Ask the Experts: Library Boards & Trustees

Chris Chanyasulkit is Past President of the American Public Health Association and a member of the United for Libraries Board of Directors. Chris holds leadership positions with local, state, regional, and national governance and civic engagement organizations, working to promote racial, gender, and health equity. Dr. Chanyasulkit is an elected Library Trustee of the Public Libraries of Brookline, a Brookline Community Emergency Response Team member, and a Brookline Medical Reserve Corps member. Chris lives in Brookline, Massachusetts with her husband, James, a software engineer, their three children, and two puppies.

Deborah Doyle, 2024-2026 United for Libraries President, is a writer, editor, and fundraiser as well as an active library advocate at local, state, and national levels. She played board and staff roles at Friends of the San Francisco Public Library and was actively involved in helping to create San Francisco’s well-funded modern library system. She has served as President of the California Library Association (CLA) and she currently serves on the ALA Committee on Legislation, and the CLA Advocacy and Legislative Committee, and chairs the Sonoma County Library Commission, and she is treasurer (and a past president) of California Public Library Advocates.

Maura Deedy is the founding principal of Local Librarian Consulting, a consultancy focused on supporting multi-type library and library-related organizations on evaluation, assessment, strategic planning, governance, advocacy, and director recruitment. Previously, she was the Library Advisory Specialist at Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, and held management roles at Robbins Library (MA) and Weymouth Public Libraries (MA). Her vast experience in public libraries includes training library boards on governance and legal issues, including recruitment, intellectual freedom, and compliance with state laws and regulations.