SALALM - Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials

We've Moved!

2011-09-12T14:42:00.002-04:00

Dear Visitors:

The SALALM Blog has been incorporated into our redesigned website: http://salalm.org Please visit us there!

SALALMIstas at ALA-New Orleans 2011

2011-07-01T11:53:00.008-04:00

A dozen SALALM members attended ALA's annual conference in New Orleans this past June. The group's presence was felt at an ideally located booth, which had a definite local flair with beads and other colorful adornments. The stand was ready for visitors on Friday (6/24) and closed on Monday (6/27).

The day before (6/23) SALALM and other library groups/associations participated in the 2011 Spectrum Institute Professional Options Fair organized by ALA's Diversity Office and sponsored by OCLC Inclusion Initiative. The event hosted more than 100 current MLS students from Library Schools all over the country. Hortensia Calvo and I talked to about 20 of these Spectrum Scholars who saw the words "Latin America" at our table.

Our collective presence at the exhibit hall made possible a visit to the aisle hosting several library schools. Hortensia and I met several of the representatives and gave them informational handouts about SALALM, ALZAR and ISIS. Some knew we existed, and for others we were a new group on their radar screen. SALALM members at institutions with MLIS program are encouraged to ensure not only that our informational materials are visible to students but to "insinuate" ourselves as Latin American Studies Librarianship ambassadors to any job fair events for information professionals.

The conference also provided opportunities to learn about new products. Hortensia, Sean Knwolton and I were at a presentation where Oxford Bibliographies Online showcased their upcoming Latin American Studies file. I asked about pricing models and noted that the traditional formula of all campus FTE was not applicable for a product that would have a much more reduced number of users. A few days earlier I had expressed that same concern to another vendor of Spanish language ebooks. This issue was also raised at an ebook panel at Philadelphia's SALALM conference. Vendors appear to understand that a different pricing model is needed and it's really up to us to come up with a well documented alternative.

Thanks to all those who volunteered: Myra Appel, Roberto Delgadillo, Tony Harvell, Deb Raftus, John Wright, Sean Knowlton, Denise Stuempfle, Cecilia Sercán, and Michael Scott. Very special thanks to Hortensia Calvo and Carol Avila from SALALM's Executive Secretariat who covered much of the three days of the exhibit.

Pecha Kucha

2011-06-02T11:00:00.009-04:00

Thanks to everyone for attending Pecha Kucha! The room was packed and the presenters were fabulous. I'll add the presentations as I get them.
See you next year!

Jesus Alonso Regalado

Librarian with a Latte: Reaching Out to Students Beyond the Library’s Walls

View more presentations from Jesus Alonso-Regalado

Holly Ackerman

Gabriella Reznowski
Beyond the Stone

Brenda Salem
FRBR Presentation

Adrian Johnson
Becoming Part of Your Students' Community

Meagan Lacy

The Missing Link on Prezi

Suzanne Schadl

Copy of Hash Tags, Drupals, and Energy Dialog archiving in Twitter on Prezi

Molly Molloy Awarded the 2011 José Toribio Medina Award

2011-05-30T11:45:00.017-04:00

This morning at the opening ceremony for SALALM's 56th annual conference Molly Molloy, librarian at New Mexico State University, was honored with the 2011 José Toribio Medina Award. The award recognizes Molly's outstanding work with the Frontera-List.

Victor Federico Torres, chair of the committee, noted that the list "has been hailed as the most comprehensive, up-to-date source of narco-related violence on the U.S.-Mexico Border" and used widely by congressional staff, US and Mexican human rights groups and many other Border observers. Torres added, "this electronic resource fills a much needed information gap on a subject of both scholarly research and binational concerns."

Molly Molloy is well known, not only as a librarian committed to her immediate user constituency but also as human rights activist on Border issues. Her work has been featured by the Wall Street Journal, In These Times, and National Public Radio.

¡Felicidades! Un honor muy merecido.

Photo:
http://newscenter.nmsu.edu/news/article/7508/files/Molly_Molloy_1294902000.jpg

Latin American Posters Collection at Princeton University Library

2011-05-16T17:36:00.002-04:00

http://pudl.princeton.edu/collections/pudl0025

The posters included in this digital project were created by a wide variety of social activists, non-governmental organizations, government agencies, political parties, and other types of organizations across Latin America, in order to publicize their views, positions, agendas, policies, events, and services. Even though posters produced in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, and Venezuela are the most abundant among the more than two thousand currently available in the site, almost every country in the region is represented. In terms of topics, some of the best represented are human rights, elections, gender issues, indigenous issues, labor, ecology and environmental issues, development, public health, and education.

The Latin American Posters Collection is a component of the larger collection of Latin American ephemera that Princeton University Library has developed since the 1970s.

From Bogota

2011-05-08T15:32:00.004-04:00

The 24th Feria International del Libro de Bogotá is now in full swing. The first two days are reserved for professionals—editors, distributors, and, for the past three years, librarians. This post records a view of the first day of the Fair.

Bogotá offers the standard suite of events—book signings, author talks, workshops—along with the publishers’ exhibits. This year’s meeting added a new twist. The inaugural session provided a platform for what may be the early stage of rapprochement between Colombia and Ecuador, whose relations have been strained since Colombia’s cross-border raid into FARC installations just inside the Ecuadorian border three years ago. Perhaps historians will see the inaugural session of the Feria as bibliographic diplomacy, in a nod to the ping pong diplomacy which launched a change in US-Chinese relations in the 1970s.

Presidents (each referred to the other as “excelentisimo presidente”) Rafael Correa of Ecuador and Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia offered remarks appropriate for the stage they shared. Correa spoke first, following a glossy, up-beat video production, “Ecuador Está Viva.” His remarks stressed the shared history of what was once one republic, at one point encouraging Colombians to think of his country as their “sur” and Ecuadorians to consider Colombia their “norte.” The loudest applause followed his remarks on economic development that emphasizes ecological preservation.

If Correa stressed convergence, Santos spoke much more to culture. He used the podium to stress to this largely Colombian audience that his administration had tripled the cultural outlays of his predecessor. He also mentioned his proposal for additional economic stimulus aimed at book production. Santos thanked Correa for bringing works of Ecuadorian literature to his attention and promised to read his counterpart’s Ecuador: de Banana Republic a no República, officially released at the Fair. While Santos did not ignore Correa’s overtures to seek commonalities, the nub of his message was “lectura=libertad,” stressing the importance of education as a tide that raises all boats.

OK, but no one thought much of the ping pong matches at the time.

A Shared Passion

2011-04-17T10:04:00.003-04:00

Nettie Lee Benson should have met the Mexican writer Carlos Monsiváis. Maybe she did; I don’t know. But a visit to the Museo del Estanquillo in Mexico City makes it clear that they shared a sense of esthetics and documentation that shaped important aspects of their lives.

Monsiváis’ voracious collecting appetite included all types of Mexican materials. The current exhibit at the Estanquillo, like so many in Mexico these days, recalls events of 1910, but in this case the great celebration sponsored by the Diaz regime, rather than the Revolution that would soon chase Don Porfirio from power. And visiting it inspires a sense of déjà vu in anyone familiar with Nettie Lee’s legacy and the objects now on display in the Benson Collection’s Reading Room. Vitrine after vitrine at the museum hold programs from the celebration, including events as varied as the return of martyred revolutionary hero Jose de Morelos’ uniform by the Spanish ambassador—who knew they had it a century on?—and the better known convening of the International Congress of Americanists in Mexico City and Teotihuacan. Monsiváis collected large and small— life-sized bronze busts, folio albums commemorating the Diaz regime’s accomplishments, invitations issued to the dozens of official events, menus from banquets, commemorative cigar wrappers, telegrammed regrets (the Bulgarians couldn’t make it).

If Carlos and Nettie Lee were acquainted, he must have been pleased to learn that her library was to be honored with the Medalla de 1808, presented the week of his death in Mexico City. And even if they never met, Nettie Lee would surely have known of their kindred passions.

Presidential Message- April 2011

2011-04-05T10:23:00.002-04:00

As I begin this message, I am struck by how quickly my term as SALALM President is progressing. Although several weeks remain until the presidency changes hands, I want to take this opportunity to reflect on my experience. It has been a genuine pleasure to serve as SALALM President. I have had the opportunity to learn in-depth about the organization and its function; engage more broadly with my fellow SALALMistas; and represent SALALM at both the Ferias del Libro in Bogotá and Guadalajara last year. I also greatly appreciate serving at a time of change within the organization. In my years as a SALALM member, I have seen many changes in SALALM, none perhaps as extensive as those proposed under the E-SALALM initiative. In short order, SALALM will not only revamp its communications and outreach models, but also modernize routine functions. It will likely take a couple more years for all of the changes to take effect, but I am confident that we will accomplish this goal. This is truly an exciting time to be a SALALM member and officer. For anyone considering future service as SALALM President, let me say that it is truly a rewarding opportunity.

Now for a few updates…

First and foremost, I want to welcome Peter Johnson to his new role as SALALM Treasurer. As I mentioned in my announcement on LALA-L, Peter brings extensive experience with the Finance committee and Investment Working Group. As a long-time SALALM member, Peter also has an intimate understanding of the organization. SALALM is facing significant challenges in the coming years. I feel confident that Peter is well-positioned to lead SALALM in mattes of finance.

