REFORMA LA Member Spotlight: Dr. Romelia Salinas

Name: Dr. Romelia Salinas
Title: Associate Dean, Library & Learning Resources, Mt. San Antonio College
MLIS and PhD program: UCLA

Primary service roles:

I recently became the Associate Dean of Library and Learning Resources at Mt. San Antonio College (Mt SAC). In this position I oversee the College Library, tutoring services, the computer learning lab and the Online Learning Support Center which supports the integration of technology into teaching. Prior to coming to Mt. SAC I had been a librarian at California State University, Los Angeles for 18 years. During that time there I served as a reference and instruction librarian for various academic departments and campus centers/programs. I also served as Head of Access services for five years overseeing the Circulation, Reserves, Inter-Library Loan and Stacks. During my last three years I was the Reference Services Coordinator. A highlight of my work there was the establishment of the East Los Angeles Archive dedicated to preserving the social and political history of that community.

How does your work align with service to Latinos and Spanish-speaking communities?

My service to Latinos and the Spanish-speaking communities is reflected in my reference and instruction work, my collection development activities and my campus involvement. Cal State LA and Mt. SAC are campuses with a predominantly Latino student body, so I interact and assist this population on a daily basis. At Cal State LA I served as the Latin American Studies and Chicano/a Studies Librarian. I worked closely with faculty in these disciplines and often was invited to provide library instruction introducing students to library resources useful for researching these academic areas. I would also meet individually with students from any department who were researching Latino communities and direct them to relevant sources to consult. Through this work I was supporting the research of these communities as well as success of our students.

I believe that information institutions, such as libraries, are transformative spaces where students can learn about themselves through alternative perspectives and in turn empower themselves.  In this spirit I have dedicated my work to building collections and information services that reflect the diversity of our student body and our local community.  Poet Adrienne Rich wrote, “When someone with the authority of a teacher describes the world and you are not in it, there is a moment of psychic disequilibrium, as if you looked into a mirror and saw nothing.” Her words speak to the importance of students seeing themselves in our libraries. It is through establishing collections that document and include the voices of marginalized communities that academic libraries can support the success and well-being of our students. To this end I have worked to ensure that print and digital information about underrepresented communities, like Latinos, is available and accessible in our library. This included establishing the East Los Angeles Archive at Cal State LA as well as my work as a founding member of the Latino Digital Archive Group, a group that seeks to establish a national forum to explore the establishment of a Latino digital archive that would have as its goal the digital preservation of all aspects of U.S. Latino history.

In addition to working with students directly and building relevant collections, I also serve the Latino community through my campus outreach. Over the years I have worked with outreach and retention programs such as the Educational Opportunity Program, the Go East LA initiative, the Dreamer Center, and the Parents Academy which primarily works with Spanish-speaking parents of incoming students.

Gratifying aspects of your work:

The most gratifying aspect of my work is having the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of students. Whether it is providing students access to information they needed to complete their MA thesis or teaching them how to email their professors.

Some words of advice to other librarians and/or present and future MLIS students:

I would encourage future librarians to be resourceful and persistent in their work. When encountering obstacles in moving your ideas forward, always look for other avenues. Be creative in your services and don’t limit yourself to the confines of what and how your library has done things in the past. Small actions can lead to big changes.

REFORMA LA Awards Luncheon Recap

REFORMA LA would like to extend our gratitude to our wonderful generous supporters whose participation made possible a fantastic Awards Luncheon celebration on June 5, 2016 from 1-3 p.m. at the East Los Angeles Public Library.

New Mexico State Library Commissioner and former Executive Director American Library Association Elizabeth Martinez, gave an inspiring keynote address to our 2016 Elizabeth Martinez and Dr. Karin Duran scholarship winners and Luncheon attendees. Our Chapter was delighted to award our 2016 scholarship winners Anita-Marie E. Martinez, Janet Garcia, and Jimmy Zavala each with $1000 dollars and a certificate of recognition.

Día de los Niños Mini-Grant winner, Dr. Romelia Salinas gave us a recap of her Dia community program held at California State University, Los Angeles on April 29, which was inspired by this year’s Newbery Medal winning book Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Pena, with illustrations by Christian Robinson.

