In honor of National Library Week, Simmons’ School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) hosted a virtual award ceremony and alumnae/i panel discussion, “Building a Career in LIS: Lessons, Milestones, and Whatever Comes Next in the Age of AI,” on the evening of April 23.
“We have such a wonderful mix of our SLIS community here tonight,” began School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) Dean Sanda Erdelez, noting the presence of several current students and multiple generations of alumnae/i at the virtual award ceremony and panel “Building a Career in LIS: Lessons, Milestones, and Whatever Comes Next in the Age of AI” on April 23.
Alumnae/i Achievement Award
During the award ceremony portion of the program, Aliza A. Leventhal ’13MS/MA, who also serves on the SLIS alumnae/i board and the award selection committee, announced the 2026 Alumnae/i Achievement Award recipient: Tam Ha ’08MS.
“Tam Ha absolutely stunned us with her incredible breadth of experience, practice, and impact,” Leventhal said.
Based in Hanoi, Vietnam, Ha serves as a senior librarian at VinUniversity. She is an accomplished academic and institutional leader who, Leventhal explained, has “significantly advanced academic libraries and scholarly communications across Asia.” Moreover, Ha “is particularly interested in advancing equitable access to knowledge, sustainable scholarly communication, and resilient learning ecosystems across the Asia Pacific region,” Leventhal added.
During her acceptance speech, Ha expressed gratitude for her Simmons professors. SLIS faculty, she said, “instilled in me not only professional knowledge, but also a deep sense of purpose, excellence, and service. I’m here today because of them.”
For Ha, it has been a privilege to help build an academic library in Vietnam “from the ground up.” She credits Simmons with teaching her the value of collaboration. “The future of our profession depends on collaboration, knowledge sharing, and investing in the next generation,” she said.
Ways of Thinking in Library Careers
For the ensuing panel discussion, “Building a Career in LIS,” panelists included Leventhal, Ha, and Danita R. Callender ’23MS. Erdelez, who served as the panel moderator, began by asking the panelists which skills and ways of thinking they find most important in their respective careers.
Leventhal, the library director at the Rhode Island School of Design’s Fleet Library, underscored the importance of Associate Professor Katherine Wisser’s “Metadata” (LIS 445) course.
“It was a really informative way of thinking about learning [while] moving forward,” she said. “It’s not about mastering everything up front, but remaining nimble to be able to continue to learn.” Leventhal also emphasized the need for “embracing all forms of creativity.”
Ha said Simmons taught her to be resourceful. “That way of thinking helped me overcome a lot of challenges during my career,” she said.
Callender, a library assistant at the Cambridge Public Library and a member of the Cambridge Black History Project and the St. Paul AME (African Methodist Episcopal) Church Archives Committee, discussed the significance of internships. She also explained how problem-solving skills served her well in archival roles, noting, “Simmons taught us not only the skills, but how to think, and how to proceed with whatever situation you are confronted with.”
Professional Turning Points
Erdelez asked the panelists if they experienced any turning points or unexpected directions in their careers thus far.
Leventhal recounted how Simmons faculty encouraged her to take on new opportunities, which came to fruition in an archival project for the Society of American Archivists. “It was a [way] of saying ‘fight the imposter syndrome and just get started,’” she said.
For Ha, taking the opportunity to develop the curriculum for a bachelor’s degree in LIS for another Vietnamese institution was especially meaningful. “Because I graduated from Simmons, they trusted me,” she said. She also pursued a doctorate in education, which further developed her research skills and capacity to support library users.
Callender, an early-career librarian, aspires to work in archival management full-time and learn more kinds of software that can support archival work. “I would like to use more digital stewardship on the job,” she said.
Generative AI and LIS
For the final question, Erdelez asked panelists whether generative AI (artificial intelligence) has been integrated into their professions and what opportunities and risks it may bring to the LIS field.
For Leventhal, AI has not been formally adopted in the workplace, though her institution uses AI in an “experimental and exploratory” capacity. While librarians have discussed AI as a potentially useful tool, “we often get mired down in conversations about the ethical choice to invest in a tool that is built fundamentally on a huge amount of infrastructure that would use a lot of really valuable resources,” she said.
Callender said that her library is offering classes to the public on AI, with the aim of educating people about the risks regarding safety, privacy, and misinformation scams, as well as the social and ethical impact of this technology. She does, however, see potential for using AI in LIS. “I think we are just on the cutting edge and on the precipice of what AI has to offer,” she noted.
According to Ha, “I see AI not as replacing the role of libraries, but expanding what libraries can do.” She is interested in implementing new technologies to support learning, research, and innovation (e.g., interactive chats and tutorial-style tools), and making them accessible for patrons. Ha also believes that AI may eventually enhance learning outcomes for students.
During the Q&A with attendees, panelists discussed the responsible use of AI, curricular suggestions for SLIS, and the most exciting aspects of the LIS field.
“It was very inspiring to see such engagement … that is coming from various generations of our alumnae/i,” Erdelez said when concluding the event. “Next year is actually our 125th anniversary of SLIS, so we are gearing up for much appreciation and celebration.”