Críticas Magazine

Bruce Jensen

Roxana Benavides in the NY Daily News
June 25, 2008

Brooklyn must be bursting with pride to see one of its favorite librarians, Roxana Benavides, featured in yesterday's New York Daily News.  It's merely one of the top six newspapers in the United States, with a daily circulation of three-quarters of a million.

Her profile, "The library is no longer constrained to the library walls," includes a magnificent photo of the welcoming guanaca and emphasizes her service to immigrant communities.  It makes a nice companion piece to Loida's recent post about current REFORMA president Mario Ascencio.  The woman who preceded him in that post was Roxana Benavides—here's a slice of the lengthy Daily News article about her career:

Of course Benavides, who is single and lives in Brooklyn's Kensington section, recommends books to those looking for a good read. But her work at the library extends far beyond helping visitors navigate the book stacks. She oversees bilingual book readings, educational workshops and even salsa dance classes.

"There are many reasons for people to come to the library," she says. "We just finished, for instance, a bilingual program geared to the Latino families, aimed at making them aware of how they can participate in their kids' learning process."

Tweens and Teens Time, held at the branch every Friday night, is an opportunity for 11-17-year-olds to hang out with their friends in a safe environment. They are exposed by library personnel to books they might enjoy but also get to play video and board games and sing karaoke.

The branch participates in the federal Reading is Fundamental program - youngsters who take home a book to read and return it are then given a free one of their choice.

[That is RIF's Books for Ownership service and maybe you can participate too, if you don't already.]

...Often, however, immigrants are unaware that the library offers so much that could be useful to them, including computer time and English as a Second Language classes.

"So we go out," says Benavides. "We do outreach. The library is no longer constrained to the library walls. We have to establish and go where the community is, out to the places where they gather. "

(I am betting that by the time you see the article, the Daily News editors will have corrected the spelling of her last name which they have as Benevides throughout.  And yeah, I tried to log in to leave a comment, to ask that they do so.  I tried and I tried.  Eventually I gave up.  Multicultural Link readers and would-be commenters might recognize the futility.  Feel free to email complaints at me here.)

Posted by Bruce Jensen on June 25, 2008 | Comments (1)