New Orleans ALA Was Hot on Latino Issues

by Aída Bardales and Rebecca Miller -- Críticas, 7/15/2006

Last month, New Orleans residents extended a warm welcome to attendees of the American Library Association’s (ALA) annual conference, the city’s first major conference since Hurricane Katrina. ALA's visit to the Big Easy received much news coverage and praise for the decision to stick with the scheduled conference. Final numbers showed almost 17,000 registrants and vendors attended—10 percent fewer than the ALA conference in Orlando two years ago (another hot Southern city), but definitely a decent number considering the circumstances. Overall, spirits were high and attendees were motivated to get the most from the city and give back by spending money and volunteering in the rebuild effort as well.

Latino leadership

REFORMA (the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking) kicked off the conference with the Latino Library Leadership for the New Millennia seminar, aimed at promoting and encouraging leadership among Hispanic librarians. Panelist Raymond Santiago, Miami-Dade PL director and Library Journal’s 2003 Librarian of the Year, shared his experiences and advised new librarians. He emphasized that the difference between management and leadership, declaring “my job is 99 percent politics.” He depicted directorship as rather remote from the daily library life, and described his leadership role as one of “privilege and responsibility.”

California State University’s César Caballero advised librarians to “find venues where you hear about the community” in order to learn about what services are needed. He added that it’s important to “add the human-touch” to management styles by connecting with staff and patrons, and that “a leader should be a visionary.”

San Diego County Library Director José Aponte offered a list of skills needed to be a director, including how to be a symbol of the institution. He advised listeners to get involved with community organizations that go beyond the Latino and library worlds to “develop your chops.” Aponte said directors have to work around the “old boys and girls network running librarianship,” later recommended embracing that very bureaucracy to create change. “I institutionalize philosophies that are dear to my heart,” he said. “The diversity plan is part of every plan I have.”

Panelists also included Ninfa Trejo of Northeast Campus Library, Pima Community College, and Ed Cortez, professor and director of School of Information Sciences, University of Tennessee. Cortez is the first Hispanic to head such a department. He emphasized the importance of being active in professional associations and encouraged young librarians to work toward the Ph.D. in Library and Information Science.

Focus on new immigrants

Among the many other programs focusing on issues surrounding services to new immigrants and Latino leadership in the profession was a seminar also organized by REFORMA titled Homeland Insecurities: Public Library Cards and Latino Immigrants.

Oralia Garza de Cortez, program manager for special initiatives at Los Angeles Universal Preschool, drew everyone’s attention to a picture of Hispanics marching during the immigration reform protests, adding that it served to remind her that “this is a population that needs [librarians’] services.” She went on to talk about the Matrícula Consular, an identification card issued by the Mexican consulate that serves as a valid ID for Mexican immigrants. Garza de Cortez said that as librarians, it is “our responsibility to provide services as long as patrons provided proper ID,” regardless of their immigration status.

Mario Ascencio, Visual Arts Librarian at George Mason University Library elaborated on that sentiment by discussing some of the libraries denying services to patrons without proper ID or targeting Spanish-language collections. He said it is ironic that “50 percent of materials [in the Library of Congress] are in foreign languages. It’s irrational to not collect Spanish-language materials.” Ascencio also touched on some of the pending immigration bills, highlighting some of the major differences.

The discussion mostly centered on coping with anti-immigrant sentiment at the library and expanding library access to immigrants—regardless of citizenship issues. Among the many hand-outs provided was a copy of the REFORMA toolkit, which anchors this position in the Library Bill of Rights, makes recommendations on how to increase access to Latinos, and provides guidance on the documentation required to issue library cards.

While this panel specifically focused on serving the Hispanic population, Panelist Loida García-Febo, a special services librarian at Queens Public Library, reminded listeners that the matter is something everyone should embrace since the “library card issue affects immigrant groups other than Latinos.”

Book awards

Sandra Ríos Balderrama, co-founder of the Pura Belpré Award and REFORMA’s national office manager, moderated Latino Children’s Literature Awards: Creation, Content, and Community. The panel consisted of representatives for three prizes: the Pura Belpré, the Tomás Rivera, and the Américas. Award-winning authors Monica Brown, Pam Muños Ryan, and Amada Imra Pérez also formed part of the panel. While discussing the “authentic” cultural content of children’s books, Theresa Howell, managing editor at Luna Rising, said she often gets “flak for ignoring books on Hispanics written by non-Hispanics.” Ruth Tobar, Publisher of Children’s Book Press, said she dreams “of a time when books are no longer ‘ghettoized’ because they’re part of the mainstream.”

The 10^th Annual Celebration of the Pura Belpré Awards took place June 25. Rios Balderrama gave a presentation in her soulful and moving manner, calling upon the memory and legacy of Pura Belpré—the first Latina librarian at the New York Public Library—and thanking librarians “for respecting what they may not understand, and for not caring whether children are citizens or not.”After the winners were presented, REFORMA, in association with Scholastic and Weston Woods, presented an inspirational DVD highlighting the origins and significance of the award. The DVD includes interviews with the founders and past winners. Following the presentation of honors and awards was a performance by singer-songwriter José-Luis Orozco, author signings, and tapas for everyone.

While most Spanish-language publishers present at ALA agreed that attendance was low, they remained optimistic by focusing on the number of librarians interested in their products. YoYo USA’s Luiscarlos Leaño said most visitors reacted the same way, exclaiming they were pleased to “finally find audiobooks in Spanish” and requesting catalogs. FonoLibro’s Arquimedes Rivero concurred; he said the event provides an opportunity to strengthen existing relationships and establish new ones. Rivero said many librarians stopped by to ask about their products. Spirits were also high as a result of the news that the American Publishers Association (APA) decided to create an annual Spanish-language award.