Colleagues, we are excited to announce the our newest episode (season 4) of the CPDWL Podcast Project where we feature library and information professionals who support and participate in professional development work.
Our host for this episode is Ray Pun (CPDWL). Our guest is Lessa Kananiʻopua Pelayo-Lozada, American Library Association President.
Lessa Kananiʻopua Pelayo-Lozada is currently the President of the American Library Association. Lessa began her career at the County of Los Angeles Public Library’s Lomita Library as a page and has worked as a clerk, children’s librarian, teen librarian, and adult services librarian. She is currently the Adult Services Assistant Manager at the Palos Verdes Library District in Southern California and the Past Executive Director of the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association.
Transcript
Ray
This is Raymond Pun, a member of the CPDWL standing committee. Welcome to the IFLA CPDWL Podcast Project. In this space, we talk with library and information professionals who support and participate in professional development work.. Today’s guest is President of the American Library Association – Lessa Kananiʻopua Pelayo-Lozada. Welcome Lessa!
Lessa
Hi, Ray. Thanks for having me.
Ray
Yeah, we’re so excited to have you here. And for those who are not familiar with Lessa’s work, I will just share that Lessa began her career at the County of Los Angeles Public Library’s Lomita Library as a page and has worked as a clerk, children’s librarian, teen librarian, and adult services librarian. She is currently the Adult Services Assistant Manager at the Palos Verdes Library District in Southern California and the Past Executive Director of the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association. And full disclosure. I do know Lessa, personally, due to our work at American Association, as well as the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association known as APALA. So I’m just excited to connect with Lessa here and have this conversation. And so we have a series of questions for you. And the first question we have for you is if you had to describe yourself using only one word, what word would it be?
Lessa
This is the most difficult question. I think that you’re probably going to ask me because I would say it does depend on the day I have a mini calendar that I keep on my desk that has like a different word so that you can signal to people what you are feeling that day. Right now it’s on, “spent”, but I would say if I had to pick one word for longterm, that would describe myself it is “enthusiastic.” Even if I don’t always feel enthusiastic. I tried to come off that way because I feel like the energy brings like you have to manifest what you want to be. So I’m gonna go with enthusiastic.
Ray
That’s a great choice of words. And it totally makes sense that it depends on your day, the mood and the context. So when I just read your bio there briefly and you’ve accomplished a lot a lot for folks who aren’t familiar with what’s amazing in her work and contributions to the field, but but sort of trying to find your your origin story, like What compelled you to become a librarian, like how did you get started?
Lessa
Yeah, so I was always drawn to work where I could be of service to others. I wanted to be an elementary school librarian. Ever since I was in elementary school pretty much I had some brief forays into wanting to be like a veterinarian and marine biologist, I think, as a lot of kids did growing up in the 90s that I don’t know how we got super into marine biology. But what made me become a librarian was I was actually working at Borders Books. I was in community college. So trying to figure out you know, what, four year I wanted to go to what my path looked like when I was going to be a teacher. And while I was working there, a group of librarians from the Los Angeles Public Library came in with their end of the year slush fund, and just bought carts and carts and carts of books. And I was like I asked the clerk are like, what, who are these people? They’re like, “Oh, they’re librarians.” And I was like, like, a librarian? Like, I’ve never thought that that was a career path. I went to the library every day after school from fourth grade and on because that was the place that I was allowed to go to by myself. I knew the librarians like checked out books, I was a, you know, avid reader. And so when I saw that, that was a career option and really started exploring, I was like this has a lot of those values of service that I really am drawn to and being a part of the community and giving back. And so I figured that it would probably be my second career once I got burnt out from teaching because I always like to have a plan B and you know, just be realistic about what the job market looks like. But I went to two days of credential classes at Cal State Long Beach and I was like, this job is not for me. Being in a classroom with you know, 30 kids all by myself, you know, with teacher’s aides and such, but I was like this is this is not what I thought it was going to be. And when I was in that credential class, a lot of the things I talked about, were about my love of research, my love of learning, my love of sharing that learning with all ages, and so that’s when I decided I was going to drop out of that program. I went down to my local library to ask if I could volunteer and bless the Community Library Manager Linda Shimani, she said, You seem like you’d be a great volunteer, but I actually really need a library page if you don’t mind being paid to work in the library. And that’s kind of the how it just got started. I started working as a page, went to library school and was on that children’s path ever since then, to be a children’s librarian to have that connection to my elementary school teacher roots.
