Drum roll please! Here they are: HLS’s twelve newest contributors. We can’t wait to hear how they will “hack” library school!

Ayoola White

Ayoola White is in the history and archives management dual-degree program at Simmons College. She is interested in the application of social justice in the archives. Her professional interests include activist archiving and archives located within or alongside libraries, especially public libraries. Ayoola is originally from the Detroit area of Michigan enjoys traveling and cooking. Her favorite place that she’s been to so far has been Malaysia. I became interested in librarianship after learning about the field’s capacity for social justice, modeled by the example of the Ferguson Public Library.

Chloe Waryan

Chloe Waryan is a MLIS candidate at University of Iowa. She entered into the library field by way of urban public libraries, as a patron, a volunteer, and eventually an employee. In her “spare time,” Chloe volunteers with the University of Iowa Museum of Natural History, and is a member of the group Librarians for Social Justice. In addition to her master’s degree, Chloe is working towards a certificate in the Digital Humanities with the hope of remaining somewhat relevant for a few years to come. Chloe’s professional interests include #critlib, digital preservation, and outreach. Like many great librarians before her, she loves her two cats.

Ian Harmon

Ian Harmon is an MSLIS student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Graduate Assistant in the Scholarly Commons, the University Library’s digital scholarship center. Prior to entering library school, he earned a PhD in Philosophy at Illinois and taught philosophy at Rice University. Ian is interested in the ways that technology impacts research and the dissemination of scholarship, and hopes to work in digital humanities and scholarly communication. He is also passionate about the role that libraries serve as central institutions of the public sphere and supporters of the common good. In his spare time, Ian likes riding his bicycle, watching baseball, and listening to late night public radio.

Jessica Leonard

Jessica Leonard is working on a MLIS at San Jose State University where she is finding that all of the specializations are interesting, and it is just too difficult to narrow it down. She studied English lit and writing as an undergrad, but then went on to finish her degree in psychology and neuroscience. She has a background in animal behavior, has owned a few businesses, and has worked more jobs than should conceivably fit into her time on earth. She spends most of her time in San Francisco with her missus and their three canine masters daydreaming plans for their queer, musician/artist/writer library-of-the-future, human/animal sanctuary-from-fascism in the Irish countryside.

Karina Hagelin

Karina Hagelin is working on their master’s degree in Library and Information Science and certificate in Museum Scholarship and Material Culture at University of Maryland. Their background is in American and LGBT Studies. As an undergraduate, they managed the LGBT Equity Center’s resource library for four years before moving onto working in the Research and Learning Department of UMD Libraries. They currently work in digitization.  Karina is a disabled, Swedish-American, (gender)queer femme interested in the complexities and challenges related to issues of diversity, inclusion, and accessibility as they apply to libraries, as well as the use of gossip as an information tool, source of productive power, and site of resistance for survivors.  In their theoretical free-time, they enjoy spending time with their three rescue cats, writing zines about healing for survivors, baking vegan pastries, and occasionally tweeting as @femmelibrarian.

Megan Keane

Megan Keane is a longtime nonprofit techie, yogi, community builder, blogger, and yoga instructor turned MLIS student. She currently studies at the San Jose State University School of Information and works as a project consultant, yoga instructor, and volunteer storytime reader. Connect with her on Twitter: @penguinasana.

Melissa DeWitt

Melissa DeWitt is an MLIS student at the University of Denver and is currently deciding if she should pursue positions in an academic or public library, ideally doing outreach. Currently, she works as a Graduate Assistant at Auraria Library and as a Marketing Assistant in athletic programs and events at the University of Denver. One day, she hopes to work in a tiny town in the mountains so that she has equal time for her career and skiing. In her free time, Melissa enjoys hiking, climbing, backpacking, playing softball, talking about public land issues, and watching HGTV. You can follow her on Twitter @badgersssss.

Nicole Weber

Nicole Weber is a Master’s student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign iSchool. In addition to pursuing her Masters, she works full-time as an Information Specialist in a corporate setting in Chicago, IL. She also holds a BA in History & Religious Studies from Beloit College. Her interests include political communication, information sharing practices on social media, information history, and privacy. Outside of her work, she loves trying new restaurants in Chicago, working out, and is an aspiring mixologist. She also almost always has a cup of coffee in hand. You can find her on twitter at @NicoleEWeber, where she tweets about politics, cocktails, and other musings. or find her on her website at www.nicoleweber.me.

Sarah Davis

Sarah Davis is a MLIS student at the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa, with an undergraduate degree in Children and Family Ministries from John Brown University.  She currently works in the children’s department of a large public library in Oklahoma, leading English/Spanish Bilingual Storytime for children and providing customer service and other programming for children and families in a busy, diverse community.  She is passionate about providing equitable service for marginalized communities, collaborating with local organizations for programming to share resources and audiences (particularly for families), and teaching people how to use the many resources available through the public library. When not working or studying, Sarah loves to read, spend time with friends and family, and dream about her next visit to the rural Oaxaca coast in Mexico, where she learned to speak Spanish.

Stefanie Molinaro

Stefanie Molinaro is a first year student pursuing her MLIS through Wayne State University’s distance program, with a focus on library services to children. She has been working in libraries for about two years, and currently works as a youth services assistant librarian at a public library in a northwestern suburb of Chicago. Before discovering her passion for library work, Stefanie studied english language arts in undergrad and completed some graduate work in the field of education. Stefanie is interested in the intersections between librarianship and social justice work, and some of her career goals include creating consciousness-raising programming for children and teens, and providing library services to incarcerated youth. When she’s not working or studying, she loves to volunteer in her community, hang out with her cat (the one true love of her life), and ponder ways to dismantle white supremacy. You can find her on Twitter at @stefmolinaro, or on her blog at radstorytime.blogspot.com.

Zoë McLaughlin

Zoë McLaughlin is a Master’s student at the University of Michigan’s School of Information.  She plans to become an area studies librarian focused on Southeast Asia.  Her main area of focus is Indonesia, though lately she spends a lot of her time cataloging Malay-language books.  She is also working on learning Thai.  In her spare time, she translates Indonesian fiction and poetry, writes fiction, reads everything she can get her hands on, and dances.  Find her on Twitter, LinkedIn, or at her personal blog.

Zohra Saulat

Zohra Saulat is a first year MLIS student at the iSchool at the University of Urbana-Champaign. Surprisingly, she did not realize how much she wanted to be a librarian until a few months before applying to the program. Although she got her start in a public library, Zohra would like to pursue a career in academic librarianship. She currently works at the Undergraduate Library providing instruction as well as research and reference assistance. Zohra is most passionate about information access, intellectual freedom, and social justice in the LIS profession and beyond. She also takes too many pictures and enjoys cooking as much as she loves eating. You can connect with her on Twitter at @zohrasaulat.

Welcome new writers!