Director Kemper Welcomes 11 New Members to the National Museum and Library Services Board
Washington, DC—Crosby Kemper, Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services is pleased to welcome 11 new members of the National Museum and Library Services Board.
The Board advises IMLS on programs and policies to enhance museum, library, and information services throughout the nation, and its members are selected based on their expertise and commitment to libraries and museums.
“I am honored to announce the appointment of these new members of the National Museum and Library Services Board,” said Kemper. “They bring extensive, and varied, experience from the library and museum fields that will add great value to the Board. Collectively, they represent the importance of diversity in the humanities and demonstrate the valuable role of museums and libraries in American society. I look forward to working with them and receiving their esteemed input.”
The following new members joined the Board on August 10, 2022:
Joan Breier Brodsky, of Illinois, is a librarian and a book and paper conservator. She serves as a trustee of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois and the Newberry Library in Chicago.
Susan Lynn Gibbons, of Connecticut, is vice provost for collections and scholarly communication at Yale University, with responsibilities for the university’s museums, libraries, university press, and the Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage. She was previously Yale’s University Librarian from 2011 to 2020.
Amy Elizabeth Gilman, of Wisconsin, is the director of Chazen Museum of Art at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Prior to her current role, Gilman spent 12 years at the Toledo Museum of Art in Toledo, Ohio, ending as deputy director. She is an alumna of the Getty Leadership Institute.
Julius C. Jefferson Jr., of the District of Columbia, works for the Congressional Research Service at the Library of Congress, where he has served in various leadership roles. Jefferson is often called upon as an authority to speak on issues of importance to libraries and library workers such as diversity, leadership, and professional development.
Cameron Kitchin, of Ohio, is the Director of the Cincinnati Art Museum. He has led the museum team, institutional vision, community engagement, collections, exhibitions, and expansive scholarship since 2014. He is a Trustee of the Association of Art Museum Directors and serves on the Board and Executive Committee of the U.S. national committee of the International Council of Museums.
Dipesh Navsaria, of Wisconsin, is a pediatrician working in the public interest. He blends the roles of physician, occasional children’s librarian, educator, public health professional, and child health advocate. He is an associate professor of pediatrics at the School of Medicine and Public Health, as well as a clinical associate professor of Human Development and Family Studies at the School of Human Ecology, both at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
James G. Neal, of New York, is University Librarian Emeritus at Columbia University. He has presented at over 500 conferences and has published widely in the library literature. He has focused his professional work in the areas of digital libraries, intellectual freedom, intellectual property, library collaboration, diversity and social justice, and library innovation.
Annie Norman, of Delaware, is the State Librarian of Delaware and Director of the Delaware Division of Libraries. Norman received her Doctorate of Education in Innovation and Organizational Leadership from Wilmington University and is a recipient of the Audrey K. Doberstein Award for Leadership for her dissertation, Librarians’ Leadership for Lifelong Learning.
Halona Norton-Westbrook, of Hawaii, is the Director and CEO of the Honolulu Museum of Art. is a passionate advocate for museums and the vital role that they play in providing accessibility to the arts and fostering greater empathy, connection, and creativity in the lives of individuals and communities.
Allison C. Perkins, of North Carolina, is the executive director of Reynolda House Museum of American Art in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Prior to that, she was deputy director of education and interpretation at the Baltimore Museum of Art, moving there from her previous role as education director of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth.
Monica Ramirez-Montagut, of New York, is the director for the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill, New York. received an architecture degree from Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City, as well as a master’s and Ph.D. in theory and history of architecture from Universitat Politécnica de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain.
Director Kemper also thanks Sayeed Choudhury, Luis Herrera, Lisa Funderburke Hoffman, Lynne M. Ireland, Tammie Kahn, George Kerscher, Mary Minow, Tey Marianna Nunn, Sylvia Orozco, Jacquelyn K. Sundstrand, and Jonathan L. Zittrain, who completed their terms.
For more information on the National Museum and Library Services Board, please visit the IMLS website.
About the National Museum and Library Services Board
The National Museum and Library Services Board is an advisory body that includes the director and deputy directors of the Institute of Museum and Library Service and 20 presidentially appointed members of the general public who have demonstrated expertise in, or commitment to, library or museum services. Informed by its collectively vast experience and knowledge, the board advises the IMLS director on general policy and practices, and on selections for the National Medals for Museum and Library Service. See the IMLS website for more information about the National Museum and Library Services Board.
About the Institute of Museum and Library Services
The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation's libraries and museums. We advance, support, and empower America's museums, libraries, and related organizations through grantmaking, research, and policy development. IMLS envisions a nation where individuals and communities have access to museums and libraries to learn from and be inspired by the trusted information, ideas, and stories they contain about our diverse natural and cultural heritage. To learn more, visit www.imls.gov and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.