Patricia "Patty" Wong – ALA President
Patricia "Patty" Wong is the first Asian American to serve as president of the American Library Association (ALA). Her term began July 2021 and closes at the adjournment of the 2022 Annual Conference. Wong has been an active ALA member for 37 years. She is a member of the Freedom to Read Foundation and, as an ALA Executive Board member, has worked with the association's Intellectual Freedom Committee, Committee on Legislation, and the Conference Committee.
She is city librarian for the Santa Clara (Calif.) City Library. She has worked as a school librarian, children’s librarian, cataloger, and special librarian, as well as held leadership roles in public libraries. Her work in managing change, equity and diversity, youth development, developing joint ventures and collaborations between public libraries and community agencies, and fundraising has been published in a number of journals, conference proceedings, and edited collections. Wong also is the recipient of several awards, including the 2012 ALA Equality Award, CALA Distinguished Service Award (2014), and Member of the Year, California Library Association (2012).
She is also adjunct faculty for the iSchool at San Jose State University where she has taught hundreds of students to serve young people and write grants to benefit local and regional communities —and make the world a better place.
Disclosure information not submitted.
Friday, June 24, 2022
4:00pm – 5:30pm
Sunday, June 26, 2022
4:00pm – 5:30pm