We also congratulated Anna U’Ren, our  ALA Student Travel Grant awardee, as well as our past REFORMA LA Chapter secretary and in-coming Public Information Officer, Juan Guillermo Garcia who was awarded the prestigious Spectrum Scholarship Award for 2016-2017. Our graduating MLIS students included Sylvia Aguiñaga, whose organization DIY Girls empowers girls by teaching coding and applying science, tech, engineering, and math (STEM) skills in creative ways is making big waves in library innovation.

Oralia Garza de Cortes, co-founder of the Pura Belpre Award, also spoke about the outreach advocacy work she is doing with REFORMA’s Children in Crisis Project. She encourage us all to get involved in the project, and described how La Librería, a bookstore in Los Angeles that specializes in Spanish language children’s books, recently held a storytime fundraiser to benefit the Children in Crisis Project.

Sonia Bautista also shared about the library outreach project she is coordinating with the Salvadoran Consulate. Named La Biblioteca Prudencia Ayala de el Consulado de El Salvador, the project was created to serve the children and families that visit el Conulado de El Salvador. Read more about the project in this month’s REFORMA LA’s Newsletter. HERE PLEASE LINK TO SONIA’S PIECE.

The REFORMA Los Angeles Chapter also extended a warm and enthusiastic welcome to J. Carlos Rodriguez. Carlos is now the University Library Dean, at California State University Los Angeles.  Welcome to Los Angeles Carlos! We are happy you’re here.

Please remember that the REFORMA Los Angeles Chapter raises funds year around to support our annual Elizabeth Martinez and Dr. Karin Durán MLIS graduate scholarships. Help us make this another successful year! If you would like to donate to our 2017 scholarship fund, please send checks made payable to:

REFORMA Los Angeles, c/o Madeline Peña
16211 Downey Ave., Unit 131
Paramount, CA 90723

REFORMA LA & Consulado de El Salvador Library Partnership

Early in the year, the Salvadoran Consulate approached Senior Librarian, Sonia Bautista with the idea of opening up a library inside the consulate. Ms. Bautista knew a couple of staff members from the consulate since she had previously held an author program at Commerce library in conjunction with the Consulate. She mentioned REFORMA LA to the Consulate and how REFORMA could help out too.

REFORMA LA Vice-President Celia Avila and Sonia visited the Consulate in early April and evaluated the future library space along with books they already had donated. Sonia collected books for the Consulate and also gave them a list of furniture and shelving that would be adequate for the space. Two weeks before the grand opening, Sonia and her family visited the library to help decorate, clean and label books, drop-off more Spanish and English children and adult books and help with labeling. Celia also visited the Consulate to help them in last minute preparations for the grand opening.

The grand opening of the Biblioteca Prudencia Ayala de el Consulado de El Salvador was held on Friday, May 27th and Sonia was there to represent REFORMA LA. The library was named after writer, activist and female rights advocate, Prudencia Ayala.  The event was very well attended with over 120 guests, including consulates from other countries, folklore dancers, musicians.  Sonia was invited to partake in the ribbon cutting ceremony alongside other volunteers, and the Salvadoran consulate María Mercedes López.

The library will be volunteer run. The Consulate hopes to have volunteers each day to keep the library open as many days as possible. They are also accepting book donations for children and adults in both Spanish and English. If you wish to donate your time or books, please email reformala@gmail.com.

ALA Student Travel Grant Recipient

REFORMA Los Angeles is pleased to congratulate  Anna U’Ren as the winner of the 2016 ALA Student Travel Grant.  This $250 student travel grant award was created to help offset the cost of attending the 2016 ALA Annual Conference in Orlando, FL and REFORMA's Denim and Diamonds yearly gala event scheduled to take place at ALA Annual. Congratulations Anna U’Ren!

Learn a little more about Anna.

 

Hello, my name is Anna U’Ren and I am a student in my second year of SJSU’s MLIS program. I live in San Juan Capistrano in Orange County, CA. I work as a pharmacy technician and my husband Sam works for Mission San Juan Capistrano, and we have two kids: Emmett, age 5, and Eleanor, age 2. I live in a wonderful community that is very much a small town. I have built many close relationships with my pharmacy customers (some of which are my neighbors) and take pride in helping them navigate our often frustrating healthcare system, but I feel that a career as a librarian would be more personally fulfilling and enable me to better support my family. I have been unable to attend any library conferences thus far because they have been too cost prohibitive.

