I was pleasantly surprised to receive the latest issue of American Libraries magazine, which features my 2020 class of ALA Emerging Leaders! I've been lucky to meet and work with such a great group of librarians as a part of this program. (Go Team C!) After being accepted at the end of 2019, I was invited to attend ALA Midwinter and Annual for leadership training. At Midwinter, I met my team members, and we were introduced to our project sponsored by the ACRL Instruction Section (ACRL-IS). Over the past few months, we've been analyzing and writing recommendations based on the results of a survey the ACRL-IS sent to its members. The survey asked questions relating to how the section could be more inclusive and how they can better support members with regard to diversity and inclusion.

Originally, the Emerging Leaders groups were going to present their findings during a poster session at ALA Annual in Chicago, but the pandemic put that on hold. Despite the challenges everyone is facing, my group has still been able to have meetings and support each other emotionally. Having long-distance library friends and hearing about how other institutions are managing the crisis is valuable. I really hope I can meet my team again in person at a future ALA. Getting to collaborate with other librarians equally passionate about social justice is exactly what I hoped for when I applied for this program.

Read the American Libraries article.