Dear APALA colleagues,
What an extraordinary year! Our APALA members dedicate and volunteer their time, commitment, passion, and service to bring our association work and community together through many important projects. I would like to thank our many chairs and co-chairs, and the APALA Executive Board members as well as all those who have volunteered this year to serve in an APALA committee or task force. Thank you for all you do. APALA thrives with your leadership, support, and service!
This past year, APALA committee members have accomplished a lot. Here are a few examples:
- Offering JCLC 2022 Conference Travel Grants
- Launching APALA Career Center page
- Launching APALA Rubric to Evaluate Asian American and Pacific Islander Youth Literature
- APALA Emerging Leaders’ Project: Toolkit for AAPI Programming
- APALA Engagement Task Force to identify opportunities to engage with Pacific Islander, Native Hawaiian, and Central/South/Southwestern Asian American library workers in APALA and in the field
We also want to thank Springer Nature for their generous donation which sponsors many of our activities! You can read more here.
We will also have the opportunity to come together as a community at the ALA Annual Conference 2022 in Washington D.C. It is an exciting time to celebrate this reunion with APALA Past President and ALA President Patty Wong as well as APALA Executive Director and Past President and ALA President-Elect Lessa Kanani’opua Pelayo-Lozada. The last time many of us attended the ALA Annual Conference in-person was back in 2019 in Washington D.C.
From the APALA Literature Awards Banquet to APALA Membership Social, check out this list to see all the virtual and in-person activities ahead! We hope to see you in-person at some of the activities at the ALA Annual Conference 2022!
It almost feels like a hard reset of the past two horrific years. However, we must not forget what we’ve witnessed, experienced, and endured. It has been and is still a struggle for many of us. As APALA President 2021-2022, I am deeply fortunate and honored to have served with you all during this time, and to continue shaping APALA for a better future.
Thank you to APALA Executive Director Lessa Kanani’opua Pelayo-Lozada for her amazing dedication, service, and commitment to APALA. I would also like to thank the APALA Executive Board for their support and work for this past year. Thanks to Cynthia Mari Orozco, Yen Tran, Candice Wing-yee Mack, and Anu Vedantham for their service as they transition off the APALA Executive Board.
We welcome Incoming APALA Executive Director Alanna Aiko Moore in the coming term and I look forward to serving on the APALA Executive Board as Immediate Past President under the leadership of APALA President Elect Annie Pho. Congratulations to our incoming leadership: President Annie Pho, Vice-President Jaena Rae Cabrera, Treasurer Kat Bell, and Board Members-at-Large Kiyoko Shiosaki, Danilo Baylen, and Keno Catabay!
Again, thank you all for being APALA members and leaders!
Sincerely,
Raymond Pun
APALA President 2021-2022