LJ Summit 2020: Keynote Spotlight

Join us for Library Journal’s annual summit: What’s Next? Libraries Adapt to the New Abnormal, taking place on October 6th.

With the COVID-19 pandemic upending strategic plans across the country, libraries have had to be nimble, flexible, and collaborative on a scale and time frame like never before. Fortunately, all three of those proficiencies are in the library wheelhouse.

In this free, day-long, virtual event, LJ will convene leaders at every level to share their learnings from the first phase of the crisis, how they’re preparing for the multiple possibilities of the medium term—and beyond—and positioning themselves to come out of the recovery strong.

Meet the Keynote Speakers!

Tracie D. Hall

In February 2020, Tracie D. Hall was appointed as the American Library Association’s (ALA) 10th executive director in its 143-year history. In her new role, Hall oversees the oldest and largest library association in the world, made up of 57,000 members and more than 200 staffers. Hall is the first female African American executive director in ALA’s history.

Upon Hall’s appointment ALA President Wanda K. Brown observed that “Her unique combination of philanthropy and library know-how position her to be the leader ALA needs today. She is optimistic, energizing, and innovative, qualities that will serve the association well as it continues its investments in advocacy, development, and information technology.”

Hall is no stranger to libraries, or to ALA. Over the years she has worked at the Seattle Public Library, the New Haven Free Library, Queens Public Library and Hartford Free Public Library. In 1998, she was among the first cohort of ALA’s Spectrum Scholars, a grant program to diversify librarianship, and she served as the director of ALA’s Office for Diversity in the early 2000s and has served on advisory councils for the Institute of Museum and Library Services and written for the field’s major publications.

She was highlighted as a “Mover and Shaker” in the field by Library Journal early in her career. Most recently, Hall directed the culture portfolio at the Chicago-based Joyce Foundation, developing new grant programs designed to foster greater equity and diversity in arts administration, catalyze and scale neighborhood-based arts venues, cultural programming and creative entrepreneurship. Prior to that she worked as Deputy Commissioner of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. A civic leader in Chicago, Hall was appointed to serve on the City of Chicago’s Cultural Advisory Council at the beginning of 2020. Hall has also served in multiple roles in academia, including as assistant dean of Dominican’s Graduate School of Library and Information Science in River Forest, IL and as visiting professor at Wesleyan and Catholic Universities among others.

In addition to her MLIS from the Information School at the University of Washington, Hall holds an MA in International and Area studies with an emphasis on Sub-Saharan Africa from Yale University and dual bachelor’s degrees in Law and Society and Black Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Hall has also studied at the Universities of Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in East Africa. Hall was born and raised in Los Angeles.

Andy Levin

Congressman Andy Levin, representing Michigan’s 9th District, has spent his career fighting for an equitable and inclusive future for all. In July, Rep. Levin introduced the Library Stabilization Fund Act with Senator Jack Reed. The bill would create a $2 billion stabilization fund to bolster library services and address revenue losses, so that libraries can maintain services, keep workers on the job, purchase PPE, and invest in technology to keep library users connected during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the 1980s, Levin organized hundreds of health care workers for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). After working with Haitian immigrant workers, Andy co-founded an organization to assist immigrants with challenges posed by the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.

He worked in Washington, DC as a staff attorney to the presidential Commission on the Future of Worker-Management Relations and the secretary’s office of the U.S. Department of Labor. From 1995-2006, Levin served as Assistant Director of Organizing at the national AFL-CIO. From 2007-2011 Andy served as Deputy Director and Acting Director of the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth and as Michigan’s first Chief Workforce Officer, where he created and ran the state’s No Work Left Behind and Green Jobs Initiatives. He then created the Michigan Academy for Green Mobility Alliance. In 2011, Andy founded Levin Energy Partners LLC, where he created and ran a statewide market to finance clean energy building improvements called Lean & Green Michigan.

Born in Detroit and raised in Berkley, MI, Levin is an honors graduate of Williams College and Harvard Law School and holds a Masters Degree from the University of Michigan in Asian Languages and Cultures, where he was a Mellon Fellow in the Humanities. Until his election to Congress in 2018, he served as president of a Reconstructionist Jewish synagogue and as chair of the steering committee of Detroit Jews for Justice, an organization he helped create. He now serves as vice chair of the House of Representatives Education & Labor committee and on the Foreign Affairs committee.

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We are anticipating an unprecedented number of library and education professionals to attend this summit, so you may find the environment or live sessions become full during the day.

But don’t worry! Sessions will be available for viewing on-demand within an hour of their initial broadcast, and the entire event will be available on-demand until January 26, 2021.

If you have any questions, email us at ljevents@mediasourceinc.com.

If you are a service provider or publisher and would like to sponsor the event, please contact
Advertising Director Roy Futterman.