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The Social Responsibilities Round Table (SRRT) of the ¾«¶«´«Ã½ has named Emma K. McNamara and Don Michael Jr. as the 2024 winners of the SRRT Conference Travel Grants to attend the upcoming in San Diego.

The SRRT Conference Travel Grants sponsored by the Social Responsibilities Round Table help finance SRRT member attendance at the ¾«¶«´«Ã½Annual Conference. The $1000 award covers limited fees related to airfare, lodging, and conference registration. SRRT funds up to two applicants per year.

Emma K. McNamara is completing a doctorate at Ohio State University focusing on representations of girlhood, feminist narratology, genre theory, and young adult romance. She has master’s degrees in Secondary English Education and Children’s Literature from the University of the District of Columbia and Simmons College, respectively, and is dually certified in Culturally Responsive Literature Instruction from Harvard Graduate School of Education. She is an adjunct instructor in her hometown at the University of the District of Columbia. She is the chair of the Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement, the coordinator of YALSA's Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers, the 15+ reading group facilitator for Capitol Choices, the Vice President of the Graduate Student and Contingent Faculty Caucus for the International Society for the Study of Narrative, and a member of the Children’s Literature Association Article Award Committee. She has published essays about Gossip Girl, Harriet the Spy, and urban theory, and is a reviewer for Kirkus and Children’s Books Ireland.

Don Michael Jr. is the Digital Literacy Specialist for Central Piedmont Community College’s Library Instructional and Research Services department. He manages the (DLLS), which serves all six campuses with Piedmont's first centralized student technology training support for both basic digital literacy and workforce digital literacy training needs. Don has been a 9-12 certified teacher in the states of Connecticut and North Carolina, in the areas of vocational graphic communications and digital design. Before transferring to Central Piedmont's library, he worked for seven years in the Information Technology Services department as a senior program manager. He also serves on the Charlotte, NC-based community committee, The Queen’s University Center for Digital Equity. A few of Don’s servant-leader contributions are his alumni cohort for the Institute of Emerging Issues, participation as a think tank cohort for the Transatlantic Cities of Tomorrow - American Council on Germany from 2019 to 2023 and also being selected by the Association of American Colleges and Universities as a digital equity campus coach for their Institute on Digital Equity from 2023 to 2024. He holds a Learning Technology Management Certificate from Educause and an MFA from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He recently joined the ALA’s Social Responsibility Round Table’s Action Council (SRRT-AC) for the period 2023-2025.

About SRRT

The Social Responsibilities Round Tables (SRRT) is a unit within the ¾«¶«´«Ã½. It works to make ¾«¶«´«Ã½more democratic and to establish progressive priorities not only for the Association but also for the entire profession. Concern for human and economic rights was an important element in the founding of SRRT and remains an urgent concern today. SRRT believes that libraries and librarians must recognize and help solve social problems and inequities to carry out their mandate to work for the common good and bolster democracy.