Advisory Committee
Audrey Altman
MLIS, University of Iowa; MA, American Studies, University of Alabama; BA, Theater, Albion College
Senior Software Engineer, Khan Academy
Audrey is a software engineer at Khan Academy, an ed-tech nonprofit. She builds software to support teachers, including AI tools. Before working at Khan Academy, Audrey spent nine years as a software engineer at the Digital Public Library of America. There, she worked on metadata aggregation, curation tools for educators, and machine learning.
Tyler Hahn
MLIS, San Jose State
Director, Cherokee Public Library
Tyler Hahn is the Cherokee Public Library Director in Northwestern Iowa. He serves as the Midwest representative for the Association for Rural & Small Libraries (ARSL) board and is a member of the Iowa Governor's STEM Council, where he was recognized for his programming within the organization's "STEM Gem" poster series. Tyler was recently named one of Library Journal's 2024 Movers and Shakers where he focuses on building community capacity, promoting taxpayer education, and supporting small and rural libraries. His book, "The Handbook for Rural Library Partnerships" is set to publish in 2026 from Bloomsbury Libraries Unlimited.
Erik Henderson
MLIS, Special Collections Librarianship Certificate, University of Iowa
Head of Facilities, Darien Public Library
Erik Henderson attended Grinnell College, studying History and American Studies. He earned his Master’s in Library and Information Science and a Special Collections Librarianship certificate from SLIS. He currently works as the Head of Facilities at Darien Public Library.
Madeline Jarvis
MLIS, University of Iowa; BA, Sustainable Community Development, Northland College
Director, Two Harbors Public Library
Madeline earned a BA in Sustainable Community Development from Northland College in Ashland and a MA in Library and Information Science from the University of Iowa. She has worked in public libraries for a decade and is passionate about rural revitalization, the power of community. She is based in Duluth, Minnesota.
Natalie Milbrodt
MLIS, Certificate in Archives and Preservation of Cultural Materials
University Archivist, CUNY
Natalie Milbrodt serves as the inaugural University Archivist for the City University of New York (CUNY), the largest urban public university in the US. In that role, she is leading a three-year survey of archival collections across CUNY’s 25 campuses and implementing strategies and systems for increased collection discovery and use. Milbrodt serves on the Oral History Association’s Metadata Working Group, as an organizer for the Community Archiving Happy Hour and NYC Neighborhood Oral History meetups, and as an advisory board member for New York State Historical Records, The Municipal Art Society of New York’s Enduring Culture Initiative, Design Dream Lab, and Wikitongues. Her cultural heritage consulting clients include The Frick Collection, The Wildlife Conservation Fund, the Skowhegan History House, UCL Qatar, The Museum of Early Trades and Crafts, the Internet Archive, and the Leo Baeck Institute.
Hang Nguyen
MLIS, University of Iowa; Ph.D., Musicology, University of Iowa; MM, Musicology, Texas Tech University; BA, Monmouth College
Reference Librarian, State Historical Society of Iowa
Hang Nguyen is a Reference Librarian at the State Historical Society of Iowa (SHSI) in Iowa City. She assists researchers all over the state, nationwide, and overseas with Iowa history and genealogy topics. Connecting people to the right resources and experts is her passion. Hang coordinates the Paper Conservation Lab with a conservation technician to stabilize and make items ready for patron use. Additionally, she works with local volunteers and donors on the Iowa Musicians Project to expand representation in the music collection. She is a member of IMALERT and serves on internal committees such as the Accessibility Working Group and the History: Equity & Accessibility Core Committee at SHSI.
Allie Paarsmith
MLIS, University of Iowa
Director, West Liberty Public Library
Allie earned a BA in Theater from University of Northern Iowa and an MA in Library and Information Sciences from the University of Iowa. She has been the Director of the West Liberty Public Library since January 2020.
Robert (Bob) Pasicznyuk
BA, MA, MS, CAS
Executive Library Director, Douglas County Libraries
Bob Pasicznyuk has served as Executive Library Director at Douglas County Libraries since 2014. Prior to joining DCL, Bob worked for libraries in Colorado, Iowa, Texas, California, and Illinois, concentrating on the interface of technology and library service, as well as key rebuilding projects. Most recently, Bob led DCL’s $60M capital improvement plan for new and remodeled libraries across Douglas County. Bob holds master’s degrees from the University of North Texas and Missouri State University.
Mikki Smith
MLIS, University of Iowa
Supervisor, System Library Services
Mikki Smith started working in libraries in 2002. She earned an MLS and a Certificate in Book Studies from the University of Iowa in 2007, and a PhD in Library and Information Science from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, in 2017. She has worked in public, academic, museum, and hospital libraries. She currently supervises library services for Guthrie, a rural integrated health system in PA/NY, and manages its open access general medical journal. She is an Assistant Professor of Medical Education at the Geisinger College of Health Sciences and is starting a three-year term on the editorial board of the Journal of the Medical Library Association.
Jenna Spiering
MLIS, University of Iowa
Assistant Professor and School Library Concentration Coordinator, University of South Carolina
Dr. Jenna Spiering is Assistant Professor of Information Science and School Library Concentration Coordinator at the University of South Carolina. Dr. Spiering’s research interests lie at the intersection of school libraries, critical youth studies, and children’s/young adult materials. Specifically, Spiering’s work emphasizes the school librarian’s role in selecting, promoting, and curating materials for students in k-12 settings. Some of her recent work has explored representations of gender and sexuality in young adult literature and considers how the presence of these topics affects selection practices in school libraries and the inclusion of materials in classrooms. She is the primary investigator for “Extending School Library Preparation through Transitional Mentorship with Early Career School Librarians,” a $374,194 Institute of Museum and Library Services federal early career development grant.
Kellee Warren
Master of Science in Library and Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
Associate Professor and Special Collections Librarian, Public Services and Rare Books
Kellee E. Warren is Associate Professor and Special Collections Librarian at the University of Illinois Chicago. Ms. Warren’s article, “Jean Blackwell Hutson: Black Women’s Leadership in Librarianship and Archives,” a biographical analysis, was published in the May 2022 special issue of Libraries: Culture, History, and Society, 6 (1). Her article on an approach to archival instruction with colonial collections, “Reimagining Special Collections Instruction: A Special Case of Haiti” was published in The American Archivist, fall/winter 2020 edition. And her article “We Need These Bodies, but Not Their Knowledge: Black Women in the Archival Science Profession, and Their Connection to the Archives of Enslaved Black Women in the French Antilles” was published in Library Trends, spring 2016. Her research interests include critical pedagogies, publishing history, digital humanities, and oral history.
Jessamyn West
BA, MLib
Flickr Commons Community Manager, Flickr Foundation
Jessamyn West is a library technologist in Orange County Vermont. She is a nationally known speaker, writer, and educator on the issues facing today's libraries. Her blog focusing on libraries and politics, Librarian.net, is one of the earliest and longest-running librarian websites. She is the author of the book Without a Net: Librarians Bridging the Digital Divide. She has taught "Tools for Community Advocacy" for the University of Hawaii's Library School and currently works for the Flickr Foundation as a Community Manager for Flickr Commons.