CV
Professional Experience
Adult Services Assistant Manager
Palos Verdes Library District, Rolling Hills Estates, CA
October 2018 - Present
As the Adult Services Assistant Manager, Lessa is responsible for supervising librarians and leading the library’s BUILD Team focused on diversity and racial equity. She also coordinates PVLD’s Art in Our Library and Books by Mail programs. She is a member of the Strategic Planning Team, Program Committee, Staff Day Committee, User Experience Committee, and is past co-chair of the Social Media team.
Young Readers Librarian II
Palos Verdes Library District, Rolling Hills Estates, CA
January 2016 - September 2018
As a Young Readers Librarian, Lessa was responsible for collection development and planning/implementing family and elementary school aged programming such as storytimes, Diary of a Wimpy Kid trivia, Dίa de los libros celebrations, and Elephant & Piggie parties.
Previous Positions
Prior to working at Palos Verdes Library District (PVLD), Lessa’s professional positions included: Adult Services Librarian at the Rancho Cucamonga Public Library (RCPL), 2014-2015, Children’s Librarian at the Glendale Public Library, 2012-2014, Part-Time Teen Librarian at the Redondo Beach Public Library, 2010-2012, and Part-Time Young Readers Librarian at PVLD, 2009-2012. She began her library career as a page and aide at the County of Los Angeles Public Library’s Lomita Library in 2007. She was also a FILL (From Interns to Library Leaders) Intern at the Monrovia Public Library in 2008.
Selected Professional Service
President, American Library Association, 2022-2023
Executive Director, Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association, 2019-2022
Chair, Steering Committee on Organizational Effectiveness (SCOE), 2018-2020
Executive Board Member, American Library Association, 2017-2020
Steering Committee Member, Joint Conference of Librarians of Color, 2015-2018
President, Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association, 2016-2017
Full list of service to additional professional associations and membership
Selected Honors, Awards, & Grants
PVLD, Grant Coordinator, Cultivating Racial Equity and Inclusion in Libraries, California State Library & Califa, 2019
Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association, Grant Coordinator, Talk Story: Sharing Culture, Sharing History, Community Grants from Toyota Financial Services, 2012-2019
PVLD, Grant Co-Coordinator, Japanese Americans on the Peninsula: Learning from our past to look to our future, California Humanities Humanities for All Grant, 2017
Rancho Cucamonga Public Library, Grant Coordinator, Pop-Up and Play, Eureka! Leadership Grant, California State Library, 2014-2015
Eureka! Leadership Institute Fellow, 2014
JCLC Travel Scholarship & ALA Member First-Time Attendee Scholarship, 2012
ALA Emerging Leader, 2011
APALA Travel & Research Grant, 2010
UCLA Graduate Opportunity Fellow, 2008
Selected Presentations
Lessa is a guest speaker for MLIS programs and other library events. Full list of presentations is available upon request.
Keynote, A Hawaiian in Los Angeles, Ho’okele Na’auao: A Hawaiian Librarianship Symposium, November 10, 2020. (Recording Available)
Panelist, Multicultural Children’s Literature for the Future: How CSMCL Works Towards Innovation, 3rd National Joint Conference of Librarians of Color, September 2018.
Panelist, We Need Diverse Books Everywhere: Addressing Diversity Across Multiple Spaces, National Diversity in Libraries Conference, August 2016.
Moderator, Choose Your Own Adventure: Discover Your Story in the Library, California Library Association Annual Conference, November 2015.
Panelist, Perspectives from New Library & Information Science Professionals, Knowledge Alliance Essential Information Workshop, Loyola Marymount University, May 2014.
Panelist, Beyond the Mainland: Serving Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, Joint Conference of Librarians of Color, September 2012.
Panelist, Family Literacy for All, Joint Conference of Librarians of Color, September 2012.
Selected Publications
Full list of publications is available upon request.
Brisbin, Melissa, Melissa Cardenas-Dow, Janine Golden, Deana Greenfield, Lessa Kanani’opua Pelayo-Lozada, and Tinamarie Vella. “Leading with LLAMA: Emerging Leaders 2011.” Library Leadership & Management. 26.2 (2012): 1-7. Online.
Dahlen, Dr. Sarah Park and Lessa Kanani’opua Pelayo-Lozada. “Day of Diversity: Extending the Dialogue into Action.” Children and Libraries: The Journal of the Association for Library Service to Children. 13.3 (2015): 23-27.
Nihipali, Elizabeth “Nani”, Lessa Kanani’opua Pelayo, Christian Hanz Lozada, Cheryl Villareal Roberts, and Lorelie Santonil Olaes. Hawaiians in Los Angeles. Mount Pleasant: Arcadia Publishing, 2012.
Pelayo-Lozada, Lessa. (2018). Talk Story: Sharing stories, sharing culture to create a family literacy program. In J.H. Clarke, R. Pun, M. Tong (Eds.), Asian American Librarians and Library Services. (Pp. 141-150). Lanham, MD: Rowan & Littlefield.
Education
Lessa holds a Master of Library and Information Science and Bachelor of Arts, College Honors in Sociology from the University of California, Los Angeles. She also holds an Associate of Arts, College Honors in Philosophy from El Camino College in Torrance, California