Ray
Truly fascinating to hear how you went from working in a bookstore and then being sort of inspired by this kind of work that we’re doing in the field. And I wanted to sort of have a follow up with you about that, that experience working as a page and then being a librarian and sort of that those experiences because I know for many listeners, we’re all likely workers work in different roles, but whether that working as a page has really helped you prepare to be a librarian or maybe give you some insight that maybe to share some kind of insight that you have to share with listeners?
Lessa
Yeah, you know, I think that so I’ve been, you know, like you read in my bio page, I’ve been a library age I’ve worked behind the circulation desk. I think those experiences really shaped how I lead and how I managed within the library as a librarian. And it also shaped how I went through my MLS program, because I had that hands on experience, and I’ve worked in nearly every type of position that you can, I feel like it provides a different kind of appreciation for the ecosystem that goes into working in a library how although some of us might be degreed and been programming or collection developments, we are not any better. We are not above any job within the library, you know, and I think especially when you get into management roles, it’s important for staff at all levels to be able to see that you are willing to do that work. One of the libraries that I worked at the Rancho Cucamonga Public Library in Rancho Cucamonga California. Our library director Michelle Perera said, “I’ll never ask you to do anything that I wouldn’t do.” You know, and she came up in kind of that same way. And that’s a philosophy that I really carry with me as well, because I think that that’s how you create a real team. And that’s how you create a community and, you know, we’re a community based profession and a service based profession. So I think that that’s really informed my approach and it’s been reaffirmed along the way by other mentors and other people that I look up to
Lessa
That’s really well said and others the same maybe coming from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, who said all labor has dignity.
Lessa
hmm mmm.
Ray
So that that really resonates with with everyone’s role in the library and how they contribute to support the community. And then that actually leads to this other question about global librarianship. And so it’s, it’s important that that we are all in this together as individuals as organizations, but also as collective because our field is about information sharing, resource sharing, and learning together. So I wonder from your experience, and perspective, what does global librarianship mean to you and has that been changed for you over the years?
Lessa
So to me, global librarianship are all of the ways that we are connected. You know, I’ve really seen this over my year as a President having had the privilege, you know, to go to the IFLA, World Congress to go to the Sharjah Library Conference to go to the Guadalajara book here, and to be able to hear from folks and so hearing all of the challenges that we share, no matter where we are in the world, but also some of the opportunities that we see. You know, I think that to me, global librarianship is just that interconnectedness that we all have with our common values and our common goals to be able to ensure access to information to all regardless of where we live, or where we come from. It’s really important. And I think that the vision maybe hasn’t necessarily changed for me over the years. But I think that the approach has changed a little bit for me, especially having had a much more global context than I did before. And it’s because I my philosophy is often you know, like get your house in order. And then you can expand out right, but you can’t be as much good or as much service to others if you’re still really messy at home. But what I think that I’ve really found is that interconnectedness and hearing from each other actually helps us to get our own houses in order because it allows us to hear different approaches to different situations, you know, given different resources and different areas of the world that we live in. But the emphasis is just on how we are we’re all working together towards that common goal.
Ray
And you’d mentioned now as the ALA President, that’s really exciting and on top of that, Oh, you are leading this library association, the oldest one in the world. And one of the bigger biggest one so is it the biggest one? I think ..