Hard to believe, but SALALM LVI is just around the corner! I am about the program, which is coming together nicely. The theme appears to have struck a chord not only amongst SALALMistas, but also with colleagues in Latin America. I received and accepted many interesting paper and panel proposals. Soon Roberto Delgadillo and I will be calling for moderators and rapporteurs. Please consider participating in one or other capacity.

Some of you have asked about the keynote speaker. It is a pleasure to announce that Peter Kornbluh will be the SALALM LVI keynote speaker. Peter is Senior Analyst and Director of the National Security Archive’s Cuba and Chile Documentation Projects. Peter will share his perspective and experience in documenting human rights at the Archive. In turn, Peter expressed interest in talking with SALALMistas about the archive and its uses in research in instruction. Therefore, I have also arranged a session on Monday afternoon for a conversation with Peter.

SALALM LVI will also host a meeting of GPLASC: the Greater Philadelphia Latin American Studies Consortium (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=148270935213286). GPLASC is a co-sponsor of SALALM LVI and hopes to connect with librarians and libreros alike.

Lastly, to follow up on the many E-SALALM initiatives, I scheduled an update on Sunday, May 29^th. I hope you will join us to learn about proposed changes to the SALALM Newsletter and web site; recommendations for intra-SALALM communication and routing functions and an update on the initiative to produce SALALM sponsored webinars.

Nerea Llamas, University of Michigan

Express Yourselves: Simple Personal Websites

2011-02-20T23:17:00.002-05:00

If you google my name, you will discover that I am a writer of romantic fiction. And a tennis pro who was flung into jail by Joe Arpaio, America’s toughest sheriff. And a medical librarian in the UK. Or not... Sadly for me, there are in fact several Alison Hicks who are either far more famous than me, or who have sponsored a lot of links about themselves. For those of you who have unusual names or who are secretly quite pleased about your new Googlified-self, maybe this doesn’t matter. But for many years, a search engine has been the default for finding out about people, whether this is professionally or socially. While I am neither vain enough nor rich enough to search engine optimize my name, Web 2.0 has made it much easier for me to ensure that people find more accurate information about me.

If you just want a quick, low maintenance online presence, the easiest way to get started is to sign up for a profile on a professional social networking site. Less intrusive than Facebook, these sites are ranked highly in search engines and only show snippets of information in search engine results. Linked In is the easiest, but academia.edu is growing in popularity. Google profiles is another site which enables you to claim your name and control how you appear in Google. ClaimID is one more site which allows you to have more control over your name.

But I already have 3 social network profiles, a blog and a twitter feed! A more detailed solution, which is equally easy to create, is a personal portfolio or webpage to start promoting you, your projects and your achievements. Web 2.0 personal portfolios are easy to keep up to date, involve no knowledge of html,
are hosted for free and you can link in your social media sites too. Weebly is a very easy to use drag and drop site which has a lot of customization options. Flavors.me is a slightly trendier personal portfolio site which encourages you to link your social networking personas into one place. Finally, if you can get past the narcissistic title, about.me provides an equally new and hip way to manage your online presence.

If you prefer html, have access to server space or want to make a more robust or in depth personal portfolio, there are a bunch of free templates available. Wordpress.org is the version of the popular blogging software that can be used to create a webpage. Alternatively, do a search for “free web templates” to get suggestions for another easy way to create a webpage; Andreas Viklund has some cool ones.
Finally, there are some tools to track how you are represented on the web. Google Alerts is well known for tracking phrases or keywords, while Social Mention does the same for social media. You can set up searches in Twitter for any keyword, while TweetBeep claims to be the Google Alerts for Twitter.

And if this is all too typical millennial self-centered for you, all these resources would also work for groups and projects as well as people.

So go ahead, make a profile and reclaim your online identity! And in the meantime watch out for my novel that features a steamy romance between a tennis pro and a medical librarian...

Alison Hicks
http://alisonhicks.weebly.com/
University of Colorado at Boulder
Alison.Hicks @ Colorado.EDU

An artist book? An antiquarian book? And it’s not an ebook?

2011-02-13T23:49:00.030-05:00

Here in in the land of Facebook, Google and Twitter hardly a day goes by without a constant mention of ebooks, social networks or a super-wired generation awaiting the next digital technology. So, when I tried to explain to some friends that I was attending a fair for the book arts and another one for antiquarian books and manuscripts, the landscape got a bit too nebulous.

But there I was, at the Codex Book Fair, already on its second day of workshops and meetings, ready to hear about fine printing in Mexico from Juan Nicanor Pascoe, perhaps the best-known Mexican master printer. He not only (re)claimed his Mexican heritage, but delighted a SRO audience on how he arrived at his trade, via Iowa, finally settling at his current locus amoemus,(Tacámbaro) in rural Michoacan.

A few days later on an unexpected visit to the Stanford campus, Pascoe told of his other talent: music, “I am better known among musicians,” having just returned from an encuentro musical veracruzano. Pascoe is no stranger to SALAMistas, just ask Theresa Salazar (UC-Berkeley-Bancroft), Teresa Chapa (UNC-Chapel Hill) and Nerea Llamas (Michigan), who visited his Taller Martin Pescador. The name of the press was chosen by Roberto Bolaño, a yet unknown young Chilean writer who led a group of vagabond poets, infrarealistas, and for whom Pascoe published an early poetry chapbook of 225 copies entitled: Reinventar el amor.

In this milieu of fine presses, Latin America was well represented, by Pascoe and his young partner Artemio Rodriguez and by others familiar to SALALM: Colombia’s Arte dos Grafico and California’s Catherine Docter from Libros San Cristobal, probably one of the best kept secrets in the region.

Following the book arts festival came the yearly pilgrimage for many of the same book lovers/collectors to the 44th International California Antiquarian Book Fair. As with many other things, both New York and California claim to have the best one in North America. Unlike previous years, there seemed to be fewer attendees, a sign of the dire economic times. Even so, dealers brought out their best rare/unique titles, like Gustave Doré’s Corrida de toros. At $28,000, the six prints were best admired from afar. I even felt guilty taking the profusely illustrated catalogue from the London dealer. For the less affluent, $11,000 could have been just fine for that masterpiece of 19th century Mexican cartography: Atlas Pintoresco e Histórico de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos.

There were also items a precios módicos, like Sanctus sonorensis, a prayer-like visual text honoring the undocumented immigrants who die in the Sonoran desert.

For rare Latinamericana visits to: Bray Books, Libros Latinos and Plaza Books were a must, along with a stop at a Barcelona dealer which had brought some first editions of Lorca, Neruda, and Miguel Angel Asturias, among others. You could even find a signed grabado by the great Mexican muralist Orozco. It turned out to be false, but when I went to see it, the price was still listed over $1000.

At the end of the weekend fest, the last minute crowds seemed to have arrived. I left, 90 minutes before closing, amused at some of the clever names: Any Amount of Books, Back of Beyond Books, Between the Covers, Books of Wonder, By the Book, Carpe Diem, First Folio, Literary Lion, Lost Horizon, Sanctuary Books, and Serendipity, etc.

I kept hoping to find the dealer from whom I bought a few Mexican Revolution postcards last year. How can I forget that mujer valiente from 100 years ago, the one who defied the often mistranslation of soldadera as camp follower. I wouldn’t dare call her that, would you?

Adan Griego (Stanford), Daniel J. Slive (Southern Methodist) and Juan Nicanor Pascoe arguing in front of the Libros Latinos booth and caught off guard by Roberto Trujillo's i-phone camera.

Images:
1) Codex Espangliensis From Columbus to the Border Patrol by Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Enrique Chagoya and Felicia Rice. (trade edition published by City Lights Books, 2000). Moving Parts Press published the limited edition.

2) Juan Nicanor Pascoe and Artemio Rodriguez at a 2009 event featureing their collaborative book Tacámbaro (on display at Codex 2011). It is a fully illustrated, handprinted artist book featuring Jose Ruben Romero's collection of poems and contains 72 black & white blockprints by Rodriguez.

Presidential Message- February 2011

2011-01-31T13:07:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year! I want to wish everyone a very happy and prosperous 2011.

Just back from an all too short break, I am diving back into conference planning. SALALM LVI is just 4 months away! To kick off the year right, I took a brief trip to Philadelphia last week, site of the upcoming SALALM LVI Annual Meeting. I spent 3 fabulous days in Philadelphia with Joe Holub and David Murray. Before I move on the details, I want to thank Joe and David for their hospitality during my visit. Along with conference planning, I was treated to an extensive tour of Philadelphia’s many and varied neighborhoods, its historical sites and, of course, a sample of its fabulous cuisine!

While in Philadelphia, I stayed at the Radisson-Plaza Warwick hotel, site of our meeting. The ‘Warwick’ is a beautiful historic hotel in the Rittenhouse Square area of Philadelphia. Rooms at the Warwick are comfortable with all of the amenities you would expect in a modern hotel, including complimentary high speed, wireless internet. For convenience, there are 3 options for dining within the Warwick, The Coffee Bar, Tavern 17 and the Prime Rib Restaurant (dinner only). Just two blocks from Rittenhouse Square itself, the hotel is surrounded by many restaurants and shops and within walking distance to many Philadelphia’s historic sites. I know you will find many ways to enjoy yourselves between meetings and panels. Joe and David are already hard at work on creating guides to the best spots.

