Iowa City librarian Sam Helmick named next president of American Library Association

IOWA CITY — Iowa City librarian Sam Helmick’s priority as president-elect of the American Library Association is to ensure “free people read freely.”

The American Library Association provides leadership for the development, promotion and improvement of library and information services and the profession of librarianship to enhance learning and ensure access to information, according to a news release.

Helmick, 38, the community and access coordinator for the Iowa City Public Library, was selected this month to lead the national organization beginning June 2025 as it celebrates 150 years.

“It’s a profound honor,” Helmick said.

Librarians have the role of “resourcing their communities and ensuring people read freely,” Helmick said. This includes supporting certified teacher librarians in schools and connecting local residents to social services to help them find housing, jobs or develop as entrepreneurs.

“I am really passionate about the fact that libraries are incubators of opportunity and access,” Helmick said in an interview with The Gazette. “I’m recognizing more now than ever before in our history that resourcing them and supporting them as those incubators is going to make communities thrive.”

“Pernicious” library bills across the nation continue to challenge book titles centering on topics of race, gender identity and sexual orientation, Helmick said. In Iowa, a new law — Senate File 496 — banned books that depict or described any of a list of sex acts from public schools and prohibited teaching about gender identity and sexual orientation before seventh grade, among a host of other regulations.

In December 2023, a federal judge temporary blocked the law, allowing schools to re-shelf books at least for now.

This is just one way libraries are facing increased scrutiny. Helmick said many state legislatures are proposing “punitive bills” that would allow for the arrest of library workers or teachers and defund public libraries.

Even so, Helmick approaches it with “Mister Rogers” optimism, referencing the TV host of the children’s series Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood that ran from the 1960s to 2001.

Mister Rogers said “when you’re in a time of crisis or trouble, look to the people running to help,” Helmick quoted. “I look and see people engaged in crucial community conversation about their libraries, and that makes me hopeful.”

“Libraries are community anchor institutions where kids gather after school, get snacks and learn (science, technology, engineering and math), and elders have community opportunities,” Helmick said. “Libraries offer a welcoming and inviting space for everyone regardless of economic, social, religious or sexual status. That’s incredible. It’s the great equalizer.”

Helmick, who uses the they/them pronouns, previously served as 2023 president of the Iowa Association of Libraries, former chair-elect on the Intellectual Freedom Round Table and chair of the Iowa Governor’s Commission of Libraries. They also are an author, consultant and instructor for social media marketing and graphic design.

Helmick holds a bachelor of science in human services from Iowa Wesleyan University and a master of science in library and information science from the University of Illinois.

Sara Dallas, who serves on the America Library Association executive board, said the work Helmick is doing in Iowa “to protect people’s ability to read and select what they want to read is phenomenal. It’s second to none.”

Helmick has “endless energy” for the work of advocating for libraries, she said. Dallas, who is from Albany, N.Y., said she invited Helmick on a tour of rural libraries in upstate New York where they got to know each other better.

“Our friendship jelled even more because what rural libraries need in New York is needed in Iowa and all over the country. Those are the lifelines of communities,” Dallas said.

  Buy Photo

Elsworth Carman, director of the Iowa City Public Library, said he is impressed with Helmick’s ability to balance their job at the local library with their state and national advocacy work.

“Watching someone make that kind of personal commitment to the field we work in is exciting,” Carman said.

One of Helmick’s favorite aspects of their job at the Iowa City Public Library is driving the Bookmobile — Iowa City’s mobile library.

“I think the Bookmobile is one of the places where Sam’s service really shines,” Carman said. “They love the public service part of it, making library cards and helping people experience the library.

“They’re really enthusiastic about library service and have a deep passion for the work they do,” Carman said of Helmick. “They’re really supportive of their colleagues and interested in making the library the best it can be for the community.”

Comments: (319) 398-8411; grace.king@thegazette.com