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Leading the Charge: Advancing the Recruitment, Retention and Inclusion of People of Color within the Library and Information Science Field

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Jamar Rahming

Jamar Rahming presently serves as the Executive Director of the Wilmington Institute Library Foundation. He has ten years public library management experience in addition to a fellowship at the Smithsonian Institute. His specialty in includes community engagement, digital inclusion, and strategic planning. He is currently completing a monograph on the participants of the 1930’s Gospel- Blues movement.

 

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Jamillah Scott-Branch 

Jamillah Scott-Branch is the Assistant Director of Library Services at the North Carolina Central University (NCCU), James E. Shepard Memorial Library. In this role, she oversees Research and Instructional Services, Interlibrary Loan, Government Documents, and two branch libraries. In addition, she supports the Director of Library Services with strategic planning, assessment, staff, and budget management, and provides support with recruitment, hiring, and performance management. Her research interest includes diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and anti-racism work and she has worked collaboratively with the Office of Diversity and Inclusion at NCCU for several years. She is an ally to the LGBTA Center and a member of the Carolina Coalition of the National Coalition Building Institute (NCBI).  

 

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LaTisha Lankford

LaTisha Lankford is the Associate Librarian for Technical Services at Virginia State University’s Johnston Memorial Library. She is responsible for developing and ensuring efficient and effective practices are followed to support the changing environment of acquisitions. Prior to coming to VSU, she worked as a School Librarian, Cataloging Librarian, and a Technical Services Manager. Ms. Lankford holds an MSLS from UNC at Chapel Hill, a M.Ed. from Strayer University and a BA from Virginia Commonwealth University.

 

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Rodney Freeman

Rodney Freeman is currently the Director of Riviera Beach Library in Florida. Freeman has worked in academic, public, and government libraries for over ten years and has worked in multiple positions from a library page up to a library administrator. He has lead numerous special projects from library renovation, space planning, and strategic planning projects. He has lead several digital library projects and has been a strong advocate of diverse digital collections. Driven with passion, Rodney Freeman started Preservation LLC to help people preserve and convert their photos and documents onto a digital format. Along with starting his company, in 2018, Rodney developed a platform called The Black Male Archives where the objective is to capture, curate, and promote positive stories about Black men to combat the negative images portrayed in the media.

 

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Gerald "Jay" Gaidmore

Gerald “Jay” Gaidmore is currently the Marian and Alan McLeod Director of Special Collections in the Earl Gregg Swem Library at William & Mary. He received an MA in History from Old Dominion University and an MLIS from the University of South Carolina. He has worked as an archivist and librarian for over twenty years, having had positions at Old Dominion University, The Library of Virginia, Brown University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His primary responsibilities include personnel and fiscal management, donor relations, and collection development. Since becoming director in 2013, he has worked to diversify the holdings of special collections and make it more representative of all parts of society and cultures.

 

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Dr. Miguel Juarez, Ph.D.

Dr. Miguel Juárez has an MLS from SUNY Buffalo and a BA, MA, and Ph.D. from the University of Texas at El Paso, as well as graduate Arts Administration and Museum Studies coursework from CSU Dominguez Hills and CSU Long Beach.  He was an academic librarian and archivist from 1999 to 2013.  He has published two books: Where Are All the Librarians of Color: The Experiences of People of Color in Academia, co-edited with Rebecca Hankins (2016, Library Juice Press) and Colors on Desert Walls: The Murals of El Paso, with photographs by Cynthia Weber Farah (1997, Texas Western Press).  He is a past member of the editorial board of Latinx Talk, an online, interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed, and moderated forum.  He is currently a member of editorial board of the Social Responsibilities Round Table (SRRT) newsletter of the American Library Association. His reviews, articles, and opinion editorials have appeared in numerous publications. His articles can be found in Academia.edu, in ResearchGate, and in the SSRN Research Network.

 

 

 

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Tamyka Miles

Born and raised in Detroit, MI Tamyka earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan and receive her MLIS from Wayne State University. Before becoming a librarian, Tamyka was a volunteer manager for various organizations including CASA which advocates for abused and neglected children and Hospice. Tamyka began her librarian career in Michigan working as a Teen Librarian and Reference Librarian simultaneously at two separate library systems. In 2017 Tamyka accepted a Librarian position with Multnomah County Library in Portland, Or. Tamyka is currently with the DC Public Library system as a branch manager.

 

 

 

 

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Joslyn Bowling Dixon

Joslyn Bowling Dixon has spent her career as a leader at large urban and suburban libraries across the country. She has more than 20 years of experience working at libraries in Illinois, Maryland, and the District of Columbia. She has served in a variety of roles, including as an administrator, a community advocate, a director of programming for children and adults, and as a catalyst for change. She is currently the Director of the Newark Free Public Library, in Newark, New Jersey. She is a graduate of Hampton University (BA, English Arts) and holds a Master’s in Library and Information Science from Dominican University.

 

Photo of Tiwanna S. Nevels, MLS, Ph.D

Dr. Tiwanna S. Nevels, MLS, Ph.D.

Dr. Tiwanna Nevels is the Director of Library Services for the Prezell R. Robinson Library at Saint Augustine’s University. Dr. Nevels received a Bachelor of Science degree in Organizational Management from Saint Augustine’s in 2007, a Master of Library Science degree from North Carolina Central University in 2009 and a Doctor of Business Administration from the University of Maryland in 2019. Dr. Nevels is a member of many community groups that provide upliftment and lifelong learning within the community.

Ms. Nevels has a profound knowledge of libraries, with a deep passion for scholarly research, and a keen understanding of the centrality of libraries in today's colleges and universities. Additionally, Dr. Nevels provides library directors with essential business strategies that address the transformation of library spaces to maintain relevancy and value to communities and other stakeholders. Her knowledge prepares all stakeholders in setting the stage for change and identifies best practice processes that library directors will apply, resulting in successful transformational change.

 

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Sam Johnson

Sam Johnson is the Associate Department Head for Georgia State University Perimeter Campus Library- Clarkston, GA.  He believes the library is the heart of the campus community, besides his administration and management of reference and access services. He also participates in information literacy teaching, research assistance, collection development, and outreach. 

 

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