On the first day of my visit, I enjoyed a walk to the Reading Terminal Market with Joe. On the way, he suggested we stop by the historic Wanamaker’s building, now a Macy’s. Built in 1910 by Daniel H. Burnham, this Florentine style building features granite walls, the St. Louis World’s Fair pipe organ and a statue of bronze eagle. Even if you are not a fan of department stores, Macy’s, located in Center City on the corner of Juniper and Market Streets, is a must-see. After Macy’s, we headed straight for the Market. Along with fresh meats, fish, cheeses and baked goods, the Reading Terminal Market includes many restaurants. Joe and I opted for lunch at a stand serving Mexican food, which did not disappoint. After lunch, we headed back to the Warwick, where Samantha Boyle, our contact at the hotel, gave us a tour of the meeting rooms and exhibit space. SALALM will occupy rooms on both the Mezzanine and Executive Conference levels. The Mezzanine, where registration will be located, is an airy, open space which SALALM members can use to gather between meetings. Day one finished with a delicious dinner in China Town.

Day two of my visit was dedicated to planning. Following lunch a local campus eatery, David, Joe and I met at the University of Pennsylvania’s Van Pelt Library. We spent the afternoon updating the conference web site and editing registration forms. We also talked at length about options for both the libreros and host receptions. For now I can share that the libreros reception will be held at the newly renovated Baptist Temple on the campus of Temple University. A Romanesque church, the Baptist Temple is now the Temple Performing Arts Center. Our second, host reception will be held at the Anne & Jerome Fischer Fine Arts Library on the University of Pennsylvania campus. Though both campuses are relatively nearby, Joe and David are arranging transportation for attendees. After an afternoon of planning, David continued my tour of Philadelphia with a drive through North Philadelphia. We passed through the Temple campus and headed Northwest for dinner and dessert in Chestnut Hill, a beautiful, residential neighborhood.
On my last morning, Joe and I visited the Eyes Gallery in South Philadelphia. This hybrid shop, art gallery contains an extensive collection of Latin American folk art. Julia Zagar, the gallery’s owner, graciously showed us around the location’s three jam-packed floors. The Eyes Gallery was a wonderful way to wrap-up my visit. This is definitely a must-see for SALALMistas .

After this short visit to Philadelphia, I am more excited than ever about our upcoming meeting! I know you are anxiously awaiting your conference invitations. I expect that you will have received them by the time this message is published (or soon after). The SALALM LVI web site is already available at http://guides.temple.edu/SALALM_LVI. Thanks to David Murrary for designing and populating the site. Along with the requisite registration forms and hotel reservation instructions, you will also find a preliminary schedule (coming soon) and links to articles about Philadelphia. Please note the registration deadline is March 25, 2011. And, if you haven’t submitted your paper or panel proposal yet, there is still time!

Until next time…

Nerea A. Llamas
University of Michigan

Presidential Message- November 2010

2011-01-31T12:58:00.005-05:00

In an effort to catch up on posting Presidential Messages, here is #3 from the November SALALM Newsletter...

Warm greetings from Michigan!

Hard to believe that it is mid-November and the holiday season is just beginning. Next week is Thanksgiving when many of us in the U.S. will indulge in our favorite foods and traditions. For me Thanksgiving is also prelude to the Feria Internacional del Libro in Guadalajara. I am looking forward to seeing many of you there. But before I began packing, here are some updates from the SALALM presidency…

Planning for SALALM LVI in Philadelphia is well underway. By now you will have seen the conference announcement. I encourage you to participate by submitting a paper or panel proposal. I also ask that you share the conference announcement widely. One of my hopes is that we will approach the topic of memory and human rights archives from many perspectives, so I welcome proposals from SALALMistas and non-SALALMistas alike.

Let me also remind you that SALALM is once again sponsoring two types of travel grants, the ENLACE Travel Awards and the Presidential Travel Fellowship. If you are interested in applying or know of someone who is, please visit http://www.salalm.org/conference/enlace.html and http://www.salalm.org/conference/presidentialtravel.html for more details.

Joe Holub and David Murray have been busy with local arrangements in Philadelphia. Currently, they are designing the conference web site, which will launch in the coming weeks. Joe and David have also asked me to visit in January to catch up on their activities and see the conference site for myself. I can’t wait! Look for my report in February.

From my previous message, you know that the e-SALALM initiative is gaining steam. The e-SALALM Ad-hoc committee is already hard at work on their charge. Meanwhile, the membership of the SALALM Communications Committee was also finalized. I am pleased to share that the committee consists of: SALALM Website Manager: Melissa Gasparotto; SALALM Website Content Editor: Daisy Domínguez, chair; LALA-L Moderator: Gayle Williams; SALALM Social Media Coordinator: Alison Hicks; Membership Committee Liaison: Orchid Mazurkiewicz. While the SALALM Communications Committee’s on-going charge is “to coordinate the promotion and dissemination of information related to SALALM news, events, activities, members, and initiatives …,” this year will be devoted in large part to transforming the SALALM Newsletter.

Along with these two working groups, a third, the Webinar Pilot Project Working Group, was also formed by popular demand. This working group is the result of a discussion amongst several SALALM members about how to provide virtual training or workshops, particularly to non-SALALM members. The group, whose members are Anne Barnhart, Adan Griego, Darlene Hull, Sean Knowlton, Jana Krentz, Carmen Yasmina Lopez and Orchid Mazurkiewicz (chair), will pilot a SALALM webinar project during the 2010-2011 year. As part of their charge, this group will investigate hardware & software needs, cost, audience and content and then host a webinar. Webinars are an exciting prospect for SALALM as they can be cost effective ways of delivering instruction and at the same time publicizing SALALM activities. Stay tuned for more news about this pilot project.

As in previous years, a group of SALALMistas will attend the Feria Internacional del Libro (FIL) in Guadalajara, Mexico. Thanks to the Free Pass Program, sponsored by the American Library Association and FIL, many of us have attended regularly over the last several years. This year, along with participating in the FIL orientation session, SALALM is also sponsoring a book donation drive. SALALMistas attending FIL are encouraged to donate academic books to AMIGOS: Red de Instituciones Mexicanas para la Cooperación Bibliotecaria. Books should be university press titles on topics related to the United States or Latin America. For those not travelling to Guadalajara, I encourage you to consider mailing your donations (contact Adán Griego, adan.griego@stanford.edu, for instructions). During the economic downturn Mexican academic libraries have reduced their spending on US university press books. Any titles you can provide will be appreciated.

Wishing you all the happiest of holidays!

Nerea A. Llamas
University of Michigan

2011-01-27T17:06:00.001-05:00

The Serials Subcommittee would like to gather information about new Latin American print and electronic journals.

Please let us know of any new titles using the form available on the Serials Webpage

Enter as much information about the journal that you can find (eg title, place of publication, web address, ISSN)

You can also send new titles directly to Ruby Gutiérrez (rgutierr @ ucla.edu) or Alison Hicks (Alison.Hicks @ colorado.edu)

A listing of new journal titles will be archived on the new serials archive webpage: and an announcement that a list is ready will be sent to LALA-L.

Please let us know if you have any questions!

Alison and Ruby
Serials Subcommittee

Instruction 2.0 Continued

2011-01-12T10:24:00.000-05:00

Instruction 2.0 theory is all well and good but I’m teaching 3 undergraduate seminars next week and need some practical examples! What follows is an introduction to in person or classroom based instruction 2.0 examples. But I'm not an instruction librarian, I hear you cry! Never fear- even if you do not teach in a classroom, instruction 2.0 principles apply to the creation of web pages, databases, the library catalog and other online interaction. In the final Instruction 2.0 column, I will give an overview of Instruction 2.0 in an online world.

To recap, instruction 2.0 embraces the changes in the way that we communicate and interact. How has student learning changed and how can libraries adapt to this? Randy Bass is a key researcher of 2.0 pedagogy who set up the Visible Knowledge Project to study learning in higher education. Through these studies, he discovered that student learning today was adaptive, embodied and socially situated. Taking this as a basis, what does this mean in a library instruction context?

Realistic or adaptive instruction enables students to learn new skills that can be transferred outside of the original context. This means that instead of teaching the intricacies of a particular database, students ideally learn lifelong skills that form the backbone of information literacy. An example would be learning evaluation skills. As realistic instruction, adaptive teaching also connects students with the information realities and the academic conversation around them, emphasising that learning, information literacy and academic research do not occur in a vacuum. An example of this is Anne Barnhart's class, which asked students to use their information literacy training to buy material for the library in their subject area, an activity that is useful, practical and transferable.

Embodied learning means recognizing that many different elements affect student learning. This is more than looking at learning styles though- it also shows how the affective (emotions), prior knowledge and motivation all affect learning. It sounds kind of hippy-chic, but Bass' research showed that it is not just cognition or the mental process that affects how we learn. Personal experience or the creativity involved in using non traditional media helps connect students to new concepts. An example of this would be using a variety of ways to enable learning, for example student creation of a video tutorial using screencasting software in order to supplement and deepen student understanding of a concept.

