New Year, New Look!

By Aída Bardales -- Críticas, 1/15/2008

As technology evolves, so does Críticas. In keeping up with the times, we’ve kicked off 2008 with a brand new look for our award-winning website, Criticasmagazine.com. Don’t worry: you can still search the archive of our past issues and reviews. And now you can stay up to date on issues in library services to Latinos/Spanish-speaking communities at the Multicultural Link blog and track trends in Latino culture at the Cultura Crasher blog. But don’t just read: tell us what you think by commenting on the blogs and through the Talkback feature you’ll see attached to every article. Supporting the new look, you’ll find an optimized search tool to help you easily find the information you need and a new drop down menu to facilitate browsing.

Our bloggers, Queen’s Library’s Loida García-Febo and South Texas College library’s Bruce Jensen (also a Críticas board member and frequent book reviewer,) will share their ideas on topics relating to the Spanish-speaking/immigrant communities U.S. librarians serve. Freelance editor Adriana Lopez, who is now dividing her time between New York City and Madrid, will keep us posted on the goings on within the Latino world in the United States, as well as Spain and Latin America. Look there for insights into other media not related to the book world and things pertaining to those second and third generation Latinos who may or may not speak Spanish. We like the connection: after all, though Críticas focuses on Spanish-language publishing and Spanish speakers in the United States, the general U.S. Latino market is inherently intertwined with the Spanish-language market.

We've been working on taxonomy, tools, and keywords, tweaking the navigation bar, and toying with many other ideas for almost a year now, so I’m very excited to see it all up now. Of course, there are still a few minor bugs to work out. Here’s where you come in: your feedback will help us make needed fixes, as well as understand what’s most useful to you about the site. Please let me know what you think, pro and con.

Changing gears, this year’s first issue is chock full of the things you love. You’ll find the long-awaited Best Children’s Book list for 2007. I love “Best Books” lists in general, but isn’t it curious how there aren’t any lists about best books for kids? (If there are, don’t hesitate to let me know what I’m missing!) Of course, it’s only important and useful if you put it to good use in your library collections and bookstores (and then tell us how!).

Also in this issue, an interview with the witty award winner Ariel Magnus[hotlink to Q&A]. The Argentine was virtually unknown in—and outside of—his native country prior to winning Editorial Norma’s La otra orilla literary prize in 2007. If you haven’t read his Un chino en bicicleta (“A Chinese Man on a Bicycle”) yet, you definitely will be chasing after it when you read our Q&A. (You’ll find the review in Críticas next month.)

Many thanks to all of you who have given me invaluable feedback. I hope the New Year brings in even more robust discussion—and, indeed, public discussion—of the many issues that matter to us all.

¡Feliz 2008!

Aída Bardales
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