ALA President to Visit Texas During National Virtual Tour
Join American Library President (ALA) Julius C. Jefferson, Jr. for his visit to Texas on July 31 at 2:30pm during his national virtual tour Holding Space: A national conversation series with libraries. The tour stop is part of his advocacy effort highlighting the innovation and impact of libraries on the communities they serve.
The visit will be broadcast via Zoom and archived on YouTube. You can sign up online to register for the event and be part of the conversation with Jefferson, local library leaders and library supporters.
During Jefferson’s stop in Texas, he will meet with school librarians and administrators to discuss summer learning, STEM, building a culture of inquiry, professional development, advocacy, and serving diverse student needs, particularly in this moment of uncertainty and societal shift.
In addition to Jefferson, Texas participants include
- Tamiko Brown, Library Coordinator, Fort Bend Independent School District
- Roger Ceballos, Principal, Benjamin Franklin Int’l Exploratory Academy, Dallas Independent School District
- Dr. Bill Chapman, Superintendent, Jarrell Independent School District
- Dr. Rosenid Hernandez-Badia, Benjamin Franklin Int’l Exploratory Academy, Dallas Independent School District
- Heather Lamb, Castleberry High School, Castleberry Independent School District
- Karina Quilantan, Jaime Escalante Middle School, Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Independent School District
- Stephanie Galvan Russell, Gorzycki Middle School, Austin Independent School District
- Kristi Starr, Coronado High School, Lubbock Independent School District
Throughout the Holding Space virtual tour, Jefferson will visit a dozen libraries across the country, addressing topics such as HBCU (historically Black colleges and universities) priorities, innovative partnerships for career and workforce development, the critical importance of tribal broadband and many more issues facing our communities.
Jefferson’s broader work as ALA president is to build relationships and strengthen connections, particularly with libraries in underrepresented communities. In addition, his focus is to shine a light on the essential work libraries are doing every day in their communities that rarely garner the attention from the public or news media.