Finally, instruction 2.0 recognizes that learning is often socially situated and that students learn from their peers in communities of practice or learning communities. This means that we need to incorporate different structures into the design of our classes that facilitate student-peer conversations, as well as student-teacher conversations. An example of this would be asking small groups of students to create an evaluation schema collaboratively, which would then be shared with the rest of the class. Within the small groups, students can share prior experiences and knowledge to cement their understanding of the research process. Socially situated learning needn’t always be about the students either. Working with faculty to create a common vision of learning outcomes is also a form of socially situated learning, where the learning community is formed by librarians and teaching faculty. An example of this is Suzanne Schadl's “guerilla” instruction, where she has incorporated multiple short instruction sessions into a semester long class. Even SALALM is a learning community- one of the original aims of La Cuna was to expand our own socially situated learning and foster online peer learning opportunities.

Bass’ three observations of learning fall neatly into the 5 Cs that characterize Web 2.0; creativity, conversation, community and collaboration. The final C is control. For instruction 2.0 to really work, librarians need to give up control so that the class is driven by student needs and dialog, rather than what the librarian assumes the students know or need to know. Personally, I think this is the hardest and scariest part, but it is vital in order for library instruction to maintain and to increase its relevancy in the 2.0 world.

Alison Hicks
University of Colorado, Boulder
alison.hicks @ colorado.edu

Presidential Message- October 2010

2010-10-08T09:53:00.003-04:00

Greetings from Michigan! Hope you are all off to a productive Fall semester. As I write this message, my eyes are continually drawn out the window, to my favorite tree. There is nothing unusual about this tree, but I love it because it is the one that heralds the new season. Today, the leaves on the top branches are already turning a lovely shade of orange and I know it will not be long before Fall is in full swing. In fact, I am happy to report that temperatures in Michigan are already cooler.

While I watch the leaves rustle on that tree, I am thinking back to our meeting in July. I can say without hesitation that it was one of my favorite SALALM conferences; my thanks to Patricia and Fernando for the excellent program and local arrangements planning. Their efforts not only made for a truly enjoyable experience, but also netted a profit of approximately $11,000! For this I must also extend my thanks to the generous support of Brown University Library and the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at Brown and the Princeton University Library.

For those of you not able to join us in Providence or who simply missed the Town Hall, Business or Executive Board meetings, I would like to provide a few highlights. Foremost in my mind are the two proposals passed at the second Executive Board meeting: 1) a recommendation from the Editorial Board to cease the printed SALALM Newsletter and integrate its contents with the SALALM website and 2) the formation of a SALALM Communication Committee. Both of these proposals spurred lively discussion during the conference at a special session, then again in the Town Hall before passing in the final Executive Board meeting. Currently, I am forming and charging the Communications Committee, whose primary task over the next several months will be to plan the transformation of the Newsletter to its online form. In the interim, the SALALM Newsletter will appear in its same format as a .pdf document. This move will have the immediate effect of saving SALALM approximately $13,000 per year in printing and postage costs. Long term, SALALM’s activities will be more visible to SALALM members and to potential members internationally. It will also allow for a more timely and dynamic news forum.

Both of these proposals developed as a result of Pamela Graham’s e-SALALM initiative, which called for a review of “routine SALALM functions (i.e. Initial memberships and membership renewals, Conference Registration, SALALM election balloting); publications (i.e. Newsletter, Membership Directory,Proceedings and other publications); Publicity and Outreach (i.e. use of blogs, Facebook,podcasts, and other social networking tools to disseminate information and engage existing and potential members); and Intra-SALALM communication (i.e. Group work spaces for committees/subcommittees;tools for sharing documents, minutes, and any project documentation etc.)”. While the Newsletter and Communications Committee proposals take us half way to completing the goals outlined by the e-SALALM proposal, there is still much to be done. To continue this work, I have re-formed the e-SALALM Ad-hoc Committee, which now includes: Alison Hicks, chair; Suzanne Schadl, Nashieli Marcano. The group will focus primarily on a review of routine SALALM functions and Intra-SALALM communication and present their recommendations at our next SALALM meeting in Philadelphia. While I look forward to the committee’s recommendations, I also want to take this opportunity to thank Pamela Graham for her excellent work in developing the e-SALALM proposal and leading this initiative over the last two years.

No less important are two further proposals made by the Editorial Board and accepted at the final Executive Board Meeting. The first changes the “José Toribio Medina Award Criteria for Nomination” at http://salalm.org/honors/criteria.html, to a prize for a noteworthy publication, instead of the more limiting book-length publication and adds journal articles to the list of acceptable formats. The second proposal gives SALALM members the option “to repost papers originally published in SALALM conference proceedings three years after they have been published with the organization” with permission of the SALALM Secretariat. Permission will be granted for non-profit, open-access purposes only.

In other news, PRI, the Policy, Research and Investigation Committee, has initiated a review of the Operations Handbook with an eye toward enhancing its content. And, the Constitutions & Bylaws committee is rewriting the SALALM Constitution & Bylaws as well as drafting an official SALALM mission statement.

As you can see, this will be a buy year for SALALM. I will do my best to keep you updated as the year progresses. I hope you will feel free to send me any comments or suggestions you might have about the initiatives mentioned or anything else SALALM related.

On a final note, I urge you to renew your SALALM membership as soon as possible. The SALALM Secretariat depends on these renewals to carry out the work of the organization. I also encourage you to contribute to the SALALM Challenge Match, which will be matched up to $1,000 thanks to anonymous donor. Don’t miss this exciting opportunity to support SALALM!

Nerea A. Llamas

University of Michigan

Instruction 2.0

2010-10-07T19:44:00.000-04:00

Is nothing sacred? How far can the twopointopia wave go? If she thinks that I’m teaching a class via facebook while administering my twitter account all from the iphone 4, she’s got another think coming... In my previous columns I’ve written about how Web 2.0 can be used to help with various aspects of our profession. But Instruction 2.0 seems more populist than a Kirchner with an upcoming election. Should we really be using Web 2.0 tools in instruction sessions just because our students are? In short, no. My attitude to Web 2.0 is driven by the fact that it is more than a set of technologies. Web 2.0 is a state of mind that has deep social and philosophical implications and it is for that reason that instruction gets the twopoint-opian treatment. And really, instruction 2.0 is nothing new; instead, it’s about exploring the relationships between technology and pedagogy to truly take advantage of the potential of Web 2.0. It’s about a new paradigm of learning and collaboration; and if you end up throwing in a tagging schema or a flickr account then that’s a bonus. In this column I plan to explore the background of Instruction 2.0 before moving on to describe some of the theoretical constructs that drive its implementation.

What has caused this leap from Instruction 1.0 to 2.0? For a start, it’s important to recognise that the internet has reformed the concept of information. We produce over 2000 gigabytes of information a second and a wide body of human knowledge can be accessed within seconds from a variety of devices. Increased accessibility to growing amounts of information means that the concept of knowledge has to necessarily change too- knowledge became made or constructed and not found. It has become collaborative and less controlled; a far more creative approach. As a result, these evolving information and knowledge realities are student realities, and it is important that our teaching acknowledges these changes.

Recent shifts in technology have paralleled developments in learning theory. The 1970’s saw the rise of constructivist learning theory, which focused on the process of learning. Constructivism posits that learning is a complex internal process where student prior knowledge is key, and learning is a shared, active process. This has obvious comparisons with Web 2.0. The emphasis on participating and experiencing through Web 2.0 is a constructivist approach. Knowledge that is constructed collaboratively or understood through a combination of facts and human experiences is a Web 2.0 and a constructivist approach. Constructivism’s active, socially situated learning provides an ideal way to absorb the shifts in information and knowledge that form student realities today.

Notwithstanding, higher education has traditionally embraced behaviorist teaching theories that affirm that the environment or a teacher will cause students to learn. E.g. students absorb knowledge from a lecture. The teacher holds the power and responsibility and causes learning to occur. Consequently, there is an obvious disconnect between modern students who are accustomed to active control over their learning and these traditional behaviorist learning theories.

Instruction 2.0, therefore, needs to embrace the changes in the way we communicate and interact. While libraries have adapted to changing information realities, it is important that we also adapt to new learning realities in order to meet students where they are. This is different from using Web 2.0 tools because students are; it is adapting to the social and philosophical changes engendered in the information revolution in order to design for learning today. The structure and nature of the web means there is an increasing need for an emphasis on information evaluation and analysis and that library instruction is more valuable than ever. However Instruction 2.0 needs to participate alongside students in the creation of collaborative learning communities in order to meet student needs fully and to prepare them effectively for the information based future.

[I hesitated to write this column because there are a lot of far more experienced Instruction librarians in SALALM but this is something that I’ve been working on this summer and I wanted to share my preliminary thoughts. In the next column I’ll try and share specific examples of Instruction 2.0.]

