Su Kim Chung

Su Kim Chung, President (2023-Present) is a double alumni of UCLA’s GSEIS, earning her MLIS in 1998, and her PhD in 2015. She has worked in the Special Collections & Archives Division of the University Libraries at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas since 1999, and is currently the Head of Public Services where she manages reference, outreach, and instruction. 

As an expert in the history of Las Vegas Su Kim actively works to preserve the cultural heritage of the Southern Nevada region by serving as a curator for UNLV SCA, and on  a number of local community advisory boards. 

Emily Meehan

Emily Meehan, Past President (2018-2020), (MLIS ‘16) is currently the Young Adult Librarian at the Palms-Rancho Park Branch of the Los Angeles Public Library system. After graduating from UC Berkeley with a B.A. in History (emphasis in Eastern Europe) and focusing on archives, she decided to switch it up and turn towards public librarianship during her time at UCLA. She has a passion for discovering ways in which public libraries and their local schools can collaborate for student success. After graduating, she moved up north to Redding, CA to become the Shasta Public Libraries’ Educational Services Librarian, providing outreach to K-12 schools and heading their Student Library Card Initiative. In summer 2017, she was lured back down to Los Angeles to coordinate for the Pacific Library Partnership’s Student Success Initiative, a LSTA-funded grant project that seeks to create a community of practice amongst California public libraries who are forging partnerships with local schools to provide public library cards to every student. She joined LISAA shortly after her return and is excited to give back to the department that helped her discover her professional love of serving youth.

Ashley Kagan

Ashley Kagan, Past President (2017-2018) Ashley Kagan is a community-focused librarian who has worked with California libraries since 2001.  Her work spans from community programming and engagement to reference and youth services, in a variety of settings, including public and corporate libraries.  She is a Eureka! Leadership Program Fellow and the 2015 Beatty Committee Chair and regularly contributes to the California Library Association through conference planning committee work, presentations, and general participation.  Completing her MLIS at UCLA in 2008, Ashley is passionate about the special role that libraries and library staff can play in building community.  She currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Oleg.  Ashley joined the LISAA Board in 2015.

Hannah Lee

Hannah Lee is a double alumni of UCLA, obtaining her BA in English (2011) and MLIS in 2013. As the Discovery & Systems Librarian for California State University, Dominguez Hills, she collaborates with other library staff and faculty to develop policies, procedures and workflows that enhance access and discoverability of the library’s collections, web service integrations, and support the curation of the library’s digital content. Some of her interests include copyright, intellectual property, cybernetics, book arts, mentoring, and volunteering for non-profit organizations.

Andrew Magpantay

Andrew Magpantay (MLS ’86) is a web product management professional who has developed web sites at both Fortune 500 and start-up companies.  He was also founding director of the American Library Association’s Office for Information Technology Policy in Washington D.C. and has worked in the academic library world as a computer systems manager and technologist.  In addition to his MLS he holds an MBA from the Walter A. Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.  His website can be found at www.magpantay.com.

Liza Mardoyan

Liza Mardoyan (PhD in progress, MLIS 2020) is currently working with an Armenian non-profit organization building a special community library from ground up processing over 3000+ books (including 200 rare books) artifacts, and ephemera donated by a prominent member of the Armenian Community in Pasadena. Liza specializes in Rare Books, Print, and Visual Culture, and Manuscripts with an emphasis on Special Collection Librarianship and Teaching with Primary Source materials. She was the President of the ALA at UCLA Chapter 2018-2020, and the President of the Student Governing Board (2019-2020), during which she organized many events and acted as the liaison between the student body,  the faculty, and the larger student representative committees at UCLA. She is passionate about advocating for and mentoring the incoming MLIS students and believes in paying it forward. She continues this passion by serving as a board member at the LISAA.

Richard Thai 

Richard Thai (MLIS ’16) manages the institutional repository at Cal State Northridge Oviatt Library where he also leads several open access initiatives. Previously, he managed digital collections at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and the LA84 foundation. He holds a BA in Anthropology from UC Irvine and worked in the museum field for several years before receiving his MLIS.