Announcing Five New Board Members

EveryLibrary, the national political action committee for libraries, today announces the appointment of five new members of our Board of Directors to guide our organization in our mission to build voter support for libraries. We are thrilled to welcome Jeannie Allen, Director of Strategic Planning and Digital Strategy at Kitsap Regional Library, Lori Bowen Ayre, Founder and Principal Consultant of The Galecia Group, Roberto C. Delgadillo, Student Services Librarian at UC-Davis Shields Library, Gary Kirk, President of Tech Logic, and Kathleen McEvoy, Vice President of Communications at EBSCO Information Services, to the board. 

"I am thrilled to welcome these five very talented professionals to EveryLibrary," says John Chrastka, Executive Director and co-founder. "Their unique backgrounds and diverse experience in the library field will help move our organization forward. We all share a vision that any library funding challenge or opportunity anywhere should matter to every library everywhere. I truly appreciate their understanding that the entire library can only improve if we come together in mutual support.” Allen, Ayer, Delgadillo, Kirk, and McEvoy join the five current members of the Board for 2-year terms. Join us in welcoming our new colleagues. 

Jeannie Allen Jeannie Allen is the Director of Strategic Planning and Digital Strategy at Kitsap Regional Library in Kitsap County, WA. Now responsible for leading and communicating the strategic direction of the organization, she began her career in libraries as the marketing manager where she leads the redevelopment of the mission, vision, values, and brand of the organization. Building off this new foundation, Jeannie—in partnership with EveryLibrary—lead the first successful levy campaign, doubling voter support. She has been featured as a “Marketing Master” in Marketing Library Services, and she has participated as a collaborative author in the book Creative Library Marketing and Publicity: Best Practices. Jeannie is a Kitsap Business Journal 2012 40 under 40 recipient, and her team’s efforts have been rewarded with two prestigious American Library Association John Cotton Dana Awards. An artist at her core, Jeannie lives in Bremerton with her (almost) teenage daughter who is fast developing her own flair for art, reading and saving the world.
Lori Bowen Ayre Lori Bowen Ayre is the Founder and Principal Consultant of The Galecia Group, a firm specializing in library technology services and consulting. She believes in the transformational power of libraries and works to help libraries leverage technology to streamline back-office functions, reduce operating costs, and improve and expand customer services. She believes that libraries are critical institutions for our democratic society and that these institutions must change as society changes. Lori has written pieces for ALA publications including Library Technology Reports (RFID, 2012 and Internet Filtering, 2004), the Whole Library Handbook 4 (ALA Editions, 2006), and Moving Materials: Physical Delivery in Libraries (ALA Editions, 2009, Valerie Horton, Ed.) In addition, Lori wrote a chapter that appears in RFID-Applications, Security and Privacy (Addison Wesley, 2005) and The Impact of Information Technology on Public Libraries in a special issue of Public Library Quarterly.  She regularly contributes to Collaborative Librarianship and serves on the Editorial Board of Public Library Quarterly.
Roberto C. Delgadillo Roberto C. Delgadillo is a Student Services Librarian with the Peter J. Shields Library at the University of California, Davis. His areas of responsibility include: Chicana/o Studies, English Language and Literatures, Latin American Studies, Military Science, Native American Studies, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Spanish and Portuguese Languages and Literatures. Born in Managua, Nicaragua, Roberto's family moved to the United States in 1975. Roberto has a BA in Modern German and Russian History from UC Santa Cruz, and a MLIS and a PhD in Modern Latin American History, both from UCLA. Roberto currently serves as a Member-at-Large for ALA Council. Since 2005, Roberto has also served as the Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials (SALALM)'s Parliamentarian (2015- ), Rapporteur General (2005-2012), Member-at-Large (2008-2011) and Past President (2013-2014). Roberto is also a 2012 recipient of The Carnegie Corporation of New York/New York Times I Love My Librarian Award.
Gary Kirk Gary Kirk's career includes a span of nearly 35 years serving libraries. He joined The Library Corporation (TLC) in 1986 and for 19 years he led the company's general operations, marketing, sales, and business development efforts. During that time, he was responsible for overseeing enormous growth in customers, revenues, employees, and infrastructure. He is significantly responsible for TLC’s positioning as a world-class customer service organization. In 2005, he spearheaded the acquisition of Tech Logic; a Minnesota based company, and over the past 15 years has served as President, overseeing a major turnaround and unprecedented growth. Gary is an alumnus of Georgia State University and Auburn University where he focused on Business Administration and Marketing.
Kathleen McEvoy  Kathleen McEvoy is the Vice President of Communications at EBSCO Information Services. For over 14 years, Kathleen has helped lead EBSCO's pubic relations, marketing, and communications efforts. She began her career as a broadcast journalist and news director for WGIR-FM in Manchester, NH., after receiving her BA from the University of North Carolina - Greensboro. At EBSCO she has helped shape initiatives like the EBSCO Solar project and other key initiatives. Kathleen also currently serves as Board Secretary of ALA’s United for Libraries Division.