Lessa
It is the oldest and largest,
Ray
It is oldest and largest. And so it’s pretty remarkable and and how you were explaining your views on global librarianship. So this is a question for those who are thinking about getting involved with ALA or within their own national or local library associations. How did you get first, How did you first get involved
Lessa
When I first got involved with ALA, I became a member in library school. I was not actually a member of our ALA student chapter because I was like, I’m not really much of a joiner. I’m a little bit shy. I don’t really participate in a lot of things, which are folks who know me now would never believe. But I started the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association I was invited into work on a project called, Talk Story – sharing stories sharing culture,” which was an initiative of an ALA president, then ALA President, Camila Alire, and so I started working on that project and was had the opportunity to attend. It wasn’t my first but it was the first memorable one ALA Annual Conference in Washington DC which also happened to coincide with a APALA’s 35th anniversary. And so I was exposed to this huge network of passionate library lovers who were librarians who were clerks who were friends of the library, all of these people who really cared and I already cared but it made me want to care on a level outside of my local level outside of my local library, because I saw the national impact that these folks were able to make. And so I just kept volunteering. After I finished the project with backstory, I became an elite Emerging Leader, I was a policy Emerging Leader, they selected me so I was able to go through that program. And that opened a lot of doors and a lot of opportunities for me to run for ALA Council or to serve on ALA committees like the Committee on Diversity. So not only represent APALA, but to represent all of the intersectionalities that I have in myself as an identity and the intersectionalities that I have in myself as a library worker, you know, living and working in Southern California. And so I just kept saying yes to opportunities. I now have a post it on my computer that says no, because sometimes you can say yes to too much. But I think that it’s important to say yes to things that you really believe in and to things that you really want to do. And so that has evolved into becoming a president now.
Ray
Thanks for sharing your journey. And for those who are not familiar, the American Library Association’s Emerging Leaders Program is a one-year program sponsored by American Library Association, as well as many other library groups. But you do need to be an ALA member. So if you’re interested in participating, consider looking up that information and signing up being an ALA member as well. And I believe some library groups in different parts of the world might have a similar Leadership Development Program, take advantage of them. And that’s how you could learn to learn how organizations operate and get more involved that way. So thank you for sharing. And Lessa, you had mentioned to me before that, IFLA, the world library information congress was held in Dublin in Ireland last year. That was your first time right, attending IFLA?
Lessa
It was it was so fun.
Ray
Okay, so that’s, that’s great to hear. And, and can you share with us a memorable moment at that congress and maybe a session or meeting you attended?
Lessa
Yeah. So there, it was hard to narrow it down because there were a couple of real highlights for me. So the first one that I will do more than one sorry. The first one that I’ll highlight was on Indigenous languages. Right. And so coming into that panel with a very American Lens, I’m thinking Indigenous languages like ʻŌlelo Hawaii, right, like Native Hawaiian languages, like speaking Navajo, you know what that looks like. And it was a panel of folks who were reviving Welsh and Celtic, you know, things that from that American lens, I don’t think though, and so seeing those similarities, right to how colonization, how oppression works and manifests in different forms against different people. So that was one session that I thought was really interesting on how they use metadata and wiki data to be able to revitalize these languages in print form, as well as in speaking in an auditory form and how also these practices are being ingrained in school and how to make it a living language rather than just something that you learned because it’s a requirement, and then you you never speak it again. So that was one. I also found there was a session on what library leadership and management looks like that that was facilitated by former ALA President Loida Garcia-Febo where they talked about different leadership tracks and different ways to cultivate leadership in different countries. And so there I did share a little bit about emerging leaders. But the value of mentoring really came out and the value of mentoring across countries when maybe you’re working in a place where you are by yourself often, or you don’t have a very strong, perhaps national library association or local library association for these opportunities. And so the importance also with IFLA, I found to be really helpful in that context as well. And then the final highlight that I will share was also meeting the first Pacific Islander presidents and LIANZA, The New Zealand Library Association. So as we were all the first Pacific Islander president of our association, we got a picture and we’ve been in contact ever since and are looking for ways that we can collaborate and also to support international indigenous librarians.
