The Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA) Scholarships and Awards Committee is proud to announce member Jamie Kurumaji as APALA’s 2020 American Library Association (ALA) Emerging Leader.
APALA will provide funding to support Kurumaji’s attendance and participation in the Emerging Leaders program at the 2020 ALA Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia and 2020 ALA Annual Conference in Chicago. The Emerging Leaders program is a leadership development program that enables early career library professionals to participate in work groups, network with peers, gain insight into ALA structure and have an opportunity to serve the profession in a leadership capacity.
Kurumaji is a Children’s Librarian with the Fresno County Public Library. She is responsible for all children’s programming within seven rural libraries and one metro location, including visits to elementary schools in the southern part of the county.
In addition to her regular duties, Kurumaji is an active member of her library system’s staff Social Justice and Equality Committee. She also has actively sought and successfully secured grant initiatives to support and expand children’s programming services for the community. Kurumaji helped the Fresno County Public Library secure participation in ALA’s Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation (TRHT) Great Stories Club and presented on the program at the California Library Association annual conference in October 2019. The Fresno County Public Library also awarded Kurumaji $1,900.00 to develop inclusive programming for children with autism spectrum disorder. After working with children and identifying an interest in art making and photography, Kurumaji developed the Photography Club for Children with ASD and received funding to support the initiative.
Kurumaji also served on the APALA Literature Awards Committee on Picture Books (Illustration in Children’s Literature) from 2016-2018. She explained on her Fresno County Public Library staff profile that one of her most memorable accomplishments in her library career to date was attending the ALA Youth Media Awards: “We were all screaming our heads off as our picks were flashed across the stage, because this was the first time ever [APALA awards] to be included in the ALA’s awards ceremony.”
Kurumaji has already had a positive impact on her local community and the APALA community, and APALA is proud to sponsor her for the ALA Emerging Leaders program.