Meet Us

 

Chair  Angela Ocaña is the Community Services Manager with the Eugene Public Library in Oregon and has served as an IFRT Director at Large for two years. She was a member of the 2018 Emerging Leader class and won the ALA John Cotton Dana award in 2013. She also won the 2016 CLA Young Adult Librarian of the Year award, the same year her Teen Pride program was picketed and challenged by some members of her community. She is a diehard graphic novel reader and has spoken at comic book conventions across the nation, merging her passion for comics and the freedom to read. She is currently serving on the GNCRT selection committee for Best Graphic Novels for Children list and is secretly a unicorn.

Chair Elect Amanda Vazquez is Director at the Dubuque County Library District, a 2019 graduate of the San José State University iSchool, and has over a decade of experience working in public libraries in programming, technical services, and library administration. In her past position as Director of the Orange City Public Library, she gained first-hand experience with intellectual freedom issues through challenges to LGBTQ+ content in the library’s collection. These challenges propelled her to become involved with the Iowa Library Association and ALA’s Intellectual Freedom Round Table. Amanda is a past Freedom to Read Foundation Gordon M. Conable Scholar, chair of the Iowa Library Association’s Intellectual Freedom Committee and the Chapter Councilor for Iowa.

Past Chair Rhonda Evans is the Assistant Chief Librarian of the Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. At the Schomburg Center Rhonda supports the management of the Division’s diverse collections that focus on people of African descent throughout the world. In addition to her recent appointment to the Intellectual Freedom Committee, she will serve as the Chair of the Intellectual Freedom Round Table. Rhonda is also an active member of BCALA and serves on the Executive Board of the Museums Council of New York City. She is the author of the blog series, Black New York, which tells lesser-known stories of the Black experience across New York City and the outer boroughs.

IFRT Councilor Peter Coyl is the Library Director & CEO of the Sacramento Public Library. He is passionate about intellectual freedom and the power of information and libraries to change lives. He serves as President of the Freedom to Read Foundation and a member of the Intellectual Freedom Committee.

Treasurer Dr. Jennifer Steele is an Assistant Professor in the School of Library and Information Science at The University of Southern Mississippi, located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. She earned both her MLIS degree and her Ph.D. in Communication and Information Sciences from The University of Alabama, completing the degrees in 2013 and 2017 respectively. She has years of professional experience working as an academic librarian. Her research focuses on intellectual freedom, censorship, and information access.

Secretary Rita Ennen currently serves as the Library Director of the Dickinson Area Public Library in North Dakota.  She was previously the Director of Library Services at the Dickinson State University Library. She has served in a variety of capacities for the North Dakota Library Association including President, chair of multiple conferences, and Intellectual Freedom chair and representative. In her spare time, Rita is a lay minister at her church. When she is not reading or studying, she loves to build with LEGOs and watch baseball or the Great British Baking Show with her two kitties in her lap.

Director-at-Large  Michael Blackwell, Director of St. Mary’s County Library (MD), looks forward to serving as a Director-at-Large and to serve on the Oboler Award and Communications Committee. He also serves as co-chair of the CORE Architecture for Public Libraries Group, past Chair of the CORE Consortial Ebooks Interest Group, and as a member of ALA Joint Digital Content Working Group. Michael’s library underwent prolonged intellectual freedom challenges on programing and meeting room use from January of 2017 until October of 2019, when the Maryland Attorney General intervened on behalf of the library in support of First Amendment rights. He is delighted to be have an opportunity to “give back” for all the assistance and encouragement the library received from the Office for Intellectual Freedom in a challenging time.

Director-at-Large  Johana E. Orellana Cabrera is the Library Service Manager for Branch Services at the Arlington Public Library in Texas. She is a 2011 ALA Spectrum Scholar, a 2015 ALA Emerging Leader, and has held several leadership roles within ALA. She loves her dogs, family, and friends.

Director-at-Large  Michael Kirby is an Assistant Professor/Reader Services Librarian at Kingsborough Community College. He received his MLS from Queens College, the City University of New York and currently serves as a Director-at-Large for the Intellectual Freedom Round Table.

Director-at-Large Rebecca Moorman is Head of Technical Services at the University of Alaska Anchorage Consortium Library. She received her MSLIS from the University of Illinois, and has worked in academic and special libraries. Rebecca has lived in Alaska for over 15 years, and is active in the Alaska Library Association. She enjoys traveling, adding frequently challenged books to Little Free Libraries, and cheering for the St. Louis Cardinals.

Bylaws and Organization Committee Chair Steve Norman has been the Director at the Belfast Free Library in Belfast (ME) since 2001. He has a degree in English from Macalester College and a Master’s in Library Studies from the University of Chicago. He has been IFRT Treasurer and Secretary and has worked on several IFRT committees (mainly, awards committees and the Membership Committee). Currently, he is a Trustee of the LeRoy Merritt Humanitarian Fund.

