Speakers:
Michael Meth, Library Dean
Michael Meth is the Dean of the San José State University's Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, Library. Formerly, he was the Associate Dean, Research and Learning Services at the Florida State University (FSU) Libraries. Prior to joining FSU, Michael was the Director of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education library at the University of Toronto (UofT), and before that the Director of the Li Koon Chun Finance Learning Centre, UofT Mississauga Library. While at UofT, Michael also held an appointment as adjunct faculty at the Institute for Management of Innovation at the UofT Mississauga. Over the years, Michael has taught many graduate and undergraduate courses on a variety of topics such as leadership in libraries, finance, and on innovation (with a particular focus on the design thinking methodology). Michael has published books, chapters, articles and frequently presents on topics related to libraries including blockchain, neurodiversity, and leadership. Notable are his books “Blockchain in Libraries” (2019), and “Case Studies in Academic Library Management” (2017, co-edited). Michael is a graduate of the UofT (Master of Information Studies) and York University (Bachelor of Business Administration, Schulich School of Business).
Jill Bourne, City Librarian
Jill Bourne is the City Librarian for San José, California, and Director of the San José Public Libraries. With a focus on expanding access, partnerships, educational outcomes, and digital empowerment, she is committed to enhancing the relevance and leveraging the value of public libraries in the communities they serve. Bourne has been recognized as a “Mover and Shaker” by Library Journal, a “Women of Influence” by Silicon Valley Business Journal, Library Journal’s “Librarian of the Year,” a member of the “Upstart 50” by the San Francisco Business Times, and was honored by the Cinequest Film Festival with the “Maverick Visionary Award.” She leads the San José Education and Digital Equity initiatives through extensive partnerships with academic agencies, telecommunications providers, and community-based organizations, to remove barriers for under-connected and under-resourced households throughout San José. Bourne holds a Bachelor of Arts with Honors from New York University and a Masters of Library and Information Sciences from the University of Washington.
As part of our Unbanned Author Speaker Series: Come listen to local authors share their unique experiences with censorship and how that led them to seek alternative publication options.
Tureeda Mikell
Tureeda Mikell is a poetic powerhouse and Black Panther alum who advocates for humanity and wholeness. She has centered her talents on physically and spiritually healing communities, something that has earned her the honorific, story-medicine-woman. Her books are Synchronicity: the Oracle of Sun Medicine, and Patrice Lumumba: An Anthology of Writers on Black Liberation.
Hear SJSU & SJPL librarians discuss censorship and why providing access to books and information is so important.
Librarians:
Nick Szydlowsk, Digital Scholarship Librarian, San José State University
Nick Szydlowski is the Digital Scholarship Librarian at SJSU's Martin Luther King, Jr. Library. In addition to supporting digital scholarship across the SJSU campus, his published research addresses issues of social justice and intellectual freedom in libraries, and his newest article "Everyone’s Culture is for the Children: Encountering and Contextualizing the Rhetorical Strategies of Book Banners" will be available soon in the journal Research on Diversity in Youth Literature.
Christa Bailey, Subject Librarian, San José State University
Christa Perez Bailey is a Business, Economics & Psychology Librarian. She serves as co-coordinator for the Affordable Learning Solutions initiative at San José State University in addition to her regular responsibilities. The goal of the Affordable Learning Solutions program is to make college more affordable for students by lowering the cost of textbooks. To date, it is estimated that the program has saved students over $4 million dollars in textbook costs. Christa was awarded tenure and promotion this Fall. She has over 20 years of experience working in various positions in academic libraries. Christa has a BS in Psychology from Santa Clara University and an MLIS from San José State.
Tiffany Bradford-Oldham, Branch Manager, San José Public Library
Tiffany Bradford-Oldham (she/her/any pronoun) is the Senior Librarian for the Hillview, and Dr Roberto Cruz Alum Rock branch libraries in the San Jose Public Library system. Tiffany is a core member of the San Jose Public Library’s Racial Equity Team and passionate about EDI work being integrated into all elements of library work. Prior to joining the San Jose Public Library, Tiffany worked as a librarian with the National Instructional Materials Access Center digital repository for K-12 visually impaired student nationally, ensuring these students had access to core and ancillary materials. Tiffany also worked in Oakland Public Library, San Mateo County Public Library and Louisville Free Public Library as a librarian. Tiffany formally was a Director- At-Large for ASCLA, and a member of the NMRT. Tiffany along with her master’s in library science has a bachelor’s degree in political science and a focus in International Relations and is a community activist. Tiffany fervently believes in the importance of exposing children to topics about race, equity and diversity and helping them cultivate their understanding, opinions, and ideas through adulthood.
