Live Q&A | Close the Book on the Diversity Gap Live Q&A for Virtual Symposium

Sandra Farag, Head of Youth Services at Kalamazoo Public Library in Michigan, will join two representatives of Baker & Taylor’s Children’s & Teen Services (CATS) department to discuss how to more confidently build and maintain a diverse YA collection that will contribute to the self esteem, empathy, and kindness in their communities. The presenters will share various tools, including software and selection lists, that will help audit and address diversity gaps in collections, and they will also book talk teen titles publishing in the winter/spring of 2022 that highlight different cultures, races, and life experiences (LGBTQIAP, Black, Indigenous peoples, and more).

Bobbie Bensur
As the Children’s & Teen Services Director at Baker & Taylor, Bobbie works to support children’s and teen librarians across the country. Before joining Baker & Taylor, she spent nearly ten years on the publishing side of the children’s trade book industry. She has a Masters in Creative Writing with a concentration in children’s fiction, and is currently working on a YA novel of her own! Bobbie is based in southern Maine.

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Sandra Farag
Sandra Farag is the Head of Youth Services for Kalamazoo Public Library, where she supervises a team to ensure high standards in collections, programming, and community partnerships—with a focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Prior to working at KPL, Sandra was the Manager of Youth Collection Development for Ingram Library Services, providing libraries with curated collections, and developing new and ongoing diversity resources. Sandra also worked for the New York Public Library for 17 years, and also spent 3 years working simultaneously with NYPL and Brooklyn Public Library as a Supervising Librarian with the Youth Collection Development team. She is active in ALA (ALSC, YALSA, LLAMA, EMIERT, RRT, SRRT) and currently collaborating on multiple projects with BCALA and GNCRT– in which she recently moderated 2 panels: one on Afrofuturism, and another regarding the Black Lives Matters booklists they are creating. Sandra is also a Facilitator for Library Journal and School Library Journal Professional Development programs: Remote Reboot—Tools for Librarians Supporting Remote and Hybrid Learning, and Equity In Action—Fostering an Antiracist Library Culture. Sandra has also served on several award committees such as: #WNDB Walter Award, ALSC’s Batchelder Award, and YALSA’s Excellence in Nonfiction Award.

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Rita King
Rita King is the Baker & Taylor BTCat Sales Manager, where she works as a library advocate assisting libraries with workflows, collection maintenance and digitization to improve staff efficiencies as well as library patron discovery. Rita has been with Baker & Taylor for 5 years. Before her new role this April, she was the Children’s and Teen Services Manager. Rita received her MLIS from Wayne State University in 2003 and began her career as a Youth Specialist at Kent District Library and then as a Branch Manager at Muskegon Area District Library. She is an active member in PLA, ALA (ALSC)