GODORT and ACRL Politics, Policy, and International Relations Section (PPIRS) will host a free online annual speaker series in honor of our beloved colleague, the late Kenya Siana Flash. Ms. Flash was the Librarian for Political Science, Global Information and Government Information at Yale University from 2017 until her untimely death in December 2021.
Ms. Flash was an active member of both organizations. She was elected to the PPIRS’ Executive Board and served on the Professional Development and Membership Committees, and helped launch the Preparedness & Security Group. Ms. Flash was sponsored by GODORT in ALA’s Emerging Leaders Program and served on their Government Information for Children Committee, Program Committee, was the Coordinator for the International Documents Task Force, and was a GODORT Representative to the ALA Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Assembly and Liaison to the Social Responsibilities Round Table (SSRT). In her professional activities she was an endless advocate, an expert whose counsel was consistently sought and admired as a mentor who helped forge relationships and collaboration among librarians.
The Kenya S. Flash Virtual Lecture Series in Librarianship invites individuals of accomplishment, experience, and passion to present on any number of topics near and dear to Kenya. Broad topic areas include Policy, Politics, or Political Science, International Relations, Government Information, Global/Area Studies, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), Social Justice, and Accessibility. While Kenya is no longer with us, her memory, spirit and mission to improve librarianship through education lives on in this lecture series.
2023 Lecture:
The Participatory Promise of Digital Community Engagement: Toward an Equitable, Trustworthy Scholarly Communication System
Speaker: Willa Liburd Tavernier
Date: Friday, July 14, 2023
1:00pm EDT (10:00am PDT, 11:00am MDT, 12:00pm CDT)
Registration Link: https://ala-events.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN__oZ8lFbrRsemB_GVg_-sPQ
Willa Liburd Tavernier earned her MLIS from the School of Library and Information Science at the University of Iowa together with a graduate certificate in college teaching. She holds a Master of Laws from American University’s Washington College of Law, a Legal Education Certificate from Norman Manley Law School, and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of the West Indies at Cave Hill. She is a member of the Association of College and Research Libraries Residency Interest Group (RIG), serving on its assessment team and subgroup on diversity residencies and a board member of the Library Publishing Coalition and Secretary of NASIG (formerly the North American Serials Interest Group, Inc.).