For Immediate Release
Friday, 10/30/2020
CONTACT:
Marketing and Publicity Committee
Asian Pacific American Librarians Association
communications@apalaweb.org
APALA endorses Lessa Kanani’opua Pelayo-Lozada as the American Library Association’s 2022-2023 Presidential Candidate
The Asian Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA) is proud to endorse Lessa Kanani’opua Pelayo-Lozada as the American Library Association’s 2022-2023 Presidential Candidate. Pelayo-Lozada, current APALA Executive Director, has demonstrated her strong commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion in library and information spaces, as well as the communities they serve. Her leadership within APALA and ALA centers on matters of equity, organizational effectiveness, literacy, and library outreach to all members of the community.
Following her APALA presidency in 2016-2017, she served as a member of the Executive Board for the American Library Association in 2017-2020. She also served on the Steering Committee of the Joint Conference of Librarians of Color in 2015-2018. She was a 2011 ALA Emerging Leader and has worked on several ALA committees since she started her career as a librarian. She continues to work to ensure that both ALA and APALA are organizations that live their values while promoting all types of libraries and the library workers who strengthen them.
APALA looks forward to working with the first Pacific Islander President of the American Library Association. We believe Pelayo-Lozada is a singular candidate with an exceptional record of service. We are confident she will represent APALA and ALA members, the libraries they support, and the values they hold.
###
Founded in 1980, the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. All donations to APALA are tax-deductible and support our work for library services, programs, scholarships, awards, and grants related to library services benefiting Asian/Pacific Americans and Asian/Pacific American librarians.