Coalition Building Committee Chair While in federal prison, Eldon “Ray” James decided to become a librarian. Despite his age and circumstances, he made that happen by graduating from the University of Texas at Austin School of Information in 2007. By amazing serendipity he made Dr. Loriene Roy his advisor. The year he graduated, ALA chose Roy as ALA president and she took him to Washington as a part of her presidential party and introduced him to ALA and particularly a group called the Prisoners Forum, an interest group and the Association of Specialized Government & Cooperative Library Agencies (ASGCLA, formally, ASCLA), where this ex-con found a family with correctional librarians. One of those librarians shortly thereafter asked him to help write “Prisoners’ Right to Read: An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights” and help move it through the ALA. That experience led to the Intellectual Freedom Committee, Intellectual Freedom Round Table, and the Freedom to Read Foundation. ASGCLA needed a liaison to all three and he volunteered. FTRF welcomes liaisons on its committees and before long James was serving on all three intellectual freedom groups. Now semi-retired, James works as a researcher and Freedom of Information Act specialist for a private company in Austin, Texas.

Immroth Award Committee Chair Wanda Mae Huffaker is a Librarian Salt Lake County Libraries. She is a 2018 recipient of the PLA Gordon Conable Award, and was chair of the Utah Library Association's Intellectual Freedom Committee, for 10 years, one of which they won the first Gerald Hodges Award. She watches movies more than reads but does turn on closed captioning.

Membership Promotion Committee Chair Chaz Carey is a youth services Librarian at Worthington Public Libraries in Ohio. They earned their MLIS at University of Denver and spent years in the libraries and jazz bars of the Rockies. If they won the lottery, Chaz would try their best to save the world, but they would also buy a mountain home and a Steinway grand piano. Chaz was a member of the Emerging Leaders Class of 2022 and looks forward to ruling the world. They know firsthand the importance of intellectual freedom, as a banned book changed their life in high school. When they’re not reading, they are playing the piano or gardening and listening to groovy music.

Merritt Fund Promotion Committee Chair Deb Sica has been in the field of research, education and libraries since 1993. She has been an archivist, an academic, a researcher, and, now, proudly, serves the staff and the communities of the Alameda County Library as the Deputy County Librarian. She as spent the last decade plus in Public Libraries working to transform dated, discordant practice and policy towards socially just campaigns for full inclusion. She has been politically active for over 25 years and continues to fight for justice, equity, diversity and inclusion in libraries and in life. She has served as Chair of the Rainbow Round Table (RRT), RRT Councilor, and is currently a member of BARC and the PLA Liaison for IFC. She is a proud member of the Freedom to Read Foundation. Her early Public Librarian years were spent in Harris County, TX and was active in creating spaces within the Texas Library Association (TLA) for LGBTQIA+ folks. She also served as regional chair for TLA’s District 8. She is part of California Coalition for Race Equity & Inclusion and Government Alliance for Race Equity. Daily, she is reminded that complicating conversations and the utilization of libraries as a tool to rebalance inequities will be the best way to give voice to all. And the best mechanism we have to advocate and protect that change is Intellectual Freedom.

Nominating Committee Chair Rhonda Evans is the Assistant Chief Librarian of the Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. At the Schomburg Center Rhonda supports the management of the Division’s diverse collections that focus on people of African descent throughout the world. In addition to her recent appointment to the Intellectual Freedom Committee, she will serve as the Chair of the Intellectual Freedom Round Table. Rhonda is also an active member of BCALA and serves on the Executive Board of the Museums Council of New York City. She is the author of the blog series, Black New York, which tells lesser-known stories of the Black experience across New York City and the outer boroughs. She is also an Assistant Visiting Professor at Pratt Institute’s School of Information, teaching in their Library and Information Science graduate program.

Oboler Award Committee Chair Steph Barnaby is the IDEAS (Information Delivery & Access Services) Librarian at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. She received her Masters' in Library and Information Science at San Jose State University's School of Information in 2018. She previously worked at the Fineman & Pappas Law Libraries at Boston University's School of Law as the Evening Library Supervisor. She loves books, vegan comfort food, traveling, meeting new people, coffee, music, and Doctor Who.

Programming and Events Committee Chair  Johannah Genett

Publications & Communications Committee Chair Sarah Hartman-Caverly, MS(LIS), MSIS, is a reference and instruction librarian at Penn State Berks, where she liaises with the Engineering, Business and Computing division. She has worked in the library profession for fifteen years, including ten years as reference and instruction faculty at a community college and a regional campus of an R1 land grant university, and three years as an e-resources and library systems administrator and two years as a staff member in serials and e-resources at small liberal arts colleges. Her research examines the compatibility of human and machine autonomy from the perspective of intellectual freedom, with specific focuses on privacy, censorship, and information warfare. Outside of the library, Sarah is an edible gardener, chicken herder, and homemaker in rural southeastern Pennsylvania.

ALA Executive Board Liaison Sam Helmick is the Community & Access Services Coordinator at the Iowa City Public Library. Sam is President of the Iowa Library Association and currently serves on the American Library Association Executive Board. They enjoy LEGO, cosplay, comic cons, travel, jogging, and their rescue kitty, Rilke. Their favorite book and quote come from Daphne du Maurier who wrote "a dreamer, I walked enchanted, and nothing held me back" in her thriller Rebecca.

Updated July 2022