Tammie Busch, MA, MLS, is the Cataloging Unit Supervisor, Catalog and Metadata Librarian, and Assistant Professor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE). Busch brings over twenty years of experience in libraries, including ten years working with students from diverse backgrounds in grades K-12 in the Jefferson City School District Library Program. She is an alumnus of Collinsville High School’s CTE Cooperative Work Experience Program. Busch is the DLCTE project director and mentor. Using her experience from the University of Missouri’s Public Library Leadership Fellows Program, Tammie leads the team and guides project goals to completion.

Lora Del Rio, MSLIS, is Director for Research, Teaching, & Learning, Humanities Librarian, and Associate Professor at SIUE. She has over fourteen years of postgraduate professional library experience and has worked in seven different libraries. She is the author of several peer-reviewed publications and funded grant projects and has presented nationally and internationally. Del Rio uses her training in cultural competence and library management from DeEtta Jones and Associates to deconstruct systems of oppression in libraries and universities. She assists with recruiting, communications, and leads efforts to develop and disseminate a toolkit. lsmallm@siue.edu

Elizabeth Kamper, MLIS, is the Information Literacy Librarian and Assistant Professor at SIUE. They have taught information literacy instruction for ten years at three different libraries and also teach courses in the University Honors Program. Kamper specializes in teaching first-year student research skills and creates online learning objects to support distance learning and adult education. Through their research, Kamper investigates how self-expression and queer identities support classroom pedagogy under traditional ideas of research, writing, and teaching. Kamper serves as a mentor and builds curriculum components. Additionally, they use their ALA Student-to-Staff experience to support the project’s culminating experiences and conference attendance.

Jacob Del Rio, MLS, is assistant professor and electronic resources librarian at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Del Rio brings over twenty years of experience in libraries, including public libraries. He co-curated and co-moderated the IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Awareness) Book Club at Edwardsville Public Library, which featured a series of group discussions and guest speakers from SIUE. Del Rio consults on the DLCTE project, co-presents with the team, and serves as a mentor.

Debra Casimere, M.A.T., Secondary Education, BSBA, is Secondary Coordinator at Charles Sumner High School in St. Louis, Missouri. Debra is a passionate educator who is dedicated to student learning. She has high expectations for her students. Before moving into her current role as Secondary Coordinator, Debra worked as the Career and Technical Education at Sumner High School. She answered the call from Tammie Busch in Fall 2022 to recruit students to participate in Cohort 2. She worked to recruit students to participate in Cohort 3 as well. She presented at the 2023 Missouri Library Association Conference in Columbia, Missouri about her work with the project.

DeAnna Anderson, BEd, Special Education, is the Teen Specialist at the Julia Davis Public Library. DeAnna manages teen volunteers, plans programs, and advocates for teens in the library. She recently won the “Customer Whisperer” award reflecting the care that she pours into every person who enters the library. DeAnna supervised and mentored DLCTE Cohort 2 students from Sumner High School in 2022-23. She is currently supervising three DLCTE students in Cohort 3. She presented at the 2023 Missouri Library Association Conference in Columbia, Missouri about her work with the project.

Shelly McDavid, MLS, M.Ed., is the Director for Access, Discovery & Systems, STEM Librarian, and Assistant Professor at SIUE. She has over ten years of postgraduate professional library experience and has worked in nine libraries. She holds a Master of Education in Counseling and is a Licensed Practicing Counselor (LPC) and Secondary School Counselor. In graduate school, McDavid completed a practicum counseling students in Hickman High School At-Risk Program in Columbia, MO. She specializes in ensuring equitable access to library resources for all users. McDavid manages communication with the project evaluator, coordinates data collection and analysis, and mentors students.

Simone Williams, MLIS, MA, is the Diversity and Engagement Librarian and Assistant Professor at SIUE. A native East Saint Louisan, Williams has worked at several cultural institutions in the St. Louis metropolitan region. She has an extensive history of working with students from historically underrepresented backgrounds, especially from low-income, black, LGBTQIA+, and immigrant communities. Her research interests are cultural informatics and heritage, digital humanities, digital libraries, diversity and social justice, information access, information literacy, social media, artificial intelligence and machine learning, community informatics. Williams is a project mentor, creates and teaches curriculum, and provides oversight of DEI goals.

Denice Adkins, Ph.D., MLS, is a professor at the School of Information Science & Learning Technologies, University of Missouri, and co-editor of Journal of Education for Library & Information Science. She is Membership Director of the Association for Library and Information Science Education and Treasurer for REFORMA (The National Association to Promote Library & Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking). Her past experiences include a Fulbright Scholarship to Honduras, a Fulbright Specialist to India, serving as president of REFORMA, secretary-treasurer of ALISE, and councilor-at-large for the ALA. Her research interests include public libraries, services to the Latinx community and for diverse library users.

Lamonta Swarn is a graduate student in the department of English at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. She provides research support for the grant. Swarn has also co-presented alongside the project team.