Alison Hicks
Alison. Hicks @ colorado.edu

1st Conference on National Digital Libraries – Santiago de Chile 8th – 9th September

2010-09-23T09:15:00.003-04:00

Aquiles Alencar Brayner (BL) and Lucia Shelton (OCLC) at the National Library of Chile

The digital library, as many people have suggested, is everywhere. New technologies allow us to gather a massive number of information in digital format and carry it with us in a myriad of technological devices such as laptops, pen drives, mobile phones and e-readers. Never in history have we had this easy access to information. The problem we all face is how to deal with this new digital situation: which sources to use for the retrieval of pertinent information? What to select and how to archive materials in electronic format for future generations? How to deal with issues of preservation in the digital world? As one might guess, the First Conference on National Digital Libraries held in Santiago (Chile) last week had more questions than answers. We all agreed that ours is an age of ‘infoxication’ and that national and academic libraries have to act quickly in order to find the antidote for the treatment of this new syndrome. Many of the presentations in the conference raised common issues faced by National libraries when dealing with electronic publications, including the lack of depository laws for digital-born material and the development of new tools and standards for managing electronic information. Participants had also the opportunity to learn about international digital initiatives such as the World Digital Library set up by the Library of Congress and other similar projects being developed in Latin America and Spain such as the Biblioteca Digital Pedro de Angelis, a digitisation project led by the national libraries of Argentina and Brazil; and the Biblioteca Digital Iberoamericana, a collaborative project between various Ibero-American national libraries. The message that came across in the conference was straight forward: by creating strategies for effective selection (especially by avoiding duplication of collections and coordinating digitisation programmes), sharing access to digital information and setting up best practices for preservation, libraries will be in a better position to take decisions and lead the discussion on digital information, providing efficient and innovative service for our users.

Additional Materials Related to the SALALM SWOT Analysis

2010-09-14T13:55:00.005-04:00

These materials complement the blog entry published on Monday July 26, 2010. This entry includes all the resources presented and generated in a group-based activity during the Roundtable on the Evolving Role of the Latin American Studies Librarian. Quo Vadis? And What are We Going to Do About It? (Panel 6 included as part of the program of the SALALM LV Conference held in Providence, RI).

1. Context for the Roundtable

This presentation is an update of the following research article: http://eprints.rclis.org/17799/1/Alonso-Regalado_LibrarianforLACSstudies.pdf
Four Decades of Position Announcements for Latin American and Caribbean Studies Librarians in U.S. Academic...

2. Discussant and Introduction to the SWOT Analysis by Anne Barnhart.
Quo Vadis? And What Are We Going To Do About It?

3. SWOT Analysis (Group-based Activity) facilitated by Anne Barnhart.

SWOT Analysis Grid
Photos by Tatiana Bryant.

SALALM LV: Reactions from a new librarian new to Spanish and new to SALALM

2010-09-02T16:25:00.014-04:00

Before library school, I had never worked in a library. So, when I started on my MLIS degree, I was relieved to be hired as a student reference librarian at my university’s business library – that is, until I was left to field questions about multi-level marketing and harmonized codes all by my lonesome. Since I had no prior business background and no reference experience, I used to joke to my friends that it was like trying to learn how to do reference in a foreign language. Then I got my first, full-time professional position: assistant librarian with liaison duties to, among other things, the Spanish program in the World Languages Department.

Having just reading and writing ability in Spanish and no subject knowledge and no concept of how the collection was previously developed and having just graduated from library school and landed my first professional job (during, mind you, the worst economic situation of my lifetime), I was not only unsure how to proceed, but also paralyzed with fear that I would make a mistake so colossal that I would be sent to the cornfields…or, at least, to the unemployment line. So, as you might have guessed, my discovery of SALALM and the 55^th conference held in Providence, RI, last July, was a godsend.

In particular, the pre-conference workshop, Latin American and Latino Studies Collection Development & Resources for the Non-Specialist: Tips for Tight Budgets, confirmed that the universe loved me after all. Led by Adan Griego, Anne Barnhart, Roberto Delgadillo, and Darlene Hull, the workshop was basically a daylong crash course on how to best do my job.

The workshop was held at the John Hay Library on Brown’s Campus. Seven of us confused souls sat around tables in a U-shaped configuration in the pretty (but chilly) Lownes Room, wondering whether or not we were allowed to bring in our cups of coffee. The session started with a brief history of the SALALM organization delivered by SALALM’s president, Fernando Acosta-Rodriguez, and the conference arranger, Patricia Figueroa.

After this introduction, Adan directed our attention to the peculiarities and challenges of Spanish Language publishing and distribution in Latin America, identifying the major players (Grupo Planeta, Grupo Santillana, Random House Mondadori) and describing the future of ebooks. I assumed that large media conglomerates, much like those in the United States, dominated the industry. But, until this conversation, I had no inkling that intra-continental distribution was almost non-existent or that print runs were so low in these countries.

Next, we discussed collection development: journals (and e-content), multimedia, websites, and selection tools. Major takeaways include:

Free online resources from Dialnet, SciELO, FLACSO, Redalyc
Thousands of rare books from the Benson Collection that are now available through Google Books
Spanish newspapers (from as far back as 1683) accessible through the Hemeroteca Digital
An understanding of why acquiring DVDs from Spain and Latin America is challenging (the first challenge being finding a distributor; the second, getting the DVDs to actually play)
The names of major vendors
That, in publisher’s catalogs, “edición” means reprint, not edition.
Theses can be found through the Network Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations and by adding “etd” and “filetype:pdf” to a Google search.

While I was excited to learn something new, I was also relieved to find that I wasn’t totally flailing, that I was already sending my students to some of the best databases and websites (JSTOR, Project Muse, HAPI Online, Handbook of Latin American Studies, LANIC, DOAJ) and that I was already looking at top selection tools (America Reads Spanish and Criticas Reviews).

After this orientation to collection building, the afternoon finished with brownies (!) and also a sort of share-and-tell, in which Darlene Hull, a former bibliographer of Latin American Studies at the University of Connecticut and now book vendor with Libros de Barlovento, described her book buying trips in Santo Domingo. A slideshow of open-air book fairs, disorganized warehouses, and hotel rooms converted into makeshift offices and mailrooms gave us a taste of the tremendous effort (in both the logistical and physical sense of the term) that it takes for vendors to bring materials from Latin America into the US. I left this session with a sense of the value that these vendors add and with the feeling that I should make friends with them as soon as possible.

Most impressive were the facilitators’ enthusiasm, kindness, and willingness to answer questions and offer advice. As the conference continued, I realized that this description was not unique to the workshop’s facilitators but characterized the conference attendees as a whole.

Five days later, as I waited outside my gate at the TF Green Airport, my SALALM LV tote bag loaded and hanging heavily on my shoulder, I found myself eager to return to work so I could implement all of the ideas and advice I’d gleaned from the conference. I also counted myself enormously lucky to be the librarian liaison to my school’s Spanish department. Yes, I still have a lot to learn, but I like what I’m learning (more so than, say, learning about financial ratios). Best of all, between the SALALM conference and the mentoring available through La Cuna, I won’t have to go through this learning experience completely alone.

SALALMistas around Bogota

2010-08-18T10:37:00.003-04:00

Paula Covington (Vanderbilt), Patricia Figueroa (Brown), Miguel Valladares (Dartmouth), Paloma Celis Carbajal (Madison, Wisconsin), and Sarah Wenzel (Chicago) stand next to the Biblioteca Luis Ángel Arango and Museo Botero in Bogotá, Colombia.

Numerous SALALM members attended the XXIII Feria Internacional del Libro de Bogotá. The Bicentenial was the theme of this year's fair.

Panorama Nacional da Literatura Estrangeira em Língua Portuguesa

2010-08-17T09:25:00.003-04:00

This article was written by Marta Raposa of Puvill Libros, Portugal for the February 2010 SALALM Newsletter and is being posted with her permission.

Panorama Nacional da Literatura Estrangeira em Língua Portuguesa | (África, Timor e Macau) – Algumas Consideraçöes

Fruto da experiência de cerca de 7 anos a efectuar selecções ao abrigo de mais de 20 planos de aquisição para Portugal, facilmente encontramos denominadores comuns nos mesmos, nomeadamente o particular interesse dos nossos clientes em autores e temáticas relacionadas com as ex-colónias portuguesas que se prendem obviamente com factores de ordem histórica. Nesse sentido, efectuámos uma breve compilação referente aos autores e temáticas que se publicam actualmente no nosso país.

Maioritariamente são publicados livros na área da literatura, nomeadamente no campo da ficção (romances). A poesia e os contos também se destacam na área de edição dos autores das ex-colónias. Curiosamente alguns destes autores já publicaram igualmente livros infanto-juvenis, como é o caso de Mia Couto (3 títulos), José Luandino Vieira (3 títulos), Ondjaki (3 títulos) e José Eduardo Agualusa (2 títulos).

São ainda editados alguns livros de diversas áreas, como estudos linguísticos, antropológicos, sociológicos, históricos e alguma jurisprudência, sendo esta de autoria essencialmente Angolana e Moçambicana (desde juristas, professores universitários a membros do governo).

São publicados principalmente autores do continente africano e, dentro deste, destacam-se Angola, Moçambique e Cabo Verde. O escritor que mais tem publicado em Portugal é o moçambicano Mia Couto, com 27 títulos. De um total de 123 registos presentes no catálogo da Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal, cerca de 100 correspondem a títulos publicados no nosso país (incluindo reedições e reimpressões). As suas obras encontram-se traduzidas para diversas línguas, como o alemão, francês, espanhol, catalão, inglês e italiano. Segue-se o escritor angolano José Eduardo Agualusa, com 21 títulos publicados em Portugal. De um total de 109 registos presentes no mesmo catálogo nacional, 66 correspondem a títulos editados no nosso país. Os seus livros estão traduzidos para mais de uma dezena de idiomas. Pepetela é outro escritor angolano com forte expressão no panorama editorial do nosso país, com 20 títulos publicados. De um total de 105 registos existentes no catálogo da BNP, cerca de 83 correspondem a títulos publicados em Portugal (incluindo reedições e reimpressões). As suas obras encontram-se traduzidas para cerca de quinze línguas. S. Tomé e Príncipe e Guiné-Bissau assumem uma posição de retaguarda no panorama editorial nacional das literaturas africanas de língua portuguesa, no entanto podemos destacar nomes promissores como Alda Espírito Santo e Conceição Lima (S. Tomé e Príncipe) e Odete Semedo (Guiné-Bissau).

