• Officers

  • President:Jené Brown
  • Past President: Jayanti Addleman
  • President-Elect/ Vice-President: Gary Shaffer
  • Treasurer: Derek Wolfgram
  • Secretary: Shawn M. Thrasher

• Directors

  • Susan Broman
  • Brandy Buenafe
  • Anthony Chow
  • Jeanette Contreras
  • Crystal Duran
  • Dolly Goyal
  • Genesis Hansen
  • Yolande Wilburn
    
  •   Heidi Miller (Student Representative)
  • Beatriz Preciado (ALA Chapter Councilor)

 

Officers

Jené Brown (President) Director, Emerging Technologies & Collections Los Angeles Public Library jbrown@lapl.org Term end: 10/31/2023 Jené oversees, directs, and supports the Library’s community engagement program, including LAPL’s Street Fleet, the volunteer services department and special administrative projects and initiatives. She began her career as a children’s librarian and now has over 23 years of library management experience. Jené is passionate about innovative public service that informs, enriches and empowers diverse communities. She launched LAPL’s Diversity and Inclusion Apprenticeship Program, based on Public Library Association’s Inclusive Internship Initiative (III), and is also a PLA Leadership Academy alum. Jené holds association memberships with ALA, BCALA, CLA, the California Librarians Black Caucus and the Los Angeles Association of Black Personnel, Inc. Jené was recently appointed as the Library’s Racial Equity Officer, and she leads Changing Tones, LAPL’s core team working on the Cultivating Racial Equity and Inclusion (CREI) initiative. To maintain her health and wellness, Jené practices mindful awareness and relaxes by letting the ocean kiss her toes or knitting gifts for babies.

Jayanti Addleman (Past President)

Director of Library Services

Hayward Public Library

JayantiAddleman@gmail.com

Term end: 10/31/2022

Jayanti has been the Library Director and County Librarian at Monterey County Free Libraries since 2007 and is currently Director of Library Services at Hayward Public Library. She has a Masters in English from Jadavpur University in India, and a Masters in Library Science from San Jose State University. Her first job out of Library School was at the pioneering online information company Dialog which laid the foundation for her love for online information and communication. Since then, she has worked at Monterey and Salinas Public Libraries, at Hartnell College and Gavilan College, and as a volunteer librarian at her children’s Montessori school. She is passionate about getting basic library services to all California residents and consider herself a dedicated champion of the underdog. Jayanti is a strong idealist who believes that libraries broaden minds in a way that few other institutions can.

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Gary Shaffer (Vice-President/President Elect)
Library Director
Glendale Library Arts & Culture District GShaffer@Glendaleca.gov
Term end: 10/31/2024

I currently serve as the director of the City of Glendale’s Library, Arts & Culture Department, an eight-branch library system, and as adjunct faculty for the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California’s Master of Management in Library and Information Science (MMLIS) program. Prior to working for the City of Glendale, I was an Assistant Dean at USC Libraries and headed the USC MMLIS program and the USC Center for Library Leadership and Management. In addition to Glendale and USC, I have worked for the Los Angeles County Library as a reference and administrative librarian, and at the Sacramento Public Library as their director of marketing and outreach. I have also worked in libraries outside of California. I started my library career as a Public Urban Library Service & Education fellow/trainee at the Brooklyn Public Library while in library school. And from 2011-2016, I was the CEO/Library Director of the Tulsa City-County Library, an award-winning 24-branch library system located in northeast Oklahoma.

Shawn M. Thrasher (Secretary)

Library Director
Ontario City Library

sthrasher@ontarioca.gov
Term end: 10/31/2024

Directors

Susan Broman

Assistant City Librarian

Los Angeles Public Library
sbroman@lapl.org 

Term end: 10/31/2022

Susan Broman is the Assistant City Librarian of the Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL), which serves more than four million people—the largest and most diverse urban population of any library in the United States. In this role, Susan serves as the Chief Operating Officer for the organization, overseeing the $194 million budget, Central Library and 72 branches, and a staff of 1,200 people.