Lessa
Oh, I’m so glad to hear that you’re able to make all these connections and in your first if law conference to so that’s really, really great to hear. And will you be attending the Congress in Netherlands Rotterdam in August?
Lessa
Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll be able to make the conference in Rotterdam but I do hope to be able to go to another episode in the future.
Lessa
That sounds good. So with that being said, I know you had described earlier in the first question, that you’re very enthusiastic, depending on the context, but what are you most excited about in the profession today?
Lessa
I think the thing that I’m the most excited about right now is the future of our profession. I’ve met so many library school students who are also so enthusiastic and who are so passionate but also have really wonderful ideas on how we can be better how we can be better as a profession, how we can be more inclusive as a profession, but also how to be better for our communities. They’re coming in with completely different perspectives. And I think even I came into library school with you know, 15 years ago and they’re coming into, you know, a Post George Floyd world where we cannot ignore me cannot not talk about the systemic barriers. And I think that a lot of the library school students I’m seeing are taking that challenge head on and are not afraid of it and really just want to do the best and I’m so excited to see where they are going to take us.
Lessa
Definitely, IFLA has been intentionally working on diversity as a value in its organization and and really beyond the diversity of geographic regions, which has been quite the framing of diversity, but now looking more into intersectionality and different identities within the regions to so I think there’s there’s definitely a lot a lot of work ahead but also promising work. And with that, if you can share with us a professional development tip or advice that you’d like to share with others, particularly those who are new and or would like to be involved at ALA.
Lessa
So the first one that I’ll say is, you know, don’t be afraid to volunteer for things. We are always looking for folks to work on different projects or different committees. And even if you may not be selected, you know, your first time volunteering, do not give up, because we look at you know how interested folks are how often they want to put themselves out there. And just to note that when you volunteer for something, you have to put in information about why you want to volunteer, and I will say that, as President making committee appointments and having committees helped me do this, we’d read those, we actually sit down and really internalize and try to understand who is going to be the best fit based off of that information, because it’s impossible. For us to know you know, all 500 applicants, but if we can get a sense of who you are from your bio and that you take it seriously and that you really want to be a part of that enthusiasm goes through and I think that that holds true for any organization, right that you’re volunteering for. And then the other tip that I would give is that I think conferences can be really overwhelming. You know, like, it’s been a long time since ALA was it’s it’s my first ALA conference, which was when I was in library school in I believe, 2008 and it was in Anaheim, California, was so overwhelming that I was pretty sure I would never go to another ALA annual conference. And when I first arrived that IFLA I got kind of that that similar overwhelmed feeling. You know, like I didn’t know that many folks there. There were many of our American colleagues, of course, so I did recognize but it wasn’t the kind of that comfort that now I’m used to at ALA and I had to remind myself how did how did I find comfort in this especially as somebody who was a little bit more introverted, and I remembered my rule of thumb which is just to meet one new person, one new person a day if you’re feeling ambitious when new person at an event and you don’t have to make a deep connection necessarily just Hi. Where do you work? Find out a little bit about them that may develop into something and even develop into a project. I feel like a lot of librarianship is like when you’re a teen and you want it like everybody wants to form a band, right? Like in librarians, everybody wants to write a paper together and do a project together. And so those opportunities come when you put yourself out there and you just say hello to somebody and learn a little bit about them. So those are my two tips.
Ray
Yeah, those are really great tips. Really appreciate you just framing it where you folks meet with one person who and yeah, they could really change the course of the work that they do potentially or just having connections and and just sort of go outside your comfort zone. I think that’s some that’s really key there. And now we’d like to know if you didn’t work in libraries, what profession other than librarianship which I wanted to attend.