The professors in the MLIS program at San Jose State do a great job at providing a rich online learning experience, although I must admit that I sometimes feel isolated as a student working alone at home.

At this moment, I am working on a group blog project for my Materials for Children class on “white privilege”. When you fully begin to explore this topic (speaking as a white person) you start to realize how pervasive it is in our society, and how glaring the lack of diversity is, especially in children’s literature. As a mother, I’ve never had to search and search for one single book that has characters that look like my children, with stories that they can relate to. Children need books that consist of characters and stories that represent their own experience. I think librarians have a critical role to play in this area. I recently read an article for one of my classes written by Roberto Haro titled “Literature in Defining a Culture: The Chicano/Latino Experience”. Haro made me think of librarians in a totally different way, and this comment really stuck with me:

“There were times in American history when librarians were the only professionals aware of Hispanics and Raza. These professionals dedicated themselves to capture the ideas, images and symbols Chicano/Latino writers used to describe and define who they were, and their unique experience in America. Librarians are largely unrecognized heroes, responsible for preserving the many threads in society that weave into our national tapestry.”

It was exciting for me to think that librarians could have active and dynamic roles within their communities. When I started library school, I had an outdated idea about libraries, thinking that, because I like books, librarianship would be a great profession to enter. Now I know that libraries today are so much more than warehouses for books, and that each library is unique because each community it serves is unique. I would love to attend the ALA conference in Orlando this year, if only just to talk to anyone and everyone, and ask lots and lots of questions. I want to meet people and see the exhibits and presentations, and attend the SJSU iSchool reception so that I can connect with people from my school in person and not just through a computer screen. And I want to learn more about REFORMA, because meeting the objectives of this organization would positively impact many in my own community. That, and my professor Dr. Bernier also says that the REFORMA Gala is always a good time.

Reforma LA Member Spotlight: Sylvia Aguiñaga

Sylvia Aguiñaga
MLIS Graduate student - San Jose State University
Director of Curriculum - DIY Girls

Primary service roles:

I develop programming and curriculum for DIY Girls, an organization dedicated to empowering girls by teaching and applying science, tech, engineering, and math (STEM) skills in creative ways. I also teach electronics projects and create resources for parents and kids to encourage learning at home.

How does your work align with service to Latinos and Spanish-speaking communities?

Every day, I work to empower Latino youth to see technology as a tool to express yourself. I’m especially interested in how we can make the “learn to code” initiative more accessible to the Spanish-speaking community--specifically parents so that they can support their kids at home.

Knowing how to code can connect a kid to a world of imagination and give her or him the ability to express their personality while learning critical and computational thinking skills needed for future jobs.  It can inspire a teenager, full of big ideas and idealism, to take the skills gained from learning to code and create real products that can have real impact. As an adult, knowing how to code can mean getting a raise or gaining more job opportunity because of your new skill set. It can empower the Latino community because it helps traditional barriers to achievement disappear.

Gratifying aspects of your work:

I love to see parents engage in the making process with our girls. It reminds me of when I would build model planes with my dad as a kid. I know how precious those experiences are for us, so seeing it happen in front of me is the best. It’s especially cool because our girls confidently share their engineering knowledge, and their parents help them create something special.

Seeing confidence build is my main motivator. When attitudes shift from, “I can’t do this.” to “How can I do this?”, ideas turn into products, and a girl yells, “I did it!” — I know we’re doing something right.

Some words of advice to other librarians and/or present and future MLIS students ...

It’s not what you do, it’s how you do it. This goes for librarians, but it also relates to kids as well. Some librarians feel pressured to take on STEM programming even though it isn’t necessarily their passion. Don’t do something you don’t like doing. There are plenty of STEM enthusiasts out there. Stick to what you love because when you do what you love, you do it well. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be open to how tech fits into what you love doing. :) I’m sure you’ll make some sort of connection.

Some personal interest that informs your service

I like to make things. From building my own music machines to writing silly stories about lizards. Making something that is so clearly “me” feels good. It’s something I want to encourage others to pursue because when you do, you become more “you”.

Elizabeth Martinez & Dr. Karin Duran Scholarship Winners

REFORMA Los Angeles is pleased to announce the winners of this year's Elizabeth Martinez and Dr. Karin Duran scholarships.

Congratulations to future librarians Janet Garcia, Anita-Marie E. Martinez, and Jimmy Zavala!