Não é de estranhar que estes e outros escritores africanos com particular destaque em Portugal sejam detentores de inúmeros prémios literários nacionais importantes. Mia Couto recebeu o Prémio Vergílio Ferreira em 1999 pelo conjunto da sua obra. Agualusa com a obra Nação Crioula foi distinguido com o Grande Prémio de Literatura da RTP em 1998, o livro Fronteiras Perdidas obteve o Grande Prémio de Conto da Associação Portuguesa de Escritores em 1999 e Estranhões e Bizarrocos obteve o Grande Prémio Gulbenkian de Literatura para Crianças e Jovens, em 2002. José Craveirinha (Moçambicano), Pepetela (Angolano) e José Luandino Vieira (Angolano) receberam o maior prémio literário de língua portuguesa, o Prémio Camões respectivamente em 1991,1997 e 2006.

De Timor os autores que mais têm sido publicados no nosso país são Luís Cardoso de Noronha e Fernando Sylvan. Xanana Gusmão, Ponte Pedrinha e João Aparício são outros nomes que pontualmente também já editaram em Portugal.

De Macau podemos referir o escritor ficcionista Henrique de Senna Fernandes com a publicação de dois romances no nosso país, o “Amor e dedinhos de pé” editado pela Gradiva em 1988 (esta obra foi adaptada para o cinema português em 1991 pelo realizador Luís Filipe Rocha) e o romance “A Trança Feiticeira” editado pela Fundação Oriente em 1993.

Diversas editoras portuguesas apostam neste segmento editorial em franca expansão e dedicam colecções específicas para a publicação de autores e temas lusófonos, nomeadamente:

- a Editorial Caminho com a colecção “Outras Margens” (com 81 títulos publicados nesta colecção) que se destina a publicar autores que, não sendo portugueses, escrevem em português: de Timor ao Brasil, de Cabo Verde e Guiné-Bissau a Moçambique, Angola e São Tomé e Príncipe;

- as Edições Almedina com a colecção “Estudos de Direito Africano” (com 16 títulos editados nesta colecção) e com a colecção “Cooperação PALOP (com 7 títulos publicados nesta colecção);

- as Edições Colibri com a colecção “Literatura Africana” (com 11 títulos publicados nesta colecção) e com a colecção “Timor - História, Política e Literatura” (7 títulos);

- o Instituto Camões com a colecção “Colecções Lusófona, Insularidades e Diáspora” (com 9 títulos);

- o Ministério dos Negócios Estrangeiros com a colecção “Biblioteca Diplomática” que compreende uma série de publicações divididas entre: obras de autores portugueses (série A), tradução de obras de autores estrangeiros (série B), política externa portuguesa (série C), teses de mestrado e de doutoramento (série D). Esta colecção é composta por um total de 44 títulos;

- a Editora Campo das Letras com a colecção “Chá de Caxinde” publica obras de autores angolanos ou sobre Angola (7 títulos publicados) e com a colecção “Estudos Africanos” (4 títulos) que resulta de uma parceria entre o Centro de Estudos Africanos da Universidade do Porto e a editora Campo das Letras;

- a editora Cotovia com a colecção “Série Oriental” que engloba textos do e sobre o Oriente (13 títulos) e a colecção “Série ultramarina” com textos da Expansão Portuguesa (4 títulos);

- as Edições Lusófonas com a colecção Africanológica (4 títulos);

- a editora Nova Vega com a colecção “Palavra Africana” composta pela secção Ficção (14 títulos) Teatro (1 título) e Obras Completas de Baltasar Lopes (3 títulos);

- INCM (Imprensa Nacional Casa da Moeda) com a colecção “Escritores dos Países de Língua Portuguesa” (7Títulos)

- a Imprensa de Ciências Sócias na sua colecção de estudos de “Antropologia” têm vários livros sobre lusofonia (cerca de 11 títulos);

- a Editora D. Quixote na sua colecção de “Autores de Língua Portuguesa” tem alguns escritores lusófonos como José Eduardo Agualusa (Angolano), Pepetela (Angolano) e Nelson Saúte (Moçambicano), uma vez que tem como prioridade editorial não só os escritores portugueses mas os autores de todo o espaço da lusofonia.

A nível académico em Portugal podemos encontrar alguns Centros de Estudos especializados neste contexto, como é o caso do Centro de Estudos Africanos do ISCTE; o Centro de Estudos Africanos da Universidade do Porto; o Centro de Estudos sobre África e do Desenvolvimento do ISEG/UTL (que tem uma Unidade de Estudos Asiáticos), o Centro de Estudos Africanos da Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa e o Núcleo de Estudos Sobre África (NESA) da Universidade de Évora. Neles podemos encontrar revistas especializadas nesta área bem como alguns estudos monográficos.

Marta Raposo

Puvill Libros, Portugal

Fontes:

Catálogo da Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal

http://catalogo.bnportugal.pt/#focus

Direcção Geral do Livro e das Bibliotecas

http://www.iplb.pt/sites/DGLB/Portugu%C3%AAs/Paginas/home.aspx

Catálogo da Biblioteca da Fundação Oriente

http://bibliopac.foriente.pt/

Catálogos de editoras e centros de estudos portugueses:

http://www.editorial-caminho.pt/cache/html/produto_coleccao_listaprodutos__q1col_--_3DOutras_--_2520Margens__--_3D_obj_--_3D32688__--_3D_area_--_3Dcatalogo__q236__q30__q41__q5.htm

http://www.almedina.net/catalog/coleccoes.php?coleccoes_id=46

http://www.almedina.net/catalog/coleccoes.php?coleccoes_id=44

http://www.edi-colibri.pt/Lista.aspx?ColeccaoID=140

http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/images/stories/edicao/cols_lusofona.pdf

http://www.mne.gov.pt/mne/pt/ministerio/id/publicacoes/

http://loja.campo-letras.pt/index.php?categid=47

http://loja.campo-letras.pt/index.php?categid=153

http://www.livroscotovia.pt/s_oriental.htm

http://www.livroscotovia.pt/s_ultramarina.htm

http://lojaonline.grupolusofona.pt/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&category_id=54&Itemid=77

http://www.novavega.pt/Files/Documents/Catalog1.pdf

http://www.incm.pt/site/loja?pesquisa=escritores+dos+pa%EDses&type=produto_listar&tipo=01

http://www.ics.ul.pt/imprensa/list_area.asp?id_area=1&offset=10

http://www.dquixote.pt/catalogo.html?a=1

http://cea.iscte.pt/
http://www.africanos.eu/ceaup/index.php?p=a&type=B&s=2
http://pascal.iseg.utl.pt/~cesa/
http://www.fl.ul.pt/unidades/centros/ceafrica/index.htm

http://www.cidehus.uevora.pt/investigacao/nesa/qsomsa.htm

More SALALM 55 (2010) Presos

2010-08-05T14:40:00.022-04:00

Motivated by James Neal's tweet and the general e-SALALM vibe at SALALM 55, here by popular demand are some more presentations. This post is being edited as more people send their presentations. Thanks to all who have shared theirs already!

Panel 1: Envisioning and Shaping the Future of Latin American and Area Studies Collections and Research

David Block, University of Texas at Austin:
What’s Paper Doing in the Electronic Library?

James Simon, Center for Research Libraries, Chicago:
The Future of Collaboration in Area Studies Collections and Research

Panel 3: Welcome to the Mad Hatter House: Embeddedness and the Evolving roles of the Latin Americanist Librarians

Marisol Ramos, University of Connecticut, Storrs:
Embedding Latin American Archives into Library Instruction and Practice

Panel 8: Documenting in Times of Adversity, Survival and Hope

Molly Molloy, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces:
Our Daily Massacre ... Thoughts on Preserving the Record of Juárez Homicides, 2008-Present

Lynn Shirey, Harvard University, Cambridge:Chilean Protest Murals

Panel 9: Historias y Contenidos en Revistas Latinoamericanas y Españolas

Marisol Ramos and Michael J. Bennett, University of Connecticut, Storrs:
Mujeres, damas y señoritas: el mundo de las revistas femeninas Españolas del Siglo XIX al alcance de la mano: The Women’s Magazine Digital Collection at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center

Panel 12: Roundtable on Collaborative Collection Development Part 1: A Survey of Collaborative Collecting Models

Moderator: Lynn Shirey, Harvard University, Cambridge:Introduction

Panel 17: Beyond Institutional Borders: Archivists Document Underrepresented Communities

Yesenia López, Puerto Rican Community Archives, Newark Public Library
Organizing Our Communities’ Records: Connecting a Community to Its History

Joan D. Krizack, Northeastern University, Boston
Preserving the History of Boston’s Diversity: Northeastern University’s Project to Document the African American, Chinese, Latino, and GLBT Communities of Boston

Pedro Juan Hernández, Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños,
Hunter College, New York
Becoming Visible: A Profile of the Archives of the Puerto Rican Diaspora at the Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños

SALALM 2010 Keynote Address by Deborah Jakubs, Rita DiGiallonardo Holloway University Librarian at Duke University

2010-08-04T15:02:00.005-04:00

“A Library by Any Other Name: Change, Adaptation, Transformation”

Prepared for SALALM LV
The Future of Latin American Library Collections and Research:
Contributing and Adapting to New Trends in Research Libraries
Providence, RI, July 25, 2010

Deborah Jakubs, Duke University

It is a great honor for me to have the opportunity to speak to you today, to return to my roots here in SALALM, where I have made many lasting friendships, with library and bookdealer colleagues from whom I have learned so much over the years. Perhaps I can give a little bit back with my remarks today. I hope so.

