Wenli Gao

Wenli Gao, data services librarian at University of Houston Libraries, has been elected as incoming vice president-president elect (2021-22) for the Chinese American Librarians Association (CALA).

CALA is an affiliate of American Library Association (ALA). The organization’s objectives are to enhance communication among Chinese American librarians as well as between Chinese American librarians and other librarians; to serve as a network for discussing and advancing professional interests and development opportunities relevant to all members; to promote Sino-American librarianship and library services; and to provide a vehicle whereby Chinese American librarians may cooperate with other associations and organizations having similar or allied interests.

In her campaign statement, Gao committed to working with the executive committee, board of directors, chapter presidents, and committee leaders to further strengthen the organization and carry out its strategic plan in the areas of professional development opportunities for members; leadership training; creating effective communication channels for internal and external communication; collaboration with other professional organizations; and facilitating international scholarly communication and exchange of ideas and practices.

In her role at UH Libraries, Gao provides support for faculty and students working with geospatial, numeric, statistical, and other data. She also provides instruction in methodologies and tools relating to geographic information systems (GIS), analysis and visualization of data. She is active in ALA and Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL). Gao has presented various topics at ALA, ACRL, ER&L and NASIG conferences. Before coming to UH Libraries, Gao earned a Master of Library Science from Syracuse University, and an MS in Communication Media Technologies from Rochester Institute of Technology. She previously worked at SUNY Morrisville and University of Central Oklahoma.