United for Libraries will present the program Be Fierce: How to Harness Your Power for Your Libraries on Sat., June 24, 9-10 a.m., McCormick Place, W187a, at the 2023 ALA Annual Conference.
This panel will feature “boots on the ground” experts who serve as Trustees, Library Staff, and Foundation members. Hear their first-person accounts of overcoming obstacles to harness their power, expertise, knowledge, and passion to successfully advocate for their libraries, confidently counter book challenges, and strategically develop relationships to counter censorship attempts. Experts will also candidly share their missteps as learning opportunities for attendees. Be ready to engage with the speakers and other attendees! Leave more confident in your abilities to advocate. Leave with more connections to continue after the session has concluded. And leave ready to “speak truth to power.”
Presenters will include:
Lauren Trujillo (moderator), Director of the Santa Barbara Public Library Foundation. Lauren first came to Santa Barbara to attend UCSB where she received a B.A. in History. She received her Masters in Library and Information Science from UCLA and has worked with several nonprofits and organizations in Santa Barbara, CA including the Isla Vista Memorial Project, the Santa Barbara Mission Archive-Library, the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation, and the Santa Barbara Historical Museum. She sits on the board for the Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara, United for Libraries, Women’s Literary Voices, Association for Fundraising Professionals, Environmental Defense Center, and is a member of the Junior League of Santa Barbara.
Chris Chanyasulkit, President of the American Public Health Association and member of the United for Libraries Board of Directors. Chris holds leadership positions with local, state, regional and national governance and civic engagement organizations, working to promote racial, gender, and health equity. She served as a gubernatorial appointee to the Massachusetts Asian American Commission and the Commission on the Status of Women. Chris earned a B.A. in Biology and Art History from Boston University, an M.P.H. (with a concentration in maternal and child health care) from the Boston University School of Public Health, and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Northeastern University, where she conducted research on health disparities. Dr. Chanyasulkit is an elected Library Trustee of the Public Libraries of Brookline, a Brookline Community Emergency Response Team member, and a Brookline Medical Reserve Corps member. Chris lives in Brookline, Massachusetts with her husband, James, a software engineer, their three children, and two puppies.
Jamie M. Gregory, Upper School Librarian, Christ Church Episcopal School (SC). Jamie M. Gregory is an 18-year educator working in the Upstate of South Carolina as a high school librarian and journalism teacher. She contributed to ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom for almost 4 years and was awarded the IFRT Eli M. Oboler Memorial Award in 2022 and SC's Intellectual Freedom Award in 2023. She is a 2023 recipient of ALA's I Love My Librarian award as well as the 2022 South Carolina School Librarian of the Year. She is the 2023-2024 South Carolina Association of School Librarian's President-Elect and is currently serving on YALSA's 2024 Printz award committee.
Lindsey Kimery is Coordinator of Library Services at Metro Nashville Public Schools in Nashville, Tennessee, where she supports 130 school librarians and 40 library clerks. She has served in Tennessee public schools for over twenty years as a teacher and school librarian. Her professional service includes past-president of the Tennessee Association of School Librarians, co-chair of the TASL Legislative Task Force, AASL Supervisors’ Section Chair-Elect, immediate past-chair of the AASL Chapter Delegates, and Future Ready Libraries board member. She is a 2023 Library Journal Mover and Shaker and lives in the suburbs of Nashville with her sons.