Please save the date for the REFORMA LA Awards Luncheon which will be held on June 5, 2016 from 1-3pm at the East Los Angeles Public Library. We look forward to celebrating our scholarship winners at this event.

Elizabeth Martinez Scholarship Award Winners:

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Janet Garcia

Graduate School of Information Science at UCLA

 

 

 

 

Anita-Marie E. Martinez

iSchool at San Jose State University

 

 

 

Dr. Karin Duran Scholarship Award Winner:

 

 

Jimmy Zavala

Graduate School of Information Science at UCLA

 

 

 

 

The scholarship selection committee would like to thank all the wonderful MLIS graduate students who applied to our awards this year. We look forward to another year of strong fundraising efforts. Please support us and GIVE TODAY!

The Elizabeth Martinez and Dr. Karin Duran Scholarships Awards are a focal point project for REFORMA Los Angeles Chapter. One-hundred percent of funds raised for this project are awarded to graduate students in pursuit of a Master of Library & Information Science (M.L.I.S.) degree. Please help us raise more funds to support the academic persistence of our many wonderful and talented library school students.

We are a 501(c)3 organization. Please mail donations with checks payable to:

REFORMA Los Angeles c/o Madeline Peña
16211 Downey Ave., Unit 131
Paramount, CA 90723

REFORMA LA Member Spotlight: Yago Cura

Yago Cura

Yago Cura

Name, title, and institution
Yago Cura, Adult Services Librarian, Vernon branch (#04)

Primary service roles.
I help organize literacy, health, and financial programming for the members of the Vernon-Central community; I help to manage the social network accounts associated with our branch, and I ensure that there are enough resources in Spanish for our patrons, 85% of whom speak Spanish as their first language.

Aligning library service to Latinos and our Spanish-speaking communities.
I have worked in several communities that were this Spanish-language dominant, but I have never worked in a community where I got to ensure there were enough Spanish language materials. I feel very fortunate to be able to do this, and feel doubly fortunate that REFORMA is a big part of that work (in terms of help from colleagues and peers, etc.). The Vernon branch collaborates with Catholic Charities to provide the space for Citizenship Classes in our community room every Wednesday; that's the same day that I teach a Computer Comfort class, which most of the time ends up being given in Spanish (I am bilingual) because of the preferences of the students that end up coming.

Most gratifying and enjoyable aspects of your library role.
In March of 2016, Carla Osorio, one of the members of Casa Solidaria del Sur facilitated a presentation: Mujeres Que Publican!, to celebrate their recent publication, Los Hilos Que Tejen, a book that celebrates women that have immigrated to the U.S. from Latin America. This program not only educated and empowered women in the Central-Vernon neighborhood, it also showed them how to follow suit and become "tellers" of their own narratives.

We have a Community Yoga Class every Monday from 6-7:30 that I really enjoy because our instructor facilitates the class in English and Spanish, simultaneously. Vernon-Central used to be a predominantly African-American neighborhood, and now it is predominantly Central American, so finding an instructor that could teach the class in English and Spanish was very important to us. The instructor, Leo Miramontes, has been very generous to us, and was recommended by Casa Solidaria del Sur, a community space and performance center on Central Ave. and 41st

Words of advice for other librarians and/or present and future MLIS students.
Come out from behind your computers, come out of your shells, get your hands dirty with projects that require zero down, ask patrons for help to entice them into programming, fulfill your jedi destiny of being a community protector and healer, an information shaman, someone those in need of help will come blocks to see, listen more than talk, and if you are going into public libraries, remember, the affluent libraries have high circ rates and are generally safer (not always), but the libraries in under-serviced areas are always going to need you more and provide you with more chances for innovation because there is less scrutiny and numbers/figures thrown at you for justification. The public libraries in under-serviced areas are the laboratories young librarians are seeking if only they can overcome snags in budgeting, logistics, and administrative enthusiasm.

