Board of Library Commissioners

About the Board

Current Board Members

Mayra Valadez
President

Term Ending: June 30, 2026

President Mayra Valadez was appointed to the Board of Library Commissioners by Mayor Karen Bass on March 28, 2024. Valadez was born and raised in Pacoima in the Northeast San Fernando Valley. The proud daughter of Mexican immigrants, she grew up in a bilingual and multigenerational working-class home.

Valadez is a public affairs professional and community organizer with a track record of impactful advocacy who is deeply passionate about civic engagement, youth empowerment, and racial equity. She is a proud first-generation college graduate and holds a Bachelor of Science in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University. She is the President Emeritus of the San Fernando Valley Young Democrats and a board member of the Mid Valley Family YMCA in Van Nuys.

Valadez is an alum of the California State Assembly, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. She lives in North Hollywood with her Chihuahua, Kiwi, and enjoys cooking and cycling in her free time.

Linda Blank
Vice-President

Term Ending: June 30, 2029

Linda Blank, Vice-President of the Board of Library Commissioners, was appointed to the five-member Board by Mayor Karen Bass on March 10, 2023.

For over 30 years, Linda Blank’s legal practice specialized in the areas of commercial law, including business reorganization, debt restructuring, insolvency, and litigation. In law practice, she counseled individuals and companies in financial distress by assisting them in developing new business plans and evaluating alternative ways to restructure. As a certified mediator for United States Bankruptcy Courts, she was able to use her negotiation skills and her creative problem-solving to assist the parties in reaching a successful resolution of their dispute.

Early in her legal career, Blank worked for the Los Angeles County Counsel’s Office, representing the Department of Children’s Services in all judicial matters pertaining to children under their jurisdiction.

Prior to practicing law, Blank worked for 12 years at Vista Del Mar, a residential treatment center for children, recruiting and supervising foster parents and providing therapy for children in foster care, their parents, and their foster parents, as well as adoption services. She also developed a training program for foster parents and developed a Big Brother/Big Sister program.

Blank has been actively involved in community matters as a member and president of the Westwood Homeowners Association and the Friends of Westwood Library. She was president of the Women Lawyers’ Public Action Grant Foundation and a member of the Board of Directors of the Beverly Hills Bar Association.

Kelly Besser
Commissioner

Term Ending: June 30, 2028

Kelly Besser was appointed to the Board of Library Commissioners by Mayor Karen Bass in September 2023 for a five-year term.

Besser is the Special Collections Archivist at the UCLA Library. Since 2010, Besser has served the UCLA Library by preserving, arranging, and describing countless collections that document our city’s histories, such as the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education records, the Golden Mutual Life Insurance records, and the Music Center records. In addition to creating access to collections at the UCLA Library, Besser’s dedication to preserving local histories extends to a wide range of institutions, including the African American Firefighter Museum, the Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Tom of Finland Foundation, and the Yosemite National Park Service (NPS) Archives. While working at Yosemite, Besser processed the Park’s Fire Management Office records. Upon completion of this project, these materials were used by Yosemite firefighters to establish fire lines, protect NPS land, and ultimately save lives.

From 2008 to 2023, Besser drove The Miracle, a community-based bookmobile to deliver queer literature, records, ephemera, zines, music, and films to Angelenos to memorialize and combat the disappearance of LGBTQIA+ community spaces due to gentrification. By creating alternative, neighborhood-based community meeting locations, The Miracle made space for interaction and solidarity. This work was fueled by a belief that all members of our communities deserve access to information, literature, and culture.

Prior to her archival journey, Besser taught high school within the Los Angeles Unified School District for a decade at Out Adolescents Staying In School (OASIS), Fremont High School, and John Marshall High School. Besser served as an advisor for the foundation of Fremont’s first Gay Straight Alliance in 2002.

Besser received a B.A. in Communication Studies with a specialization in Women’s Studies from UCLA and holds an MLIS with an archival studies specialization from UCLA.

Besser is honored to serve on the Board of Library Commissioners to help ensure all Angelenos have access to the services and materials that our libraries offer. Guided by the spirit of longtime Los Angeles Public Library lover Octavia Butler, Besser will work with the hope that our libraries will evolve into everything we dream possible.

Valerie Lynne Shaw
Commissioner

Term Ending: June 30, 2030

Valerie Lynne Shaw, a member of the Board of Library Commissioners, was appointed to the Board of five by Mayor Karen Bass in April 2023, and reappointed in 2025. With the City Chartered authority of the Los Angeles Public Library, she’s a member of a commission that has the power to control its own funds and make and enforce all rules and regulations. Shaw's career has been marked by her unwavering commitment to public service and a tireless commitment to improving quality of life through education and infrastructure, all for the betterment of residents throughout Los Angeles and California.

She was appointed in 2015 by Gov. Jerry Brown to the Board of Governors for the California Community College System and served until 2023. The Board provides leadership and policy direction to the system’s 116 community colleges throughout California, serving more than 1.9 million students and representing the largest educational system in the nation.

From 1996 to 2013, Shaw served as the president, vice president, and commissioner of the full-time, five-member L.A. Board of Public Works. The Board acts as the general manager of the Department of Public Works with an annual budget of $1.5 billion and more than 5,500 employees. Shaw made history as the first commissioner appointed by three consecutive mayors and as the first African American woman Board President of the now 120-year-old Board of Public Works. From 2008-2013, Shaw also led the Mayor and Council-sponsored South L.A. Initiatives program, which successfully invested more than $650 million into the community.

Born in Los Angeles to a family with a long history of public service, Shaw has a Master's of Public Administration from the University of Southern California and served as an adjunct professor in the Political Science Dept. from 2003-2012. Shaw is currently a board member of LA County 211, California Community Colleges- African American Advisory Panel, the L.A. African American Women's Political Policy Institute, and a member of the Wilfandel Club.