Speakers
Join keynote speakers Sam Helmick, Liz Gotauco, John Shields, and Cyndee Landrum, this year in Cambridge, Maryland as we celebrate and learn together.
Keynotes
Sam Helmick, Wednesday Evening Keynote
Librarian and 2025-2026 ALA President
Sam Helmick (they/them) is the 2025-2026 ALA President. Helmick served as a member on the ALA Executive Board and a past president of the Iowa Library Association. They previously served as former chair-elect on the Intellectual Freedom Round Table and chair of the Iowa Governor’s Commission of Libraries. They have served on committees for the Network of the National Library of Medicine, the Stonewall Book Awards, the ALA Policy Monitoring Committee, Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) Michael L. Printz Committee, the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) Sophie Brody Award Committee and the YALSA Fundraising Task Force. Helmick is a 2016 Emerging Leader, as well as an author, consultant, and instructor for social media marketing and graphic design.
John Shields - Thursday Afternoon Keynote
Maryland Author Award Winner
Chef, Author, and TV Show Host
Chef John Shields—known as the Culinary Ambassador of the Chesapeake Bay—began his cooking career at an early age alongside his grandmother Gertie Cleary and has never looked back. John has owned numerous restaurants and currently co-owns Gertrude's Chesapeake Kitchen at the Baltimore Museum of Art. The host of two PBS cooking shows, author of several books including The Chesapeake Bay Cookbook, Coastal Cooking with John Shields, and the New Chesapeake Kitchen, John also founded a non-profit, Our Common Table. Its mission is about rebuilding our local food economy through education and advocacy of a bay and body friendly lifestyle that brings us all to a “common table.”
Liz Gotauco - Thursday Evening Keynote
Librarian, Author, and Storyteller
Liz Gotauco (she/her) is a librarian to children and a storyteller and author for adults. She's the Children's Services Coordinator at the Cumberland Public Library in RI. Her debut book F*cked Up Fairy Tales: Sinful Cinderellas, Prince Alarmings, and Other Timeless Classics, published by W. W. Norton & Co., is a reclamation of fairy tales as bibliotherapy for adults, inspired by her viral Tiktok series of the same name. Raised by one of the last remaining scrimshanders and a beekeeper with an aggressive bee allergy, she believes in relentlessly pursuing art and happiness regardless of obstacles in one's way. She is also an award-winning cosplayer, an accomplished vocalist, and most importantly, a cat person who loves dogs.
Cyndee Landrum - Friday Morning Keynote
Librarian and Acting IMLS Director
Cyndee Landrum resumed duties as Acting Director of IMLS on January 20, 2025. She previously served in the position from March 21, 2024, to October 22, 2024. Over a professional career of more than 20 years, Landrum has served in public libraries across the country. Prior to her IMLS appointment, she served as CEO-director of the Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library in Indiana. She also served as assistant director for public services at Oak Park Library in Illinois, assistant director of Mt. Lebanon Public Library in Pittsburgh, and held various positions at the Glendale Public Library in Arizona. She has been active in local, state, and national professional associations including serving as president of the Arizona Library Association. Landrum also has volunteered on local nonprofit and municipal boards, including the Evansville Promise Zone Governance Advisory Board.
Join us May 6-8, 2026 at the Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay in Cambridge, Maryland, where library professionals from across the region will gather to connect, learn, and celebrate our shared commitment to advancing library services and resources.
See a full list of speakers on Sched, the MLA|DLA Conference event app.