses possible challenges due to the transition to a primarily online format and the government’s focus on surveying hard-to-count and hard-to-reach populations. Because of the trust and standing libraries have in the community, libraries will be an important role in ensuring an accurate Census count. To facilitate this role, our presenters created Census and Sensibility: Preparing your Library the 2020 Census. This toolkit is designed to support libraries and their staff in: providing access to the Census, promoting participation, and engaging with their community.

• Erik Berman, Coordinator of Services to Young Adults, Alameda County Library
• Katie DeKorte, Youth Services Librarian, Sacramento Public Library

Headspace is meditation made simple – an app designed for busy, modern lives to learn the essentials of meditation and mindfulness in just a few minutes a day. The app offers hundreds of guided meditations on a variety of topics – from stress and sleep, to focus and performance. Adrienne Keane will do a demonstration of the Headspace meditation app.

• Adrienne Keane, Community Engagement Librarian, Santa Clara County Library District

Can our cities be community focused and globally connected while also smart, resilient, and infused with poetry and empathy? Through dialogue, how can we empower people of all ages, classes, and backgrounds? Is an innovative and inclusive city possible?
On February 2, 2018 the SFPL Main Library opened its doors to over 6,000 people for a free and festive night to exchange ideas in the heart of the city in the form of a 7-hour marathon of debates, discussions and performances. In partnership with SFMOMA and the French Consulate in San Francisco, SFPL hosted the first edition of Night of Ideas featuring top thinkers and change makers from the Bay Area and beyond in the theme of “Facing our Time: the City of the Future”.

• Tom Fortin, Chief of the Main, San Francisco Public Library

Did you know that only half of fourth graders in California are reading at grade level standards? Studies indicate that children who fall behind when they start to read, rarely catch up on their own. There is nearly a 90% chance that a poor reader in first grade will remain so, affecting every aspect of their education. Structured literacy instruction is extremely effective for all students who are struggling to read, but such programs are cost-prohibitive for many families. Through the FOG Readers program, trained volunteers employ a structured literacy intervention and help elementary school students overcome reading difficulties.

• Laura Lay, Learning Differences Librarian, San Francisco Public Library

Experience “Libraries = Education,” a vision that is ushering in a new era of how libraries are viewed and contribute to their communities. Building on the outstanding work already in place at your library, the strategy will make you, your library, and our profession indispensable, now and for centuries to come.

• Valerie Gross, Education Enterprises for Libraries, https://valeriegross.com/

NOTE: Due to technical error, only Part 2 of this presentation was recorded.  A similar presentation may be viewed at http://ideas.demco.com/webinar/libraries-education-your-key-to-success/. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Join our panelists for discussions and debates on the following topics:

• What is the library’s role and what’s effective in working with the unhoused?
• Are we really neutral? Do libraries highlight or stay away from social justice and political movements, or concerns of vulnerable populations (e.g. undocumented citizens)?
• Do we need to get away from tech in early literacy education?
• Are VR and AR really the future for libraries?

Panelists: Anissa Malady (South San Francisco Public Library), Jayanti Addleman (Monterey County Free Libraries), Lisa Harris (Alameda County Library), Valerie Gross (Education Enterprises for Libraries)

Moderator: Sarah Houghton, California Digital Library

Advances in technology have helped our understanding of how the brain works. This talk will explore the ways libraries can use this information to develop programming and services that start our patrons on the path to cultivating their potential.

• Michelle Krasowski, Contra Costa County Library