KC Library Exec Focuses On Native Americans in National Role

As the Kansas City Public Library (KCPL) celebrated its 150th anniversary this year, a member of its leadership team made her mark in a national organization with a distinguished history of its own.

As the library’s director of policy analysis and operational support, Cindy Hohl is the first KCPL representative to serve as president of the American Library Association (ALA), a 140-year-old organization with more than 50,000 members.

In becoming Missouri’s first ALA president in nearly a century, Hohl also stands out as just the second Native American to lead the association.

It is noteworthy, too, she said in an interview with Flatland, that she is the first president elected from ALA’s Spectrum Scholarship program, which assists minority students pursuing graduate degrees in library and information studies.

“It’s very important to me that I continue to represent the diversity of the field and support everyone who works in libraries,” said Hohl, who has been with the library since 2018.

“The Spectrum Scholarship program started 25 years ago, and the slogan at the time was ‘The Future is Overdue,’” she said. “So for it to take 25 years before a leader was elected out of the community to serve in the role as president is remarkable.” 

Full Agenda

Hohl is in the second of a three-year appointment. ALA presidents progress from president-elect, to president, and then immediate past president. Hohl’s second year runs to July 2025.

She plans to convene individual summits on intellectual freedom, leadership, literacy, and image/customer experience. The aim is to support members through the challenging and changing environment of libraries.

Hohl will also emphasize the Read to Lead Book Club, where ALA leaders facilitate book discussions on leadership titles and share how they apply that context to their work.

Her other priorities highlight her commitment to inclusion and underserved communities through the:

• We All Belong Library Tour: a virtual and in-person initiative that will focus on public, academic, school, special, and tribal libraries in urban and rural areas.

• A Good Way for ALA Webinars: sessions led by Spectrum Scholar alumni addressing indigenous knowledge, leadership, literacy, and lifelong learning and belonging.

• All Nations Libguide: a comprehensive library guide focusing on diversity, equity, inclusion, social justice, and antiracism practices in libraries to highlight that they are welcoming spaces for all.

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Hohl said that today “libraries are what the community needs (them) to be.” 

She is keenly aware that libraries are much more than information hubs and offer vital comfort to many in the community who might not have access to basic resources.

“On a cold and rainy day, we are a warming shelter, and in the heat of the summer, we’re a cooling center,” she said.  

And, everything connects back to information literacy. 

“We believe that libraries help people live their best lives,” Hohl said, “whether that’s accessing the internet, getting on a computer, checking out materials, attending a class or a program.”

Beyond accessing needed information, Hohl notes that library systems across the country — including nearby ones like Johnson County’s and Lawrence’s public library — are now also fostering creators with in-house recording studios and audio labs, maker spaces with 3D printers, and other cutting-edge technology.

You can even check out technology at some libraries — Kansas City’s libraries offer this service, in fact.

A First

Hohl is the first ALA Dakota president from the Santee Nation.

As such, she brings a concern for issues impacting her nation and Native American communities in general. One such issue — or crisis — is the lack of resources for combatting the disappearances of indigenous women and peoples. 

Indigenous peoples have for decades experienced high rates of assault, abduction, and murder. Community advocates describe the crisis as a legacy of generations of government policies of forced removal, land seizures, and violence inflicted on native peoples.

The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of Indian Affairs reported that “more than four in five American Indian and Alaska Native women (84.3 percent) have experienced violence in their lifetime, including 56.1 percent who have experienced sexual violence.”

With this crisis in mind, Hohl and others are developing a Missing Murdered Indigenous Women and Peoples toolkit.

“It’s an information resource and it helps us provide service to our community members,” Hohl said.

“When you see that thousands of indigenous peoples go missing, and that isn’t in the mainstream media, there’s a need to pause to ask yourself why that’s happening and why it continues.” 

Hohl said that, from an information standpoint, “librarians need to educate users to access information. And so if someone wanted to access information in the national database for missing people, they might not find all of the data that they need because not all of the Native American missing are even included in that database. 

“So this is an opportunity for us to tackle a problem that’s occurring with a librarianship perspective and helping people see and understand when we say that there’s a health epidemic. For anyone to leave their home and not return is alarming.”

A Consummate Professional

Hohl takes professionalism to a different level, said KCPL Deputy Director Joel Jones, who hired her.

“One of the first words I would use to describe her is professional, but not … an uncaring professional,” he said. “She’s very caring and passionate. Caring for everyone that she works with, and caring about the mission that she has, not only as a president, but as a librarian.”

Former ALA President Patricia Wong agreed.

“(Cindy) brings a very strong sense of calm and straightforwardness (along with) the wisdom and the experience of her own personal heritage,” Wong said. “I love that because it also brings more knowledge and appreciation and recognition for the work that she does, and that we all do on behalf of libraries, but particularly how her heritage can support the work of the library.”

Haines Eason is the owner of startup media agency Freelance Kansas . He went into business for himself after a stint as a managing editor on the content marketing team at A Place for Mom. Among many other roles, he has worked as a communications professional at KU and as a journalist with work in places like ‘The Guardian’, ‘Eater’ and ‘KANSAS! Magazine’.