It is wonderful to note that SALALM has been alive and well for 55 years. During these five+ decades, change has been our constant companion, and one of SALALM’s many strengths has been the organization’s – and its members’ – capacity to recognize change, regroup and adapt to it, and incorporate change into its character and mission. The ambitious agenda for this meeting clearly demonstrates the breadth of interests and expertise among the membership and highlights the many opportunities ahead.

Today I would like to talk with you about changes and challenges I see from my current perspective as the university librarian and vice provost for library affairs at Duke University. The title of my presentation is derived from the many times I have been asked if we “still need libraries,” or if “we should change the name” to reflect more accurately what happens in libraries these days. My response is always the same: that it has nothing to do with the word “library” and everything to do with how we define that word, and how the definition has changed, particularly in the past decade. The old interpretation of “library” was narrow; the new meaning is very broad, and our mission is expanding all the time. So it is time to take a fresh look at the work of libraries and discard the old image.

First, I want to share some information on trends in area studies that I have collected in preparation for two recent public presentations, the first to the Council on East Asian Libraries (CEAL) at the meeting of the Asian Studies Association, as part of a panel on “The Future of Foreign Language Collections in Transformational Times: What is at Stake?” and second to the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) membership in a session on “Recalibrating Research Libraries’ Approaches to Global Collections and Expertise.” In both cases, I was reporting on and interpreting dynamics that come to bear on area studies librarianship and global resources. I hope that the conclusions I drew from my preparation for those presentations, and from the comments they elicited, will be of interest. I will also offer some advice and raise some questions that might inform a conversation among us later on.

First, some general trends. WorldCat may be an imperfect tool, but an analysis of its contents can give some indication as to trends in collecting area studies materials among the member libraries. In the two previous talks I mentioned, one entitled, “Are Our Worries Over? Signs of Hope for International Collections and Services,” and the other “Are We There Yet? Trends in Global Collections and Services,” I provided an update on the state of area studies collecting, particularly following the establishment of the Global Resources Program at ARL, now the Global Resources Network hosted by the Center for Research Libraries (CRL). The conclusions I drew in those presentations have relevance for SALALM and for today’s discussion, so I will share some of them with you today.

As I told the CEAL audience, for some time the area studies library community has worried that area studies materials are under-collected by research libraries and used by relatively few researchers, and thus even further threatened as budgets tighten, measures of use (potential or actual) negatively influence collection development decisions, and libraries make an inevitable transition to ever-increasing reliance on digital resources. Furthermore, there is concern that the specialists who identify, acquire, process and create access to such materials are in short supply, and the pipeline is very narrow. Fears that future scholars who want to use non-English resources will find only sparse collections have added urgency to our mission to address this situation. As a result of these concerns, and thanks to the efforts of many individuals, numerous cooperative projects have been created, and have borne fruit in many cases. We know much more now than we ever have about the nature of our collections, we have employed technology to build robust new means of access, and we are doing a much better job of sharing the materials we have. But there is still a nagging sense that we are falling behind, that area studies collections will be lost in the transformation to a digital world.

And now we have new worries, about the rising costs of access to electronic information, and especially the impact on our ability to continue to acquire traditional (print) resources. We are concerned about the availability of full-text databases – whether they are being developed for, or in, all countries, on compatible platforms, and how they will be archived. We see faculty turning to new kinds of resources, for example, new media and visual materials, and we wonder how to acquire or license and provide ongoing access to those sources, which are proving to be increasingly important to the broad field of cultural studies and beyond. Research and teaching interests have expanded greatly and interdisciplinary collaborations are also putting pressure on the ability of libraries to satisfy the broader and broader needs of scholars and students, ever more quickly. New topics, new technologies: how do we keep track of it all, identify the sources, and pay for everything? And of course there is the duality of our world, in which we continue to acquire print materials and primary resources while dedicating more of our funds to licensing digital access. We worry that our parent institutions do not fully appreciate our cause, our needs, our concerns, in the larger budget struggles.

I understand the worries because I used to be a worrier. I was a major worrier about the crisis in foreign acquisitions. But it is time to put those old concerns aside, and to focus on the successes we have had in expanding access to scholarly resources, capitalizing on technological means, and carving out a broader role for area studies. It is also important to ensure that area studies library operations are front and center in the new directions research libraries are taking. The future is bright and the opportunities are numerous. Here are some trends I see. Even some of those worries can work to our advantage.

From the crisis in foreign acquisitions, addressed by the Global Resources Network and its component projects, including the Latin Americanist Research Resources Project (LARRP), have come many digital projects that put area studies at the forefront of new developments that expand access for scholars to the materials they need, and which also strengthen the collaborations that have long characterized Latin American studies librarianship. This is especially important in the transition from print to digital, as we participate in the development of new models of digital dissemination. The area studies library community has provided leaders for these initiatives, and has developed and continues to develop models that have broader applicability.

From the image of few users of exotic materials in strange languages, area studies has been transformed by interests of faculty from across the disciplines whose work involves new topics, new media, and new collaborations. Area studies specialists are the original interdisciplinarians, after all, a fact that should be emphasized at a time when so many universities are making interdisciplinarity a strategic goal of academic programs. This is an opportunity to address a different set of needs and to work closely with other subject specialists and vendors.

Universities are globalizing, and encouraging cross-departmental, cross –school, and interinstitutional collaborations with an international focus, such as global health. More and more universities are establishing campuses abroad. This highlights the collections on Latin America and other regions as well as giving us opportunities to work with new and different groups of faculty and students.

The potential for increased outsourcing – of cataloging, for example – provides libraries with the opportunity to reallocate resources and deploy staff in new ways, while strengthening the relationships with book vendors who are providing new, valuable services.

Area studies collections are special collections. Foreign-language collections are integral to research libraries. It is our duty to collect broadly, to support the needs of researchers, and to consider the scholarly record internationally. As libraries focus on expanding access to their distinctive collections via digitization projects, area studies will become more visible.

And finally, university librarians are paying attention. The theme of the ARL meeting in late April 2010 was “Globalization of Higher Education and Research Libraries,” and featured presentations with a global focus on intellectual property, scholarly communication, partnerships across borders, multi-country universities, and other topics. The panel on which I participated, “Recalibrating Research Libraries’ Approach to Global Resources” addressed such questions as: “Are ARL libraries going to continue to build comprehensive collections of global publications and resources from all world areas? Is this an element that defines the research library in relation to the academic and research programs at our institutions? Are there opportunities for new forms of collaboration in the acquisition, cataloging, housing, use and preservation of our global collections? How are we going to recruit the staff who have the subject, language, cultural and technical skills to support global collection development?” In addition, ARL has just established a new task force to determine ways in which the organization can become more international. All good signs.

In his invitation to speak, Fernando asked that I share some “big picture reflections.” I believe that our new Duke University Libraries strategic plan, Sharpening Our Vision, can help focus those reflections. The plan is a concise framework, carefully and thoughtfully constructed, that contains/supports the key elements of the work of research libraries today. I am sure it is similar to the strategic directions of other libraries. These dynamics are pervasive, and Latin American studies librarians will see a role for themselves in each area. I would suggest that we look for more ways to integrate our work with that of others, rather than maintaining a distance. In many ways the organizational chart just a bureaucratic convenience. Through cross-departmental and cross-unit engagement, libraries, like universities, avoid silos; our work within the library and within the wider university is increasingly collaborative, as it has long been within SALALM inter-institutionally and internationally. This is evident from a brief examination of Duke’s strategic goals, and this look will also convey the relevance of my subtitle today: change, adaptation, transformation.

Improve the User Experience: Understand library users' research and library experiences and use that information to shape collections, spaces, and services.

Evaluating and assessing library services are increasingly important for justifying budget expenditures but also for improving those services. The better we understand what users want and how they do their work, the more successful we will be in meeting those needs -- and thus in demonstrating the value libraries add to the research process and student learning. Acting quickly to improve services, basing recommendations on data when possible, and encouraging innovation will all ensure that the library, its staff, and their responsiveness are recognized and appreciated.

Provide Digital Content, Tools and Services: Offer services and scholarly resources in formats that best fit user needs

It is a priority to increase the library’s capacity to create, acquire and manage digital scholarly content in a diverse range of formats, as well as to facilitate its discovery. Digital content in some cases is replacing print (journals, for example) and in others content is reformatted to be more widely accessible through digital means.

Develop New Research and Teaching Partnerships: Encourage new strategies for interacting and working with users, collaborating with other groups and embedding staff and services at the right place in users’ workflows.

Whether through e-science, e-scholarship, or e-publishing initiatives, librarians have many opportunities to partner with faculty, departments, programs and institutes on campus to develop innovative projects and services. This is a new and welcome role, and offers a vantage point from which to understand how the library might configure or reconfigure its services, how individual librarians and library staff might become more engaged directly with users. It also encourages cross-departmental collaborations within the library and a flexible organizational model.