At her core, Susan is a thoughtful problem-solver, and she has applied that skill set to more than two decades of library work in southern California. She began her career as a children's librarian and has held a wide variety of positions including branch manager, director of services to adults, webmaster and head of information technology. Susan feels fortunate to have interacted with fantastic teams along the way and has contributed to a number of groundbreaking projects.

Brandy Buenafe

Library Services Administrator

California Department of Corrections of Rehabilitation

Brandy.Buenafe@cdcr.ca.gov

Term end: 10/31/2022

A 2007 graduate of San Jose State University (MLIS) and 2018 graduate of National University (MBA, Organizational Leadership), Brandy is the Library Services Administrator for the California Department of Corrections of Rehabilitation, a position she has held for the past five years.  For the seven years before that she did in fact work in correctional libraries. In her present role, Brandy provides support to staff at 35 adult institutions across the state. She also works with public libraries, academic institutions, and government agencies, to advocate for collaborative services for correctional library patrons, the vast majority of which will return to the community.  These conversations have highlighted for her the need for a diversity of voices in library conversations.

Brandy is presently a Governor-appointee to the California Library Services Board, representing institutionalized persons (term ending December 2019), and for the past several years has served on the  California Library Association committee for the PRExcellence award.  She has also worked with the National Institute of Corrections on Evidence Based Correctional Librarianship, with prison library staff from across the country, and provided a library voice in evaluating literacy plans from organizations receiving Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Grants.  Brandy lives in Sacramento with her husband and an assortment of pets.  She is, prison notwithstanding, nice.

Anthony Chow

Director
San Jose State University's School of Information a.chow@sjsu.edu
Term end: 10/31/2024

I am beginning my 22nd year as an LIS professor and am the new Director of San Jose State's iSchool and my areas of specialty include information and patron needs, technology integration, organizational management and leadership, community assessment and strategic planning, instructional design, and systematic barriers to access to libraries and early children's literacy in underserved and tribal communities. I am a former member of ALA's Committee on Library Advocacy and was a long-term board member and co-chair of Advocacy and Legislation for the North Carolina Library Association (NCLA). I was also the founder of nclibraryadvocacy.org and long-term National Library Legislative Day (NLLD) state liaison for North Carolina.

Jeanette Contreras

Library Director

Placentia Library District

jcontreras@placentialibrary.org 

Term end: 10/31/2022

As Library Director for the Placentia Library District, former manager at the Fullerton Public Library and supervisor at the Santa Ana Public Library, Jeanette has had over 20 years of administrative and managerial experience leading organizations that have resulted in securing over $1M in federal, state, and private funding for these libraries. Placentia Library District received the Innovative Award from the California Special District Association (CSDA) in 2019 and coverage from CBS News and the Orange County Register. In 2017, the District also received the PRExcellence award for its Reading = Happy video from CLA. 

She has  served on the CLA Leadership Development and Advocacy Committees and REFORMA, chaired the DEMCO scholarship for the American Library Association, and served on the CSDA Professional Development and Fiscal & Financial Committees. As a former board member of the Homeless Intervention Shelter House and Rotary Club of Placentia, she understands some of the issues facing California libraries and opportunities to work with various community partners to address these challenges. She is a proud member of ALA, CLA, PLA, CSDA, Chamber of Commerce, and the Rotary Club of Placentia.

After 27 years in the library field, she finds that she is still learning and discovering many nuggets of knowledge from library staff, professionals and the community. Jeanette's encouragement has resulted in many of her former and present staff to enter the library profession and considers herself blessed as they have become her reversed mentors.

Crystal Duran

County Librarian
Imperial County Free Library
crystal.duran.mlis@gmail.com
Term end: 10/31/2024
Like many in our library field, I have worked in various positions from page to storytime presenter and now director. While I have spent some time working and interning in urban and university libraries in Los Angeles, my heart and passion lie with small libraries. I am probably a bit biased, having grown up in a small community. Still, I value small libraries because they create opportunities for community members to bond and connect in different ways and are often the center of any small community with limited resources. My drive to participate in the CLA Board is to be a voice for rural and small libraries. Often our small and rural libraries are overlooked when our needs are just as unique, if not more challenging. I want to represent our tiny but mighty libraries that do the most with the fewest resources. It is important to acknowledge our small library successes and opportunities for growth and have representation to speak to them.

