North Carolina Library Association

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Keynote Speakers Announced!

Keynote Speakers

The 2025 NCLA Conference Programs Committee is pleased to announce the keynote speakers forthe NCLA 2025 Conference, “Books and Beyond: Navigating New Frontiers,” to be held October 14-17, 2025, at the Benton Convention Center in Winston-Salem.

Opening Speaker, Wednesday, October 15, 10 a.m.

John Chrastka is the opening keynote speaker, and his address is entitled, “Engaging the FiveFreedoms in Our Libraries: Policy and Communications in Disrupted Times.” John Chrastka is co-founder and executive director of EveryLibrary, the national political action committee for libraries, and the EveryLibrary Institute, a public policy and tax policy think tank for libraries. Since 2012, EveryLibrary has supported public libraries in numerous funding negotiations, politicized challenges, and over 145 election days, winning over $2.8 billion in stable tax money for libraries. Its SaveSchoolLibrarians.org campaigns help ensure the future of school library work. Their FightForTheFirst.org is a platform for anti-censorship organizing in nearly 100 communities. The EveryLibrary Institute supports funding-focused research and training for library leaders and outreach to the public about librarians. He will offer a concurrent session immediately following his address entitled, “Unpacking the Censor's Toolbox.”

John will also be offering a Pre-Conference workshop on Tuesday, October 14, at 1:30 p.m. entitled “Values-Aligned Budgeting.” Library leaders must deeply understand the social and political climate in their towns and counties in order to position their libraries for future funding success. The first step is to know that funders are not always library users, and their decision to fund the library is not generally based on self-interest. Whether they are elected officials or donors, funders are motivated by compassion, pride, and data. In tough budget climates, they are motivated by evidence-based policymaking. This session will provide actionable ways to refine, rework, and even rewrite your municipal or county budgets for stability and growth. You are the only expert on how your library can affect real change and support your community. Knowing what messages resonate with and activate current and potential stakeholders is key to effective communication about your funding.

Ogilvie Lecture, Thursday, October 16, 10 a.m.

Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle is presenting the 2025 Ogilvie Lecture, in conversation with Jennifer Stuart, Manager and Adult & Teen Services Librarian for the Canton Branch of the Haywood County Public Library and a graduate of the 2024 NCLA Leadership Institute. Annette will be available following her presentation to sign copies of her book. Bookmarks of Winston-Salem will have copies on hand to sell. Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle, an enrolled citizen of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and resides in Qualla, NC with her husband, Evan and sons Ross and Charlie. She holds degrees from Yale University and the College of William and Mary. Her debut novel, “Even As We Breathe”, was released by the University Press of Kentucky in 2020, a finalist for the Weatherford Award and named one of NPR’s Best Books of 2020. In 2021, it received the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award. Her first novel manuscript, “Going to Water,” is the winner of the Morning Star Award for Creative Writing from the Native American Literature Symposium (2012) and a finalist for the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction (2014).

Closing Speaker, Friday, October 17, during the Conference Closing Luncheon from 12-2:30 p.m.

Damarius Johnson will be our closing keynote speaker. He will be in conversation with Sauda Mitchell, discussing the NAACP Image Award-nominated book, “Picturing Black History: Photographs and Stories That Changed the World”, for which he is a contributor and editor. Damarius will be available following the presentation to sign copies of his book. Bookmarks of Winston-Salem will have copies on hand to sell. Damarius is a PhD candidate in the Department of History at The Ohio State University. His dissertation examines the international networks of collaboration between the Black Museum Movement in the United States and museum-building in West Africa (Ghana, Nigeria, and Senegal) during the African decolonization and Black Power movements. He is also Community Outreach Manager at Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, NC, where he coordinates public programs and distributes 5,000 free copies of a community one-read as part of the Book With Purpose initiative. Sauda Mitchell is an educator, visual artist, and certified lead archivist at The Winthrop Group. Sauda holds a Master's in Library Science from Drexel University. She is an EdD student at Drexel with a research focus centered around student access to archives-based engagement and primary source analysis, as a catalyst for elevated cognitive development. Her artistic process involves creating books as art in response to archival research. Sauda’s work is collected and utilized as teaching tools in institutions such as Harvard, MIT, Wake Forest Z. Smith Library, The Library of Congress, and The Smithsonian.

Additional details about the NCLA 2025 Conference are available on the conference website.

Banned Together Movie Night, Intellectual Freedom Committee’s Film Screening, Tuesday, October 14, 7 p.m., Forsyth County Public Library Central Branch

Kick off your conference experience with NCLA’s Intellectual Freedom Committee and a special FREE screening of Banned Together, an "eye-opening documentary pulls back the curtain on two of the hottest topics in America today—book bans and curriculum censorship in public schools." Ban together with fellow NC libraries on this night of reel resistance with conversation and light refreshments. See you there! Banned Together follows three students and their adult allies as they fight to reinstate 97 books suddenly pulled from their school libraries. As they evolve from local to national activists – meeting with bestselling/banned authors, politicians, Constitutional experts, and more – the film reveals the dark forces behind the accelerating wave of book bans in the U.S.

For more information, contact Amelia Medrano, acmedrano@crimson.ua.edu, or the Intellectual Freedom Committee.

2025 NCLA Conference Pre-Conference Session Offerings

Morning Sessions (9 a.m.-12 p.m.):

• Expanding Our Horizons: Building Capacity for Dialogue Across Difference, sponsored by NCLA’s Library Advocacy and Legislation Section.

• Navigating Northstar Online Learning for Administrators and Proctors, sponsored by the Public Library Section and the State Library of NC (this session is designed for libraries that are currently working with the Northstar Online Learning product; it is limited to 50 people, and registration fees will be covered by State Library funding).

• AI in Action: Practical Applications for Librarians, sponsored by STEM-LINC

All-Day Sessions (9 a.m.-4:30 p.m., lunch from 12-1:30 p.m.)

• Present Like a Pro, sponsored by the Library Administration and Management Section
• Binding History, Unbinding Creativity: Experiential Learning through Bookbinding and Zine-Making, sponsored by the Special Collections Section (attendees can choose to attend the morning session, which focuses on Bookbinding – History & Practice, or the afternoon session that focuses on Zine-Making – Creativity & Community; attendees aren’t required to attend both sessions).

Afternoon Sessions (9 a.m.-12 p.m.):

• Values-Aligned Budgeting, presented by Opening Keynote Speaker, John Chrastka (ideal audience is library leaders and managers)

• Navigating the Frontiers of Library Worker Identity: Being Yourself When Others Want You to Be Someone Else, sponsored by the Public Library Section

• Black Superheroes: Exploring Race, Power, and Culture Through Comic Studies
• Reentry Realities: Navigating New Frontiers in Library Services for Justice-Impacted Individuals, sponsored by the State Library of NC (this session will include a simulation activity, it is limited to 50 people, and registration fees will be covered by State Library funding).

• Digging Deep into Mindfulness: an immersive and instructional workshop, sponsored by NCLA’s Wellbeing Committee (this session will be in the Zen Den space, and it is limited to 25 attendees)

Additional details about the Pre-Conference schedule will be available soon on the NCLA 2025 Conference website.