The Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA) is excited to announce that Nanyamkah Mars and Olanike Olaniyi are BCALA’s 2022 American Library Association (ALA) Emerging Leaders.

Nanyamkah Mars is a middle school librarian at the Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C. Mars received her MLIS from Pratt Institute. Olanike Olaniyi is a collection development librarian at the Indianapolis Public Library in Indianapolis, Indiana and attends the library science program at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis (IUPUI).
BCALA will provide funding for Mars and Olaniyi to attend both ALA LibLearnX: The Library Learning Experience Conference in January 2022 and the 2022 ALA Annual Conference in June to participate in the Emerging Leaders program. ALA Emerging Leaders is a leadership development program providing support for early career library professionals to meet, network, and collaborate with their peers through planning and development of sponsored group projects. The ALA Emerging Leaders Program also provides opportunities for participants to gain experience and to learn more about ALA’s governance and structure, as well as guidance on becoming leaders within the library profession.

About BCALA

The Black Caucus of the American Library Association serves as an advocate for the development, promotion, and improvement of library services and resources to the nation’s African American community; and provides leadership for the recruitment and professional development of African American librarians.