Elizabeth Barragan, Librarian, San José Public Library
Elizabeth Barragan is a dedicated librarian at the San Jose Public Library, where she passionately serves her community through her love for literature and information. With a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion, Elizabeth is an active member of the Latinx/Hispanic Affinity Working Group, working diligently to promote representation and access to resources for the Latinx and Hispanic communities. Elizabeth Barragan's dedication to her profession and her community is exemplified through her work, making her an essential advocate for both the library and the people it serves.
Moderator:
Michelle Ornat, Deputy Director of Public Services of San José Public Library
Michelle Ornat is Deputy Director of Public Services for San José Public Library. She is responsible for overseeing public service delivery for all SJPL locations including Education and Digital Literacy Strategy Units, Adult Literacy, Youth Services, Technical and Access Services, and the California Room. Michelle is involved with the American Library Association and state library initiatives: her favorite roles have been serving on advisory boards for Public Libraries Magazine, California Libraries Learn and ALA’s Leadership Development and Mentoring. She’s a Rotarian and serves on the Livermore Public Library Board.
In this timely presentation, Dr. Elias Serna will delve into the urgency for Chicana and Chicano Studies, the struggle against the banning of Chicanx literature, and lessons for today. Specifically how its literature and art produced and consolidated a political identity, and inspired participants to join struggles for dignity and social justice.
Elias Serna, MFA, PhD
Elias is a parent, artist and educator from Santa Monica, Califas. His recent English PhD dissertation delineated a Chican@ rhetorical tradition and epistemology. He currently teaches Ethnic Studies and Chicana/o Studies at Santa Monica College, SJSU and Cal State University Channel Islands. He is a co-founder of the Chicano Secret Service teatro, featured performers at the 2022 Mundo Zurdo conference (San Antonio). He co-founded Raza Studies now and the Xican@ Pop-Up Book in 2013 in order to protest book bans and promote Ethnic Studies in K-14 classrooms.
Enjoy an afternoon of master storytelling by SJPL librarians who will read from selections of banned literary works to be followed by a brief Q&A and discussion.
Storytellers:
Sarah Kishler, Librarian, San José Public Library, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Sarah Kishler is a librarian at the East San José Carnegie Branch of the San José Public Library. She has a passion for storytelling through creative writing and theater, and believes the freedom to read is a basic pillar of democracy.
Eboni A. Harris, Librarian, San José Public Library, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Eboni A. Harris is a Librarian II who has been with the San José Public Library System’s Teen Headquarters (TeenHQ) for almost three years and who has worked in libraries for over thirteen years. Eboni is the winner of the California Library State Association Teen Services Award 2022 and the author of two young adult science fiction novels.
Tiffany L. Bradford-Oldham, Senior Librarian, San José Public Library, The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Tiffany Bradford-Oldham (she/her/any pronoun) is the Senior Librarian for the Hillview, and Dr Roberto Cruz Alum Rock branch libraries in the San José Public Library system. Tiffany is a core member of the San José Public Library’s Racial Equity Team and passionate about EDI work being integrated into all elements of library work. Prior to joining the San José Public Library, Tiffany worked as a librarian with the National Instructional Materials Access Center digital repository for K-12 visually impaired student nationally, ensuring these students had access to core and ancillary materials. Tiffany also worked in Oakland Public Library, San Mateo County Public Library and Louisville Free Public Library as a librarian. Tiffany formally was a Director- At-Large for ASCLA, and a member of the NMRT. Tiffany along with her master’s in library science has a bachelor’s degree in political science and a focus in International Relations and is a community activist. Tiffany fervently believes in the importance of exposing children to topics about race, equity and diversity and helping them cultivate their understanding, opinions, and ideas through adulthood.
Brian Parkman, Librarian, San José Public Library, How We Fight White Supremacy
Brian Parkman has worked for the San José Public Library system since December 2013. Brian received his MLIS from San José State University in Spring 2015. He is currently the adult Service librarian at the Dr. Roberto Cruz Alum Rock Library branch.
