LibVoices

Laura Tadena (she/her/hers) is an Inclusive Services Consultant at the Texas State Library and Archives Commission in Austin, Texas. She is Tejana from South Texas and a former school and diversity resident librarian. She is also one of the site admins of a national resident Slack Workspace that provides a safe community space for individuals currently or who have previously been in resident librarian positions. Laura is passionate about the advancement, recruitment, and retention of BIPOC library staff and increasing opportunities for mentorship and leadership development. Laura's background is in architecture and education. She specializes in addressing inequities in the built environment, creating inclusive and welcoming library spaces and services, and developing accessible and culturally competent educational opportunities.

Lalitha Nataraj is the Social Sciences Librarian at California State University San Marcos. She holds an MLIS from UCLA and a BA in English Literature and Women’s Studies from UC Berkeley. Her research interests include: feminist pedagogy, relational-cultural theory in LIS, South Asian Americans in librarianship, mindfulness practices and contemplative pedagogies in the IL classroom, as well as the intersection of sartorial representation and teacher & student-scholar identities.

Lalitha also used to be a public librarian working primarily in youth services, and has served on several youth book selection committees, including the John Newbery Award, Michael L. Printz Award, and the Amelia Bloomer Project (a list of feminist books for ages 0-18). She strongly believes that books are mirrors into which all children can see themselves represented. Lalitha resides in Carlsbad, a couple of miles from the Pacific Ocean, with her husband, two sons, and a couple of lovely cats; in her spare time, she enjoys running, reading PoC romances, cooking, and collecting Hello Kitty/Sanrio.

Nisha is a South Asian American librarian, writer, podcaster, and coach. She is a Chicago native and LA transplant. Nisha has also worked as an IT consultant, IT recruiter, voiceover artist, and speech therapist. She writes creative non-fiction and is a host of MigrAsians, a podcast that invites creative and political Asians to talk about their story of migration and how it informs the work they do. This combines her interests in social justice, storytelling, and connecting with others. Currently, Nisha works at the UCLA Library as a Health & Life Sciences Librarian and the Lead for Teaching and Learning. She is also a cat mom to sister cats Sonya and Vera.

Dr. Raymond Pun (he/him) is an academic/school librarian in the Bay Area, California. He has been in the profession for over 15 years. He is an active member of ALA and the ethnic affiliates. He is currently a member of the ALA Policy Corps., and has published and presented extensively in the field. He holds a Doctorate in Educational Leadership, MA in East Asian Studies, and a MLS in Library Science.

Nataly Blas is a Latinx librarian, first generation student, and coffee enthusiast. She is interested in mentorship in LIS and women of color in leadership. Nataly is currently the Business Librarian at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, CA.  Jennifer Masunaga identifies as a mixed race, Mexicanese (Mexican American-Japanese American) librarian. She recently became an Instruction and Reference Librarian at California State University, Los Angeles.  She is a native Angeleno, an ALA Spectrum Scholar and her research interests include diversity in librarianship, Library UX and assessment and library emergency preparedness

Derrick Jefferson is a member of the library faculty at American University in Washington, DC. His research is focused on justice, equity, diversity and inclusion issues, specifically in higher education libraries, and mentoring new librarians to the profession. Representation matters and he is keen on encouraging marginalized and underrepresented people of all walks of life to librarianship. Born and raised in Southern California, he once thought he’d become a pastry chef, and loves to cook and bake for friends. He enjoys tacos, golden age hip-hop, collecting records, and fellow introverts.

Trevor A. Dawes is the Vice Provost for Libraries and Museums and May Morris University Librarian at the University of Delaware. In this role, he oversees the operations of the campus libraries, museums, and the University of Delaware Press.  Prior to assuming this post, Dawes was an associate university librarian at Washington University in St. Louis. In this role, he had responsibility for the work of the Scholarly Services Department, and the school and departmental libraries serving Business, Chemistry, and Engineering, and Earth and Planetary Sciences. He also oversees the libraries’ diversity and outreach and scholarly communication operations. Dawes was previously a circulation services director at the Princeton University Library and held several positions at the Columbia University Libraries before joining Princeton.  He has also been an adjunct instructor at the College of Computing and Informatics (formerly the College of Information Science and Technology) at Drexel University since 2006

Dawes had two book chapters published – both on the topic of leadership. These chapters appear in Creating Leaders: An Examination of Academic and Research Library Leadership Institutes and Crucible Moments: Inspiring Library Leadership. His previous publications include being co-editor of Twenty-first Access Services: On the Frontline of Academic Librarianship (ACRL), 2013; co-author of, “Assessing Reserve Management Systems: Do They Deliver on Their Promises?,” Journal of Interlibrary Loan, Document Delivery and Electronic Reserve (Haworth Press) vol. 20, no.2, April 2010; editor of, “Marketing and Managing Electronic Reserves” (Haworth Press), 2006; and co-author of, “SPEC Kit #290: Access Services,” The Association of Research Libraries, 2005.

Kaetrena Davis Kendrick earned her MSLS from the historic Clark Atlanta University School of Library and Information Studies. She is co-editor of The Small and Rural Academic Library: Leveraging Resources and Overcoming Limitations (ACRL 2016) and the author of two annotated bibliographies: The Kaleidoscopic Concern (ACRL 2009) and Global Evolution (ACRL 2007).

Kendrick also offers professional development opportunities and organizational consultations designed to promote empathetic leadership in North American libraries.

In 2019, Kendrick was named the Association of College and Research Libraries’ Academic/Research Librarian of the Year. Learn more about Kaetrena’s mission and activities.

Our next voice is Dr. Nicole Cooke!

Dr. Nicole A. Cooke is the Augusta Baker Endowed Chair and an Associate Professor at the University of South Carolina. Her research and teaching interests include human information behavior, mis/disinformation, critical cultural information studies, and diversity and social justice in librarianship. She was the 2019 ALISE Excellence in Teaching Award recipient, and she has also received the American Library Association’s 2016 Equality Award and the 2017 Achievement in Library Diversity Research Award presented by ALA’s Office for Diversity, Literacy & Outreach. Cooke has edited and authored several books, including Information Services to Diverse Populations and Fake News and Alternative Facts: Information Literacy in a Post-truth Era.

Learn more about The Augusta Baker Lecture Series.

Our first voice is Jennifer A. Ferretti! 

Jennifer A. Ferretti (she/her/hers) is an artist and Digital Initiatives Librarian at the Maryland Institute College of Art on Piscataway Land (Baltimore, Maryland). She is a first-generation American Latina/Mestiza whose librarianship is guided by critical perspectives, not neutrality. With a firm belief that art is information, she is interested in the research methodologies of artists, particularly those highlighting social justice issues. Jennifer is a Library Journal 2018 Mover & Shaker and a founding member of We Here and Shades Collective.