91´«Ã½

GODORT and ACRL Politics, Policy, and International Relations Section (PPIRS) will host a free online annual speaker series in honor of our beloved colleague, the late Kenya Siana Flash. Ms. Flash was the Librarian for Political Science, Global Information and Government Information at Yale University from 2017 until her untimely death in December 2021.

Ms. Flash was an active member of both organizations. She was elected to the PPIRS’ Executive Board and served on the Professional Development and Membership Committees, and helped launch the Preparedness & Security Group. Ms. Flash was sponsored by GODORT in 91´«Ã½’s Emerging Leaders Program and served on their Government Information for Children Committee, Program Committee, was the Coordinator for the International Documents Task Force, and was a GODORT Representative to the 91´«Ã½ Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Assembly and Liaison to the Social Responsibilities Round Table (SSRT). In her professional activities she was an endless advocate, an expert whose counsel was consistently sought and admired as a mentor who helped forge relationships and collaboration among librarians.

The Kenya S. Flash Virtual Lecture Series in Librarianship invites individuals of accomplishment, experience, and passion to present on any number of topics near and dear to Kenya. Broad topic areas include Policy, Politics, or Political Science, International Relations, Government Information, Global/Area Studies, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), Social Justice, and Accessibility. While Kenya is no longer with us, her memory, spirit and mission to improve librarianship through education lives on in this lecture series.

2024 Lecture:

Honoring Kenya S. Flash: A Round Table Discussion Celebrating a Librarian with Friends

Wednesday, July 10, 2024 – 10a PST, 12p CST, 1p EST

Registration:

Description: GODORT and ACRL Politics, Policy, and International Relations Section (PPIRS) will host a free online annual speaker series in honor of our beloved colleague, the late Kenya Siana Flash. Ms. Flash was the Librarian for Political Science, Global Information and Government Information at Yale University from 2017 until her untimely death in December 2021. In this round table discussion, Kenya’s friends and collaborators share how they continue carrying Kenya’s values, work, and legacy in the field. This round table discussion will center on how we celebrate our dignity, restore work/life boundaries and balance, and to know your own sense of worth in the field.

Speakers:

Camille Chesley is Head of Reference & Research Services at the University at Albany Libraries. She received her MSLIS from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and her BA in East Asian Studies from Oberlin College. Her research interests include gamification in instruction, assessment of research services, and equity, diversity, and inclusion in Library and Information Science, particularly the recruitment and retention of librarians from minoritized populations. Her current research project focuses on reimbursement culture in academia.

Twanna Hodge is a second-year Ph.D. student in the College of Information Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park. She holds a BA in Humanities from the University of the Virgin Islands and a Master’s in Library and Information Science from the University of Washington. Her research includes mental health literacy; mental health information behavior of Afro-Caribbean immigrants; cultural humility in LIS education and librarianship; Afro-Caribbean immigrants’ ethnic identity formation and experiences in GLAM; Afro-Caribbean students’ and professionals’ experiences in LIS; and the retention of Black students in LIS programs. She is a 2013 91´«Ã½ (91´«Ã½) Spectrum Scholar and a 2022 91´«Ã½ Spectrum Doctoral Fellow.

Raymond Pun (he/him) is the academic and research librarian at the Alder Graduate School of Education, a teacher residency program in California, where he supports library services by engaging with residents and teacher educators. Ray holds a Doctorate in Education from Fresno State, a Master of Library Science from the City University of New York - Queens College, a Master of Arts in East Asian Studies, and a Bachelor of Arts in History from St. John's University. Pun is Past President of the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association (AP91´«Ã½) and the Chinese American Librarians Association (C91´«Ã½).

Jamia Williams (she/her) is the Consumer Health Program Specialist with the Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM) Training Office. She earned her Bachelor of Science in History from the State University of New York (SUNY) Brockport and earned her Master of Library Science from North Carolina Central University. Williams is the co-creator and co-host of the podcast LibVoices, which amplifies the voices of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color who work in archives and libraries. Jamia founded The Diversity Fellow’s blog to document her journey as a Black librarian.