ALA President Lessa Kanani‘opua Pelayo-Lozada writes: “Over the past few years, we have been asked to be brave as we do things that once would have been unthinkable. We have had to be brave while defending intellectual freedom and the right to read. We have had to be brave taking on the role of disaster workers in response to COVID-19. Being brave has not been easy, but we have done it and have faced the unknown for ourselves and our communities. This bravery inspired me to run for president of the American Library Association in summer 2020. I wanted to be brave for our library community, and I also wanted to center our stories. Everyone needs to understand how essential libraries and library workers are to our communities and our world.”