Personal interest that informs your service.
From 1999 to 2002, I went to graduate school for creative writing, where I attended the program for Poets & Writers at UMASS-Amherst. I was afforded the opportunity to attend school there through a diversity fellowship and was lucky enough to study with Martin Espada, Tomas Salamun, and Peter Gizzi; I also got the chance to geek out on the trove of Latin American literature housed in the DuBois Library, a 24-story library tower in the middle of western Massachusetts farmland. After library school, ten years later, I learned some html and decided to publish an online journal called, Hinchas de Poesia (http://www.hinchasdepoesia.com/). We are currently working on issue #17 and have published a slew of people way above our paygrade, poets like Luis Rodriguez, Campbell McGrath, and Norman Dubie, We don't sell advertising and the only thing we care about is publishing excellent writing from the Américas, norte y sur. One of the students I attended the Poets & Writers program with was James Foley; we struck up a fifteen year friendship that was cut short when Foley was murdered by ISIS in August of 2014. In March of 2015, I successfully funded a kickstarter to publish an anthology of ghazals for him, and in February of 2016 we began distribution of our first print publication, Ghazals for Foley ( ISBN: 978-0-9845398-7-1): 5.3 ozs and 76 pages, to boot! I have been working diligently to place them in libraries and bookstores, and sell them online, https://squareup.com/store/hinchas-press. All proceeds that I garner from sales of the book are going to be donated back to the James W. Foley Legacy Fund.

 

Día de Los Niños / Día de Los Libros Mini-Grant

El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Children's Day/Book Day), commonly known as Día, is a celebration of children, families, and reading that culminates yearly on April 30.

REFORMA Los Angeles is happy to announce a $250 grant opportunity to support the celebration of this nationally recognized literacy initiative which emphasizes the importance of literacy for children of all linguistic and cultural backgrounds.

Application and guidelines.

 

Reforma LA Member Spotlight: Mara Cabrera

Mara Cabrera
Librarian I – Teen Services
Santa Monica Public Library

Primary service roles
I work as the teen librarian for the Pico and the Fairview Branches. My primary role includes the development and implementation of programming for teens at both branches. I am also in charge of maintaining the teen collection for the branches, making sure that it stays relevant to the needs of the community. Moreover, because the Pico Branch is part of the Virginia Avenue Park (VAP) Campus, I collaborate closely with the VAP Teen Center in developing programming and conducting outreach within the community.


How work aligns with service to Latinos and Spanish-speaking communities
The Pico Neighborhood is the most diverse area within the City of Santa Monica and a large amount of residents are Spanish-speakers. At the Pico Branch in particular, we work towards providing library and information services - including programming - in Spanish. We provide Spanish services on a daily basis. The community has access to a Spanish collection for all ages. For teens in particular, we are currently providing college-planning workshops, in collaboration with the VAP. We make sure that most of these workshops are provided in English and Spanish and we also address issues and concerns that are specific to the Latino community (and to other communities of color), as well as the immigrant and undocumented communities when applying to college.  


Gratifying aspects of your work
I love my job and I think every single aspect is extremely gratifying. However, helping patrons find the information they need and seeing the community get together and enjoying our programs are the two most gratifying aspects. In particular to teens – I enjoy seeing when they get interested in new things and topics thanks to a library program or thanks to book recommendations we give them.

 
Words of advice for other librarians and/or present and future MLIS students
Be open minded to new ideas. This is one of the most important things right now (in my opinion). I know everyone keep saying “libraries are changing”… but it’s true! Librarians need to adapt to the new roles libraries are playing in society. In my view, libraries are still the “place where you get books” like some of my teens like to say. However… libraries are way more than that. Libraries can serve as places of discovery where patrons are exposed to new topics, subjects and technologies. Libraries can serve as places of cultural exchange, where diverse communities come together to celebrate and embrace their differences.

 
Some personal interest that informs your service
One of my personal interests that currently inform my service is technology and promoting STEM within my teen patrons. STEM fields are lacking diversity and I think libraries can help close the gap by providing exposure to new technologies to folks that wouldn’t be exposed otherwise.

Student Travel Grant to attend 2016 ALA Annual & The REFORMA Gala

REFORMA Los Angeles is pleased to award a $250 student travel grant to help offset the cost of attending the 2016 ALA Annual Conference in Orlando, FL and REFORMA's Denim and Diamonds yearly gala event scheduled to take place at ALA Annual.

If you are a student currently enrolled in an ALA-accredited MLIS program and reside in the Los Angeles area, send us a short paragraph describing why you would like to attend the ALA Annual Conference as well as the REFORMA Gala to reformala@gmail.com by March 11, 2016.

The winner will be announced on March 13, 2016. Good luck!

UPDATE 3/29/16 - We have extended the deadline to Friday, April 15, and expanded the geographic area to students living in the Southern California area. Apply today!