The Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association’s (APALA) Scholarships and Awards Committee is proud to announce Ariana Santiago as the 2017 Emerging Leader for the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association. APALA will provide funding to support her attendance and participation in the Emerging Leaders program at the 2017 ALA Midwinter Meeting and Annual Conference. The Emerging Leaders program is a leadership development program which enables newer library professionals to participate in work groups, network, and have an opportunity to serve the profession in a leadership capacity.
Ariana is an Instruction Librarian at the University of Houston and is committed to making an impact on her campus and within the profession in the areas of instruction, outreach and diversity.. She is the chair of her library’s Campus Engagement Committee, which develops and coordinates programming to promote the UH Libraries on campus. Ariana is the vice-chair of the ACRL Instruction Section’s Instruction for Diverse Populations Committee, which supports librarians in providing instructional services for diverse populations. She holds memberships in several organizations, including APALA, Reforma and LLAMA. She is the Outreach Director for ALA New Members Roundtable, 2016 – 2018. She was recently part of a panel titled, “Grow your community: An exploration of peer mentoring for people of color” at the National Diversity in Libraries Conference. Ariana is contributing positively to librarianship and APALA is proud to be sponsoring her for the Emerging Leaders program.