The 5th National Joint Conference of Librarians of Color will be held October 7-11, 2026, at the Spokane Convention Center in Spokane, Washington. The theme of JCLC 2026 is Gathering at the Waters: Uplift | Encourage | Empower. Over 20 APALA members volunteered to serve on the Planning Committees, and volunteer appointments have just been finalized.
Many APALA members joined the JCLC Reception at ALA Annual where Jason Reynolds was announced as the opening keynote speaker!
If you would like to help out as a conference ambassador and promote the conference on your own social media, email marketing@jclcinc.org to learn more. Visit the conference website for more information: https://www.jclcinc.org/conference/2026/. Questions? Reach out to APALA’s JCLC co-chairs Kat Bell (kat@apalaweb.org) and Regina Gong (rgong@sandiego.edu).
The 2025-2026 APALA Mentoring Program application is now open for both early career and mid-career protégés, as well as mentors! The application will close July 31, 2025. The Mentoring Committee will match applicants in August and inform applicants of their status by mid August. The program runs from September 2025 to June 2026. Learn more about the mentoring program here.
APALA 2025 election results have been announced. Congratulations to the newly elected folks! Read the full announcement here.
The 2025 Talk Story Grant recipients were announced. Congratulations to Farrington High School, Women of Wai’anae, Frankford Public Library, and Hortonville Public Library! Read the announcement here.
The APALA Scholarship and Awards Committee is excited to announce Carol Ng-He as the 2025 recipient of the Gayatri Singh Award. Read the full announcement here.
The 2025 APALA Travel Grant winner was announced. Congratulations Joe Lee! Read the full announcement here.
Talk Story is pleased to announce its 2023–2024 Best of the Best Booklist and translated Talk Story Prompt Cards. Read the press release here.
Danilo Baylen was recently awarded Outstanding Alumnus for Library and Information Science in April 2025 and Centennial Scholar in October 2024 from The University of Alabama.
Danilo Baylen announces the following recent publications:
Baylen, D. M., Ivory, C.J., & Solomon-Dougherty, J. (2025). Student success librarianship: What are we talking about? In M. L. Root & O. Patterson (Eds.), Student success librarianship: Critical perspectives on an evolving profession (pp.171-192). Association of College and Research Librarians.
Baylen, D. M., Marshall, G. H., & Cox, J. (2025). Personalizing STEAM learning: Scope, opportunities, and challenges. In S. Nguyen (Ed.), Integrating personalized learning methods into STEAM education (pp. 31-50). IGI Global.
West Visayas State University (WVSU) conferred the Doctor of Humanities, honoris causa, to Dr. Danilo M. Baylen on June 10, 2025. Dr. Baylen also served as the distinguished keynote speaker for the WVSU 2025 Graduate School Commencement Exercises on the same day.
The debut middle grade novel The Legendary Mo Seto (Aladdin/Simon & Schuster) by Canadian author A.Y. Chan, has just won the 2025 Forest of Reading Silver Birch Award—a major honor voted on by young readers across Canada. The novel has been praised for its dynamic storytelling and cultural depth. The sequel, Martial Arts Star, was released in early May 2025 and delivers even more high-energy action and deeper explorations of cultural themes.