The moderator for this event will be Paige Maylott
Paige Maylott (she/her) is an assistant in Library Accessibility Services at McMaster where she previously graduated with honours from the English and Cultural Studies department. Her thesis work centered intersections of queer autobiography and critical illness. Paige has worked in the accessibility field for nearly nine years, and five in her current position. She chairs the UNIFOR 5555 Pride Committee, sits on a number of other equity-deserving committees, is the contest manager for gritLIT Literary Festival, and is an accomplished author herself. Paige’s debut memoir, My Body is Distant releases this September (2023) through ECW Press.
Rachel Chong (she/her) married into a Chinese family. Rachel is mixed-European and Métis and a current member of Métis Nation BC. Rachel has over 15 years’ experience in various library roles and is currently working as the Indigenous Engagement and Subject Liaison Librarian at Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU). At KPU Rachel leads Indigenous projects, such as the χʷəχʷéy̓əm Indigenous Collection and the Indigenous Information Literacy Pressbook.
Cleire Lauron (she/her) is an early career Filipina-Canadian living and working on the unceded traditional and ancestral lands of the Kwantlen, Musqueam, Katzie, Semiahmoo, Tsawwassen, Qayqayt and Kwikwetlem peoples. She is the Metadata & Discovery Librarian at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, where she is responsible for the creation, maintenance, and enrichment of metadata representing the library’s physical and digital collections. Her areas of interest include RDA (Resource Description and Access), subject analysis, classification, and EDI (Equity, Diversity and Inclusion) in metadata. Her most recent project is the implementation of an Indigenous classification (modified Brian Deer classification) to KPU Library’s χʷəχʷéy̓əm Indigenous Collection.
Ashley Manhas (she/her) is the Community Engagement Librarian and Social Sciences Liaison at Capilano University. Ashley’s research interests include the onboarding and retention of racialized academic library workers and building equitable learning opportunities for historically underrepresented students. She is a first-generation university graduate and holds an MLIS from the University of Alberta and a BFA from Emily Carr University of Art + Design.
Carly McLeod (she/they) is the Teaching & Learning Librarian for Engineering at McMaster University where she empowers students to become more efficient researchers. Although her path to librarianship, not linear, she has over 15 years of experience working in higher education and research. She is an early–career, neurodivergent librarian who is interested in critical information skills in STEM, research communication skills, and accessibility. You can find Carly hiking around Hamilton or sewing up a storm!
