Upcoming Talks and Conferences

DPLAfest Live in Chicago!
May 5, 2017

Announcing the DPLAfest 2017 Travel Award Recipients
March 21, 2017

Valerie Hawkins
Prairie State College


Prior to her current position at Prairie State College, Valerie Hawkins served as Library Reference Specialist in the ALA (American Library Association) Library at its headquarters in downtown Chicago, answering most of the questions that came in to its reference desk, from member and non-member libraries as well as from the public, for nearly twenty years. Valerie was on the front lines of the transition within librarianship to electronic and online communications, publications, resources, and tools. Valerie is also deeply interested in pop culture, performing arts, and media representations of African American history. She writes, “It’s greatly informed my deliberate moves to increase the visibility of works by people of color and other marginalized communities, including the disabled and LGBTQ, in a public e-newsletter I curate called ‘Diverse Books and Media.’” Of her interest in attending DPLAfest, Valerie says, “The past, present, and future of librarianship is digital. Once materials are digitized, the work has actually just begun, not ended.” At DPLAfest, she looks forward to engaging in discussion around questions of organizing and providing maximal access to digital collections as well as user experiences.