The Skillset Podcast The University of South Carolina and Publishers Weekly

Kaetrena Davis Kendrick is Dean of the Ida Jane Dacus Library and Louise Pettus Archives & Special Collections at Winthrop University (SC), where her research interests include professionalism, ethics, racial and ethnic diversity in the LIS field, and the role of communities of practice in practical academic librarianship. In 2019, she was named ACRL Academic/Research Librarian of the Year for her research into the phenomenon of low morale, and taking a deeper dive into the subject, Kendrick has now documented behavior and cultures that specifically enable the low morale experiences of racial and ethnic minority academic librarians.

Nicole A. Cooke talks with Oak Park Public Library (Illinois) Executive Director David Seleb, a lifelong Chicago area resident who has pursued what he calls "people-centered" library services to the residents of his community. In this wide-ranging discussion Seleb talks about working to serve the most vulnerable of the community, how to identify and eliminate barriers to service, how to discern and advance community objectives, and how he his leadership has benefited from his personal and professional engagement with the Harwood Institute.

Nicole A. Cooke talks with Amanda Leftwich, the Student Success Librarian at Montgomery County Community College (PA). Leftwich's work focuses on utilizing reflective practice and mindfulness to help navigate microaggressions, prevent burnout, and find community. She is the founder of the “Mindful in LIS” virtual communities on Instagram and Twitter and she is also co-creator ofLibVoices a podcast that shares stories of librarians of color.

Jennie Marie Durán is the Assistant Vice Chancellor and System-wide Affirmative Action Officer for the State University of New York (SUNY). Durán has significant experience in affirmative action, equal employment opportunity, Americans with Disabilities Act, diversity management, as well as policy and law. The crux of her work has been diversity and equity compliance guidance to campuses in Higher Education, and as a librarian, Durán firmly believes in the power of information and storytelling.

Dr. Abigail Phillips is an Assistant Professor in the School of Information Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where her research interests include cyberbullying, youth, social media, empathy, librarianship, libraries, making, critical librarianship, neurodiversity, and mental health advocacy. She is a member of the #LISMentalHealth team. The #LISMentalHealth initiative aims to raise awareness of mental health among library and archives workers through online discussions, blog posts, resource-sharing, and the “Reserve and Renew Zine” series.

Dr. Noah Lenstra is an Assistant Professor of Library and Information Science in the School of Education at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro where he brings a community engagement approach to the study and teaching of libraries. Notably, Noah founded the Let’s Move in Libraries Initiative, which focuses on supporting healthy living in public libraries. The project was inspired by Former First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative, which focused on increasing Healthy Eating and Active Living (HEAL) among Americans. Let’s Move in Libraries continues Obama's legacy by working to increase physical activity through libraries in the U.S., Canada, and other places in the world.