Robin Rogers, Librarian, San José Public Library, When Aidan Became a Brother
Robin Rogers (she/her) has been serving the City of San José as public library staff since 2018, and as a public librarian since 2022. She has a passion for providing warm and welcoming service to the community she serves and promoting visibility and inclusivity for LGBTQ+ people in the library, including staff and customers. This year she was elected the Chair of the LGBTQ+ Working Group and had the joy and privilege of presenting Storytime and assisting with Drag Queen Storytime at Silicon Valley Pride. Although there are so many reasons to enjoy being a public librarian, Storytime is her absolute favorite.
Karen Guzman, Librarian, San José Public Library, The House on Mango Street?
Karen Guadalupe Guzmán (she/her/ella pronouns). She identifies as Mexican-American. She has been a librarian with San José Public Library for 1.5 years.
As part of our Unbanned Author Speaker Series: Come listen to local authors share their unique experiences with censorship and how that led them to seek alternative publication options.
Daniel B. Summerhill
Daniel B. Summerhill is an exciting and new poetic alchemist. His books are Mausoleum of Flowers and Divine Divine Divine. Inspired by his Oakland experiences and his scholarship and James Baldwin, his muse, Summerhill will lead a craft talk illuminating truth in the Evidence of Things Not Seen and in narratives that challenge age-old power structures.
https://www.danielsummerhill.com
Join SJSU comics scholars and educators in a discussion about how comics and graphic novels have become the target of contemporary book bans as well as ways that comics artists, educators, and fans are challenging these forms of censorship.
Scholars & Educators:
Dr. J. Michael Martinez, Department of English & Comparative Literature at San José State University
J. Michael Martinez is the author of four collections of poetry, including Heredities, which received the Walt Whitman Award from the Academy of American Poets, and Museum of the Americas, which was a winner of the National Poetry Series Competition and long-listed for the 2018 National Book Award in Poetry. Tarta Americana, Martinez's latest poetry collection, was just published by Penguin Press this September of 2023. Martinez is an assistant professor in the Department of English and Comparative Literature at San Jose State University.
Dr. Maite Urcaregui, Department of English & Comparative Literature at San José State University
Dr. Maite Urcaregui (she/her) is an Assistant Professor of English and Comparative Literature at San José State University. Her research and teaching explore Latinx and multiethnic U.S. literatures, visual cultures, and comics through feminist, queer, and critical race theories and histories. She is currently co-editing a volume in collaboration with Fernanda Díaz-Basteris that brings together critical perspectives on Latinx comics.
Nathan Osborne, Department of Philosophy at San José State University
Nathan Osborne, was born and raised here in San José. He is a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, with a specialty in Existentialism and Critical Theory, and my main area of focus is in the Philosophy of Love. He has been teaching philosophy for 12 years and is an avid reader all his life, and a love for graphic novels developing when he discovered their existence in High School.
As part of our Unbanned Author Speaker Series: Come listen to local authors share their unique experiences with censorship and how that led them to seek alternative publication options.
James Cagney
James Cagney is a celebrated, award winning poet who has written Martian: The Saint of Loneliness and Black Steel Magnolias in the Hour of Chaos Theory.
Tshaka Campbell
Tshaka Campbell is an internationally accomplished poet, artist, performer and the first black Santa Clara County Poet Laureate. He is a husband and father inspired by life and asks the world to “Listen Different!”. His works are many, and include Tunnel Vision, Muted Whispers, Tarman, Stuff, and the soon to be released Letters to My Daughter.
As part of our Unbanned Author Speaker Series: Come listen to local authors share their unique experiences with censorship and how that led them to seek alternative publication options.
Tshaka Campbell
Tshaka Campbell is our Santa Clara County Poet Laureate, and he will conduct a reading and Q&A that addresses his poetry and the laureate program’s effort to platform voices who are writing back with the same urgency of postcolonial literary luminaries, proving - freedom is a constant struggle - to which Campbell urges us to read, watch, and listen differently. His works are many, and include Tunnel Vision, Muted Whispers, Tarman, Stuff, and the soon to be released Letters to My Daughter, found at TshakaCampbellpoet.com.
An engaging and thought-provoking exhibit of Dr. Elias Serna's award-winning Chicano/a/x rare texts. This exhibit seeks to celebrate the genius of Chicana/o/x literature and the ongoing struggle for self-definition and self-determination of Chicanx communities.