Genesis Hansen
Director of Library & Cultural Services
City of Mission Viejo
ghansen@cityofmissionviejo.org
Term end: 10/31/2024
I’ve been the Director of the Mission Viejo Library since 2014. I have a passion for public service, leadership development, and libraries as partners in our communities’ success. I’ve worked with Mission Viejo staff to expand library services and capacity through grant funding, enabling expansion of early literacy programs and services, technology, local history, teen services, disability needs assessment and more. For the past year I’ve worked with community members and City of Mission Viejo staff to launch a Diversity & Inclusion Task Force in Mission Viejo, a partnership between residents, local businesses and nonprofits, and City staff. I care deeply about our profession and the work we do in our communities, and I care deeply about CLA and its role in supporting and furthering that work. I believe CLA plays a vital role in leadership development, knowledge sharing, networking, and advocacy for libraries and library staff in California, and I think it’s crucial that CLA continues to adapt and improve as an organization to serve our library community and profession far into the future. I want to be a part of that process.

Dolly Goyal

Assistant City Librarian

Santa Clara City Library

dgoyal@santaclaraca.gov

Term end: 10/31/2023

Dolly Goyal has worked in public libraries since age 15, before she knew she would be a librarian. She received her Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice and Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from Northeastern University. She moved to California with the intention of working in academic and special libraries, but her first position as a Page at Santa Clara City Library steered her toward public libraries and specifically, teen services. After graduating from San Jose State University with a Master of Library and Information Science, she started working in youth services and adult services in the Santa Clara County Library District. She obtained her first full-time position in teen services at San Mateo County Libraries where she later became a Branch Manager. Dolly was the Director for Los Gatos Library from 2016-17 before returning to San Mateo County Libraries as the Library Services Manager for Youth and Families. In her free time, Dolly loves to be outside in California beaches and redwood forests, with her husband and canine rescue, Lois Lane.

Yolande Wilburn

City Librarian

Torrance Library

ywilburn@torranceca.gov

Term ends: 10/31/2023

Yolande Wilburn serves as the Torrance City Librarian, overseeing six library locations. Before joining the City of Torrance, I served as the Nevada County Librarian in Nevada County, California. I have also worked for the Los Angeles County Library, Higher Colleges of Technology in Dubai, Chicago Public Library, and the University of Chicago Regenstein Library.

After many years of working in the private sector, she went back to school to obtain her Master's Degree in Librarianship because she believes that the work we do is critical to the infrastructure of society

Heidi Miller (Student Representative)

San Jose State University
heidi.miller@sjsu.edu
Term end: 10/31/2022
Heidi Miller is an MLIS student at San Jose State University where she is an advocacy intern working on improving school libraries in California. She also holds a Master’s degree in Theatre and taught undergraduate classes while working towards her doctorate in Performance Studies at UCLA. Heidi hopes to combine her knowledge of performing arts along with the MLIS to work in a library or museum. Heidi also holds leadership positions in the new Student Librar y Advocacy group at SJSU, as well as Girls Scouts and PTA. She lives in Burbank with her husband, twins, and their dog, Tagalong.

Beatriz Preciado (ALA Chapter Councilor)

Programs Coordinator

OC Public Libraries

Term end: 10/31/2022

Beatriz Preciado is the Programs Coordinator at OC Public Libraries (OCPL). In her current role she is responsible for the development and implementation of various system-wide program activities and grants. She is also the supervisor of OC Read/ Families for Literacy, OCPL’s adult literacy program. Beatriz is the current President of the Orange County Chapter of REFORMA. She is also a part-time staff member at the Anaheim Public Library.