Editor’s Note: In the lead-up to the 2025 ALA/ACRL election, we’re profiling the 2025 ACRL Board of Directors candidates. We’ll feature one candidate in slate order each weekday from February 26 – March 7. Complete details on candidates for ACRL offices are available on the election website. Make sure to vote for the candidates of your choice starting March 10.
Millie Gonzalez is library dean at Framingham State University in Framingham, MA, and a 2025 candidate for the ACRL Board of Directors as Councilor.
1. Describe yourself in three words: Sí, se puede. (Yes, we can).
2. Describe ACRL in three words: Community, evolving, knowledge.
3. What do you value about ACRL? I can depend on the organization to support my staff and me in the profession. ACRL provides critical connections, information, and space for academic librarians to thrive.
4. What would you, as a candidate for the ACRL Board, like to see ACRL accomplish in the area of EDI? I would like to see more collaboration and liaison outreach with our ethnic caucuses, bolster mentoring opportunities, and a plan to do outreach to HS and college students about careers in librarianship.
5. In your own words (an open-ended statement or reflection about life as an academic/research librarian): I love libraries. I have worked at various types of libraries: public/academic/special, large/medium/small, and well-resourced/modest resources. I use those experiences to inform the way I manage my library: obsessing about the needs of people who work at the library, and the people we serve; looking for collaborative and creative solutions; building community and connection; and embracing innovation and welcoming change if it will benefit my library and community. I acknowledge that sometimes I feel like Sisyphus but mostly, I am grateful, curiously excited, and hopeful about the future of libraries.
6. What are you reading (or listening to on your mobile device(s)? I am reading these three books: Patriot by Alexei Navalny, Puerto Rico: A National History by Jorell Meléndez-Badillo, and Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI by Yuval Noah Harari. I just finished listening to Revenge of the Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell.