From left, Sherry Scheline, Eboni M. Henry, Emily Drabinski, and Nicole T. Bryan

In Celebration of Librarians

January 21, 2024

In her Main Stage Panel on January 21, titled “It’s All Happening at the Library!” Drabinski spoke with three other librarians about the ways their libraries serve as community connectors. Eboni M. Henry, school media specialist for District of Columbia Public Schools, said that finding out who makes up her library’s broad community is as … Continue reading In Celebration of Librarians


Native Hawaiian teacher, author, filmmaker, and transgender woman Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu speaks at at the American Library Association’s 2023 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Chicago on June 25.

Role and Responsibility

June 27, 2023

Wong-Kalu was a featured speaker at the American Library Association’s (ALA) 2023 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Chicago on June 25. In conversation with ALA President Lessa Kanani’opua Pelayo-Lozada, Wong-Kalu discussed what it means to be māhū, her recently released picture book Kapaemahu, and what advice she would give to young people in these contentious … Continue reading Role and Responsibility


Isabel Wilkerson

History, Race, and Caste

June 27, 2021

Jefferson spoke of the “twin pandemics” that have marked his tenure as president—COVID-19 and systemic racism—and pointed out that only the virus seems to be reaching resolution. “Isabel Wilkerson and her book Caste help explain why,” he said. Simone Stone, an MSLIS student at the School of Information Services at the University of Illinois at … Continue reading History, Race, and Caste


Stacey Abrams

An Act of Persistence

June 25, 2020

Brown prefaced the main event—a conversation between Abrams and ALA Executive Director Tracie D. Hall—by noting how both COVID-19 and police brutality disproportionately affect African Americans and other communities of color. “The coronavirus is new, unlike racism, which is as old as time,” she said. Brown asked if deaths like George Floyd’s could have been … Continue reading An Act of Persistence


Jeff Henderson

Hungry with Knowledge

January 26, 2020

“I was growing up hungry in a single-parent, dysfunctional home in the 1960s,” he told the crowd at American Library Association President Wanda Kay Brown’s program at the Midwinter Meeting & Exhibits in Philadelphia on January 26. “I had a little homeboy dream that I’d be able to buy a house on a hill with … Continue reading Hungry with Knowledge


President’s Program Speakers Address Citizenship through Poetry, Memoir

June 25, 2018

Smith has been traveling around the US, but instead of reading at the usual bookstores and college campuses, she’s been hitting public libraries, churches, and community centers. She said the sense of gathering in these spaces has been intimate and inspiring. For example, she read her work in a men’s rehab facility, and although the … Continue reading President’s Program Speakers Address Citizenship through Poetry, Memoir


Are Libraries Neutral?

February 12, 2018

The program featured a sprawling discussion in which multiple definitions of neutrality were proposed, and various positions were argued for and against them. The rhetoric was lively and occasionally prickly on the stage, in the audience, and on social media. Are libraries neutral spaces? Have they ever been? You're not going to want to miss … Continue reading Are Libraries Neutral?




Jamie Lee Curtis

This is Jamie Lee

June 30, 2016

“You are the gatekeepers; the keepers of the keys of education and words, and you’ve let me in the gate,” she said. “It’s my privilege to be in your presence.” Curtis’s deference was coupled with humble honesty. She spoke openly about her struggles in school as a youth and how it has affected all aspects … Continue reading This is Jamie Lee


ALA President Sari Feldman presents Sen. Cory Booker a Libraries Transform t-shirt.

Cory Booker Headlines President’s Program

January 11, 2016

Introduced by ALA President Sari Feldman and Trevor Dawes and Martin Garnar of the Task Force on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, which cosponsored the event, Booker was on hand to talk about themes from his forthcoming book United (Penguin Random House, February 2016), including ideas for coming together, improving our country’s access to information and … Continue reading Cory Booker Headlines President’s Program