Lessa
If we take teaching off the table, I will say that I would love to be a professional photographer. I do like you know, definitely a hobbyist photographer, but I just really find the observant quality of it and the removal that you can have to be behind the camera and behind the lens to be really a fascinating way to look at our world. So that is another profession. That I would do if it wasn’t librarianship and I felt like I was a little bit more artsy probably.
Ray
Would that also include like weddings, you think?
Lessa
Oh, okay, so that’s a good clarification. So I love like nature, photography, and still photography. So I have a series that my husband kind of makes fun of me for but I love taking pictures of empty benches. The benches are empty chairs, like in places that are either in nature or would normally be in really busy areas to kind of show like what the absence of people looks like in these places and what kind of calm and serenity looks like so things don’t move things that can’t talk about and tell me they don’t like their photos or my focus.
Ray
That makes sense and and what about people like statues sitting the benches? Would you take pictures of that where you want a completely empty bench?
Lessa
Usually I do a completely empty bench but statues sitting on benches and an interesting angle. I have not I have not been able to do photography, really throughout this elite journey. So I’m really excited to take up the camera again when this is all over. And I think I’m going to explore that a little bit more. Thank you for that idea. Ray.
Ray
We are really interested in seeing some of these is there a website or something you’re just doing on the side privately?
Lessa
I do have a photography website that I started a long time ago. I believe the address is https://kodachromelibrarian.wordpress.com/
Ray
We’ll be sure to put that in the transcript. So folks…
Lessa
Yeah, I’ll find it.
Ray
Thanks for sharing that and in addition to that, so it’s really a great to hear about outside of librarianship so if you were to do that, but in addition to that kind of project that you are working on, are there any other recent activities coming up presentations or programs that you’re working on or an event that maybe you’ll be zooming in and what might you be presenting on?
Lessa
Yeah, so I have a number of presentations coming up. I will be speaking at the Massachusetts Library Association. I will be speaking with the University of Maryland. And I will also be speaking with the Florida Library Association on you know what it means to be brave in librarianship right now. So my presidential theme has been our brave communities because we’ve had to be brave in ways that we didn’t know possible because of COVID Because of you know, the protests that we’ve gone through because of life looking completely different than it did a couple of years ago. And so all of the different ways that we’ve internalized this and turned it into hope. I think an optimism for our communities is really important, as well as making sure that we keep ourselves you know, in a state of action and always trying to improve while also recognizing that we can burn out and that we do have to have rest and so the way that these conflicting things, lots of libraries is what a lot of those presentations will be about. And I’ll send links along also for the University of Maryland one is open to anyone who wants to view so we can share that out and that’ll be during National Library Week at the end of April. But I’m also really excited about our upcoming ALA Annual Conference in Chicago, which will be June 22 through the 27th. I’m very excited about my ALA President’s program, which is going to feature Kumu Hula and documentarian and cultural practitioner Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu who who also won a Stonewall Honor Award at the Youth Media Awards for her book of Kapaemahu. So she’ll be one of our speakers amongst the you know, hundreds of wonderful alien members who will also be presenting all of the exciting events that we’ll have. Chicago was kind of a coming home for me, that’s where I had my APALA presidency, presidential year as well. And so a lot of really important things have happened to me professionally in Chicago and I’m excited to celebrate with everyone the you know, first fully in person you’re really that we’ve had in this hybrid here.
Ray
So many wonderful things, Lessa, that you are sharing and working on. Congratulations on a really fantastic ALA presidency. I know what you still have several more months to go but still like it’s just a joy watching all the work and others working with you and what you’re all doing to build community and promote librarianship and the core values that we are really deeply committed to. So thank you again Lessa, for taking the time to chat with me and, and for sharing your your your ideas and thoughts with us. We really appreciate you doing this work and really inspiring all of us here.
Lessa
You are right, it has been a pleasure. And folks, please definitely keep in touch and let me know if I can be of any help to you now or in the future.
Ray
That’s great. And with that, we will end it here. So thank you so much. everyone for listening. And be sure to stay tuned for our next episode. Take care!