Akiliah (uh-key-luh) Manuel Mills , Director at Lodi Public Library, has been actively engaged with underserved and underrepresented communities for 26 years. She has founded as well as worked for grass-roots non profit organizations. In addition to her MLIS, Akiliah has a BA in Psychology with an emphasis on Human Services. She is a Certified Mental Health First Aid Instructor and has trained over 100 library staff in Mental health first aid. She is committed to whole person librarianship, connecting community partners for the good of patrons and equipping librarians for proper handling of critical patron issues.
Today she helps to raise awareness of library services to decarcerated populations by means of an initiative called Ready Access. Her intention is to help the library community share their love and genius!