Anthony Chow, San Jose State University’s School of Information
Candidate for President-Elect
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Candidates for President-Elect
Candidates for Director At-large (2 positions open)
Candidate for Student Representative (1 position available)
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Who Am I
I unexpectedly lost my father to COVID last year, which helps remind me everyday the sacrifices he and my mother, soulmates for 63 years, made to immigrate to the US and carve out a life for my brother and I and their six grandchildren.
Libraries were always part of that story and part of the reason why I’m now a full professor and Director (Department Chair) of San José State University’s School of Information, which is the largest MLIS program in the nation, if
not the world. My wife and I further represent the wonder and cultural beauty and diversity of our nation as we are high school sweethearts, my junior prom date, and she is Dutch-Irish and I amChinese American. We met and fell in
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love because of what America is and represents regardless of the color of our skin or where we were from. I never did have a chance to say goodbye to my father but live everyday in his honor by committing myself to the common good, education,
and advocating for libraries and LIS profession and the immense good they do for so many people including for my family across generations and the young child of new immigrants that I used to be. Libraries are the great equalizer for
all communities and organizations regardless of race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status. It is critical that library advocacy remains strong as our disrupted society is rapidly changing and this means the role of libraries must also
evolve and change as well.
To be nominated as President of CLA, my second nomination in the past three years, is a true honor and a testament to the vast opportunities our nation affords to all and the immense diversity of our state. Both times I was nominated and I have not sought the position either time but bring a wealth of leadership experience to the table. I
have served as a board of director for CLA for the past two years and am in leadership roles at state, national, and international levels including Vice-Chair of the Little Free Library board of directors, Board of Director of the
Chinese American Library Association (CALA), and member of the ALA policy corps. I am also the primary investigator for three IMLS grants worth over $1 million in grant funding. This includes iLead which is an open-access leadership development program with an EDI Lens that involves six states and our nation’s largest libraries including San Francisco Public Library, Seattle Public Library, Chicago Public Library, Boston Public
Library, Brooklyn Public Library, Charlotte-Mecklenburg, etc.; Reading Nation Waterfall, which is an early children’s literacy program
for tribal children and communities in five tribes; and Seeking Immortality, which is a digital virtual reality language and culture preservation metaverse with the Northern Cheyenne Tribe. I have taught leadership at the undergraduate and graduate levels for over two decades and have been in leadership roles all my life including quarterback of the football team, Marine
Corps Officer Candidate School (in Quantico, VA), President of the San Francisco Chinese American Democratic Club, Candidate for San Francisco School Board (1994; received 51,000 votes), Chair of the Faculty Senate at UNC Greensboro,
NCLA board of director, President of HorseFriends (equine therapy for children with disabilities), and am now a full professor, internationally known LIS scholar, and Director of Silicon Valley’s School of Information at SJSU.
Why do I want to be CLA President and what would I do?
As a lifelong educator, I have been working in LIS education for the past 25 years and also served as co-chair of advocacy and legislation for the North Carolina Library Association (CLA) for 11 years and a member of ALA’s Committee on Library Advocacy (COLA) before I moved to California to become the Director of the SJSU iSchool. This is important because I am knowledgeable and a strong advocate for all types of libraries - public, academic, school, and special. As an educator and professor, I represent a different perspective and take on the field and will also bring my areas of expertise including emerging technologies and AI, marketing and business development, EDI, eLearning and instructional technology, literacy and digital preservation of indigenous/Native American communities, a focus on professional development and training, and fundraising and grant development.
If I’m elected President of CLA, I will bring these areas of expertise with me with a special focus on growing CLA membership, providing increased and diverse learning opportunities for CLA members by collaborating with all types of California librarians to understand their needs and how CLA can best serve them, leveraging and providing learning opportunities in emerging technologies including AI, and also looking into increasing focus and membership for academic, school, and special libraries while growing support for public librarians and paraprofessionals. I am a strong leader that is high energy, passionate, visionary, and a lifelong library advocate that is also considered a national leader in emerging technologies. Win or lose, CLA is in good hands as I have the utmost respect and admiration for Migell Acosta who I am running against. CLA members have a clear choice to make as we both represent different backgrounds and strengths and you could not go wrong with either of us. I remain honored to serve CLA and will continue to do so no matter the result of this election. I am a dedicated, agile, versatile, and passionate leader that seeks to help ensure others are successful through servant leadership.
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