Main Stage Panel featuring the ALA President
Sunday, January 21, 2024
8:30am – 9:45am EST
Panelists:
Top row: Nicole T. Bryan, Eboni M. Henry
Bottom row: Sherry Scheline, ALA President Emily Drabinski
It’s All Happening at the Library!
Sunday, January 21, 2024
8:30am - 9:45am EST
When library workers engage our communities, magic happens. We celebrate milestones with our neighbors, connect children to their favorite artists and authors, and provide shelter from all kinds of storms. No matter where we are and who we serve, all of us contribute to the flourishing of public life. Join ALA President Emily Drabinski and a panel of distinguished librarians for a celebration of libraries as community connectors.
Panelists:
- Nicole T. Bryan is the Branch Manager of the Macon Library at Brooklyn Public Library. Currently, she assesses the delivery of library services to diverse populations in public library branches and homeless shelters in Brooklyn, N.Y. She is the recipient of the 2021 Whole Health Hero Award for her work in providing services to the community during COVID-19 and the 2022 Library Journal’s Movers and Shakers Award for her work as a community builder in the library field. Bryan was named the 2023 Woman of Distinction by the 56th District Assembly member.
- Eboni M. Henry is a School Media Specialist for DC Public Schools in Washington, D.C. with 20 years of active experience in academic, special, public, and school libraries in urban and rural settings. She has completed continuous formal leadership training through the ALA, PLA, ALSC, and AASL and presents widely on topics related to management and leadership. She has served on the ALA Executive Board and currently serves on ALA Council. Henry is also the chair of the Committee on Library Advocacy.
- Sherry Scheline became an accidental librarian six years ago when Donnelly, Idaho residents passed a library district and began a brand new library, the Donnelly Public Library District. As Director, she deploys her great big imagination to provide library resources and services from her very small library, 1000 square feet nestled among Idaho’s West Range mountains. She believes that the collective efforts of small and rural libraries can spur great success. Scheline was recently named 2023 Innovator of the Year by the Association of Small and Rural Libraries.