Lei Jin has been working for Ryerson University since 2003, primarily as the Electronic Resources Librarian. She is also the Liaison Team Lead for the Faculty of Science, Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Science. She is the co-founder and current president of the Canada Chapter of the Chinese American Librarians Association (CALA), and recently elected as a member of CALA Board of Directors. Lei earned her MLIS from Rutgers University. She is an avid runner, and sometimes, reluctant cook.
Afra Bolefski holds a Master of Library and Information Science from Western University and has worked in libraries since 2003. She is an Associate Librarian at the University of Manitoba Libraries and currently leads a team of librarians in her role as Head, Social Sciences Division. In her previous role as Acting Section Head, she oversaw the completion of a major library renovation and the creation of an active learning classroom which was subsequently featured at conferences and in news and trade articles. Prior to taking on these leadership roles, Afra held the appointment of Business Librarian at U of M for over five years, supporting the research, teaching and collection needs of an AACSB-accredited business school. She fulfilled similar roles at Wilfrid Laurier University and York University. In the work of advancing EDI, as a member of the U of M’s Black History Month (“BHM”) Committee, Afra has participated in planning and organizing the first ever Visionary Conversations Community Event celebrating BHM at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in 2018. She also served as facilitator for a Manitoba Employment Equity Practitioners Association EDI forum event. In her service to the Canadian Association of Professional Academic Librarians’ (CAPAL) EDI Committee, she worked towards establishing a Diversity and Equity bursary to assist marginalized LIS and Archives students attend the CAPAL 2020 conference.
Afra currently serves as Chair for the Association of College and Research Libraries’ ULS Technology in University Libraries Committee and just completed her three-year term as CAPAL Board member.
Afra is also a published author in various academic journals and books, including a chapter in Designing Effective Library Learning Spaces in Higher Education.
Allan Cho is the Research Commons Librarian at UBC Library. He holds an MLIS, MA in History, and MET in Educational Technology. He is a subject liaison for Archival, Library and Information Studies and Asian Studies. His research interests are in critical race theory in librarianship and racialized librarians in academia. Allan currently serves as Co-Chair for the Visible Minority Librarians Network of Canada (ViMLoC) and volunteers for a number of community organizations, including festival director of LiterASIAN Writers Festival and Executive Director of the Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop (ACWW) supporting writers in developing their manuscripts and publishing practices. He has published in journals and has co-authored monographs, including Inside the World’s Major East Asian Collections and Conversations with Leading Academic Research Library Directors International Perspectives on Library Management.
Cecilia Tellis is the Head of Design and Outreach at the University of Ottawa Library where she leads efforts to ensure that services and spaces are grounded in user-centred design principles; coordinates efforts to communicate the impacts of the library on student, academic, and scholarly success; and identifies opportunities and develops solutions to ensure the library is inclusive and accessible. She is a proud contributing member of ViMLoC: Visible Minority Librarians of Canada, the co-chair of the Canadian Association of Professional Academic Librarians’ (CAPAL) Diversity and Equity Committee, and is currently a fellow in the ARL Leadership and Career Development Program which prepares mid-career librarians from historically underrepresented racial and ethnic groups to take on leadership roles in their careers and in the profession at large. Cecilia holds a Master’s in Library and Information Studies from McGill University and a BA in French language and literature from the University of Toronto.
