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Board of Directors
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  • Officers

    • President: Gary Shaffer
    • Past President: Jené Brown
    • Vice-President/President-Elect Shawn M. Thrasher
    • Treasurer: Nichole Brown
    • Secretary: Genesis Hansen

  • Directors

    • Migell Acosta
    • Kris Amaral
    • Anthony Chow
    • Crystal Duran
    • Stefanie Gyles
    • Dolly Goyal
    • Nancy Schram
    • Yolande Wilburn
    •  Deidre (Dee) Kolman  (Student Representative)
    •  Ziba Perez (ALA Chapter Councilor)

All officers and other members of the Board of Directors assume their duties on the last day of the Annual Conference following their election and serve the term specified in Bylaws or until their successors are elected and assume office.


Officers

Gary Shaffer

 

 

 

 

 

Gary Shaffer (President)
Library Director
Glendale Library Arts & Culture District GShaffer@Glendaleca.gov
Term end: 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.

Jené Brown (Past President)
Director, Emerging Technologies & Collections
Los Angeles Public Library
jbrown@lapl.org
 Term end: 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.


Shawn M. Thrasher (President-Elect/Vice-President)

Library Director
Ontario City Library

sthrasher@ontarioca.gov
Term end: 2024

I have been working in public libraries in California since I moved here from Kansas City in 2001. I worked for several years at Pasadena Public Library as a teen librarian; then five years at Monrovia Public Library as the Youth Services Librarian. I have worked at Ontario City Library since 2011, and currently serve as director. I have much experience in public librarianship at all levels. I can bring a depth of knowledge to the Board. 

 

Nichole Brown(Treasurer)
Branch Manager
Oakland Public Library
treasurer@cla-net.org
Term end: 2025

 
I understand behind every conference registration fee, training, spring fling, and dues bill paid, there is a library employee that worked hard for that dollar. They deserve to know how the money is spent and the resulting outcomes. As treasurer of CLA, it will be my job accurately record where your money goes within CLA and report back to you. Professionally the word for this is “transparency.”

 

Genesis Hansen (Secretary)
 Director of Library & Cultural Services
City of Mission Viejo
ghansen@cityofmissionviejo.org
Term end: 2023
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.

 

 

Directors

Migell_Acosta  

Migell Acosta
Director
San Diego County Library
migell.acosta@sdcounty.ca.gov
Term end: 2025

My name is Migell Acosta, and I am the director of San Diego County Library. I bring to San Diego County a background in library innovation, leadership, and stewardship. I have been serving as Director of the Library since September 2016. Prior to coming to San Diego, I served as Assistant Director and Chief Information Officer for the County of Los Angeles Library. Prior to my tenure in Los Angeles, I worked for Santa Monica Library for ten years and the RAND Corporation before that.

 


Kris Amaral
Managing Librarian
Monterrey County Free Libraries
Tern end: 2025

The Monterey County Free Libraries(MCFL), which serves community members from diverse backgrounds covering 3265 square miles. In this role, Kris works with a team of 5 senior staff overseeing the operations of 16 branch libraries and 100 employees.



 

Anthony Chow

Director
an Jose State University's School of Information a.chow@sjsu.edu
Term end: 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.

 

Crystal Duran

County Librarian
Imperial County Free Library
crystal.duran.mlis@gmail.com
Term end: 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.


Dolly Goyal

Assistant City Librarian

Santa Clara City Library

dgoyal@santaclaraca.gov

Term end: 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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stefanie Gyles
 Senior Librarian
Mule Creek State Library
Term end: 2024

I am a dedicated library professional with over 20 years of experience in the field. When I graduated from college with a BA in English from Sacramento State University, I wanted to pursue a career in teaching. After substitute teaching for a few years in K-12 classrooms, I decided to choose a different path. My love of reading and dedication to public service led me into library sciences. I earned my MLIS degree from San Jose State University while working full time as an LMTA at a local community college.

I guess I could be called a jack-of-all-trades librarian, having worked in school, academic, public and prison settings

Nancy Schram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nancy Schram
Library Director
Ventura County Library System
nancy.schram@ventura.org
Term end: 2025

Nancy Schram joined the Ventura County Library System as the Deputy Library Director in 2016. Prior to that, she worked for almost ten years for the City of Thousand Oaks Library as Deputy Library Director and Division Manager. She also worked nine years for the County of Los Angeles Public Library in several positions including Adult Literacy Coordinator and Branch Library Manager in Westlake Village and Canyon Country, CA.

Yolande Wilburn

Librarian

Santa Cruz Public Libraries

ywilburn@torranceca.gov

Term ends: 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

 

Deidre (Dee) Kolman (Student Representative)

Library Technical Assitant
Pelican State Prison

Deidra.Kolman@cdcr.ca.gov
Term end: 2024

I have been working as a Library Technical Assistant, at Pelican Bay State Prison, in Crescent City, CA, for over four years (although I had been working at PBSP for several years before that).  Since last year, I have been working on my Master’s in Library and Information Science, which I hope to complete by December 2023.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ziba Perez (ALA Chapter Councilor)
Young Adult Librarian

Los Angeles Public Library
zzehdar@lapl.org

Term end: 2025

 I am a zine enthusiast and helped create a circulating zine collection at LBPL as well as LAPL. For four years I helped organize Long Beach Zine Fest and am currently helping to organize L.A. Zine Fest 2023.