PLA Member Spotlights: ALA Annual Conference 2025
PLA will host more than 30 programs during the ALA Annual Conference, June 26–30, 2025, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. We couldn’t be more excited to hear from PLA members and public library professionals on topics ranging from supporting immigrant communities, to library resiliency in challenging times, to exploring empowerment through storytelling tools, and many more. Read below about three PLA members from across the country who will be presenting in Philadelphia at #ALAAC25 next month.
Adriana Blancarte-Hayward is the Senior Manager of the Community Outreach and Engagement team at the New York Public Library. She earned her MLIS at The Palmer School of Library and Information Science and holds a B.S. in Information Science Engineering from ITESM in Mexico. A former volunteer and ESOL Library student, she has been with the library for over 19 years. Connecting communities and partners with library services, resources, and information is her passion. She loves to travel and learn new languages. She currently serves as ALA Councilor-At-Large and on several REFORMA Committees.
At ALA Annual Conference this year, Adriana will be participating in the “Working Together: Collaborative Response to Support Immigrant Communities” panel, which she says “will highlight some of the ways that public libraries can respond to, welcome, and serve newcomers and immigrants, and how to adapt to changes; there is an emphasis on some of the work we did during the asylum seeker influx during recent years. We will also share some of the traditional ways as well as the creative ways that the New York Public Library has done this through the years, and we’ll provide practical ideas and resources.”
Overall, Adriana says she is “looking forward to presenting during the above session and in the panel ‘Intentional Service Design for Multilingual Readers.’ One of my favorite authors, Brené Brown, whom I actually first heard about during a past ALA Conference, is this year’s President’s Program speaker. I also can’t wait to see and reconnect with colleagues and friends whom I have not seen since the past ALA Conference.”
Judy Bergeron has been the Director of the Smithville Public Library (SPL) in Texas for over 17 years and leads many community-based programs. Many programs and services at SPL are targeted towards engaging diverse community members and ensuring they have a voice in the community-building process.
Chris Jowaisas is a senior research scientist at the University of Washington’s Information School’s Technology & Social Change Group. Previously, Chris was a Senior Program Officer for the Global Libraries program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Judy and Chris will be working together on a program titled “Lights, Camera, Community: Empowering Voices Through Video Storytelling.” “We’re excited to share our experiences in using video-based programs to create connections among youth and teens and also facilitate the telling of their stories and exploring their interests,” says Chris. “We’ve had great fun working with and learning from the youth in these communities and also seen great connections being made in addition to the teaching of technical skills and helping explore information and media literacy concepts.”
Judy adds that “we are looking forward to sharing how this project is evolving from primarily educational, in terms of media literacy, to one that helps make connections around topics that are relevant to one’s community. It has been amazing working in collaboration between Texas and Washington as we hope to add another potential resource to the toolkits of public libraries, especially small and rural libraries.”
Teens editing the footage they just captured at a “Lights, Camera, Community” video workshop at Smithville Public Library. Photo provided by Chris Jowaisas.
In addition to the program on which they are collaborating, Judy is “very interested in hearing and learning about how other libraries are navigating the difficult environment that libraries are increasingly facing, whether it is funding, censorship, or just telling the libraries’ stories. I am often inspired by the resiliency and innovation that is showcased at library conferences, and grateful for the opportunity to find more resources and support.”
Chris echoes this sentiment, noting that this “has been a rough period for many people working on projects funded, wholly or partially, by federal grants—at the University of Washington iSchool we’ve had multiple grants get terminated that we were just starting up work on. I think beyond the personal disappointment, I think about the potential impact from that work on those communities we were working with through our library partners that is now lost. So, I am really just looking forward to recharging at Annual by hearing about the ongoing work that all types of libraries are doing to make connections in their communities.”
View the full list of PLA programs taking place at the ALA Annual Conference here. Browse all the programs taking place at the conference here.
Tags: alaconference2025, PLA