Support University Priorities: Articulate how the Libraries’ collections, services and initiatives align with the University priorities of excellence in research and teaching, internationalization, interdisciplinarity, and knowledge in the service of society.

As university librarian, it is critically important to me that the library be seen as the intellectual center of the campus, and that our collections and services transparently and actively support the university’s directions. The better we understand those priorities, the more we can reflect them in our work, our planning, and our external communications.

Enhance Library Spaces: Ensure that the Libraries’ physical spaces are developed in coordination with the evolution of the teaching and research needs of the University.

In addition to the question of whether we should change the name “library,” another I am frequently – even more frequently – asked, is whether we still need physical libraries. I can only speak directly for Duke, where many more people than ever are coming to the Libraries, and they are staying longer. Our extensive building and renovation project, in which we nearly doubled our space, resulted in a dramatic increase in visits and also in the number of print books being checked out, a fact that for some reason comes as a surprise to many folks. We are always watching for ways to adapt the space; for example, given the heavy emphasis on interdisciplinary work, and a reliance on more e-resources in the sciences, we integrated three science branches into the main library, one each summer, over the past three years.

In conclusion, to me the big picture for libraries looks like this:

Increasing engagement for staff beyond the physical walls of the library – within the university, the region, nationally, internationally.
Staying on top of new trends in scholarship, publishing, and library services and sharing that knowledge, integrating it into our work, anticipating, identifying, and adapting to changes.
Increased focus on assessment and accountability.
Encouraging and rewarding creativity, innovation, and collaboration.
Increasing focus on “going where the user is” –e.g., delivery to mobile devices.
Not being afraid of trying new things, even if they might fail – we will learn from the experience.
Viewing collections not as print and digital, but just collections, integrated means of conveying information and sharing scholarship.
Reaching the point when the most innovative ideas and services become a natural part of our daily work, not perceived as add-ons to our “regular” work.
Budget pressures help identify what we can stop doing in order to do new things. Early retirements gave us the opportunity to consolidate functions and reallocate positions to new services.
Ensuring that staff have the requisite skills and training to meet the challenges we face.
Library staff will bring diverse experiences and take different paths to library work.
Library as place, library as collection.

Now is a good time to take a hard look at SALALM’s stated mission, given the changes in scholarly communication, publishing, and libraries. According to the website, the mission assumes the existence of a user (of bibliographic information, publications, collections, cooperation) but does not explicitly mention a focus on the changing needs of researchers, students, and teachers and the new means by which libraries address them – all themes so evident in this meeting’s agenda. Nor does the impact of the rapidly evolving role of libraries and librarians or the expanded scope of publishers and vendors appear in SALALM’s mission, although the actual work of SALALM recognizes these changes.

As we celebrate SALALM at this 55th annual meeting, I encourage you to make sure that the mission adequately represents the organization’s achievements and aspirations, in light of the environment in which we are living and working, and that it reflects the change, adaptation, and transformation of the new definition of “library.” SALALM has much to celebrate and still more to anticipate.

Screencasting: DIY visuals

2010-08-02T23:09:00.001-04:00

Although the verb to screencast is still flagged as a spelling mistake in my word processing program, screencasting, or digitally recording your computer screen is one of the fastest growing web 2.0 trends. It's so simple- yet so effective! Finally, an easy way to quickly provide a snapshot of your screen that doesn't require IT support, the digestion of a help manual or weeks of planning the video fade, narration and special effects.

What makes screencasting different from more robust video tutorial software such as Camtasia? For a start, screencasting software is designed to produce quick on the fly video, narration or snapshots. Videos are normally limited to 5-10 minutes and don't allow sophisticated annotation, statistics or other features. On the plus side however, many of the software programs are free to use, work from your browser and don't require downloading. They integrate well with online video sharing sites such as Youtube and provide web storage too. And the programs are beautiful in their simplicity- it really only takes a few clicks to produce a brief but robust video.

From an academic point of view, the ease of screencasting provides another great way for people to interact and participate in the online conversation. Screencasting
allows for different learning styles by giving the option to view a procedure or a model rather than having to follow written instructions. And, most importantly, screencasting makes it a lot easier to communicate with people. The saying "A picture is worth a thousand words" is probably over-cited but it certainly rings true when you're trying to explain quickly and succinctly how the visiting scholar can get the full text of an article from their mobile device off campus.

Some of the most popular screencasting programs are Jing, Screencast-o-matic and Screentoaster. Jing is the easiest to use and the most flexible, but does require a download while Screencast-o-matic and Screentoaster work from your browser. Furthermore, Jing limits videos to 5 minutes while Screencast-o-matic gives you up to 15 minutes and Screentoaster allows you up to 20MB files. All three have web storage and the possibility of saving a local copy. Jing provides screen capture service too. The major factor in choosing a screencasting software will probably be whether or not you can download a program. I personally use Jing, and it has been so popular that I have persuaded Libraries' IT to support it.

So what can you do with this new software?! Tutorials are the most obvious use of screencasting. These tutorials could be for patron use, for specific databases that don't yet have their own tutorials such as Dialnet, or if you wanted to record a database tutorial in a different language. Tutorials for in house library use, for example for staff and student training, are also a great idea and serve as useful reference points throughout the year. These tutorials can also be embedded on subject guides using the ready made embedding code that is produced for each video.

Screencasting can also be used to great effect in instant messenger or email reference- instead of trying to explain where the link to scholarly articles is in Academic Search Premier, simply record your steps using screencasting and send it to the patron. You can also keep a library of most oftenly used videos. And why limit the librarians to making videos? Next semester I'll be undertaking a pilot to allow students to make quick videos as part of instruction sessions, as part of the drive to reflective learning.

And finally, screencasting can greatly improve communication and collaboration in personal projects. Planning a project? Use screencasting to record project progress or to provide verbal feedback or comments on a shared document. Videos are stored online, so there are no lengthy downloads and because they are short, shouldn't cause access problems. Screencasting can also be used for presenting digital exhibitions or projects. Create videos to narrate your photos or research, create a talking powerpoint or a brief introductory video for your project. All these uses create exciting visuals that draw different people in, and are easy to keep updated.

Have a go! Screencasting is easy and useful- a perfect combination!

Alison Hicks
University of Colorado, Boulder
alison.hicks @ colorado.edu

Out and about in Bogotá

2010-07-30T15:39:00.083-04:00

The last night at SALALM I was talking to Nerea LLamas and Teresa Chapa who mentioned they were going to Bogotá for the annual book fair. I mentioned a few places they should visit and then figured others might also want to hear about things to do in the city. So for those lucky folks who will soon be taking off to Bogotá soon, here it is;

City Sights

Monserrate – Church located at 3,152 meters above sea level and which overlooks the entire city, plus there is a very nice restaurant at the top. Take the teleférico up, or join the locals doing penitence by walking up the mountain on your knees.
Casa Museo Quinta de Bolívar – Simón Bolívar lived here between 1821-1826, and returned in 1827 with Manuelita Saenz. The house was often used for political gatherings during Bolivar's residence.

La Candelaria - Historic neighborhood in the heart of the city. Includes the lablaa, several major universties, a number of old churhes, and lots of good graffiti on the walls.

Usaquén - Neighborhood in the north of the city which includes a great outdoor crafts market, a fancy shopping mall, and lots of good restaurants.
La Calera - Located on the outskirts of the city, La Calera offers great views of the city, local artesanias, and typical food.
Planerario de Bogotá - Take a look at the moon, star, and sun.

Zona T - Located between 82th Street with Cra. 13, this is an area of the city closed off to cars, and full of restaurants, bars, cafes, nightclubs and fashionable boutiques.

Plaza de Bolívar – The heart of Bogotá's historic downtown, and the location for several important events in Colombia's (bloody) history, including La Toma del Palacio de Justicia, and El Bogotazo.

Libraries & Museums

Biblioteca Luis Angel Árango (LABLAA) – One of the best libraries all of South America. The library includes a mayor theater. (I visited in February 2010 and blogged about it.)

BiblioRed - Bogota's public library system. (My blog entry from a February 2010 visit to El Tunal and the Virgilio Barco libraries)
Museo del Oro - The collection includes thousands of items in gold, emeralds and other precious gems representing the culture of many of Colombia's indigenous groups.

Museo Botero - The collection includes many of Fernando Botero's pieces.
Museo Nacional - Colombia's history, art and culture all under one roof.

Food

Andrés Carne de Res – The original restaurant is the one in Chía; both locations offer excellent food y rumba pa' toda la noche!
Cevicheria Central - Amazing ceviche. (Cra 13 con Calle 85, Bogota, Colombia)
Zona G - Short for Zona Gourmet, and located in the north of the city between Carreras 5 and 7 and 71 to 79 Streets. Here's a list of the many restaurants in the area.

Day Trips

Laguna de Guatavita - Lake that inspired the ledged of El Dorado.

Catedral de Sal de Zipaquirá - A large church built inside a salt mine. There is a train that goes to the catheral, but tickets sell out days in advance. The town itself is also quite beautiful and worth the trip, in it of itself.

If you have a couple extra days visit the "state" of Boyacá

Villa de Leyva - Colonial town in the "state" of Boyacá.
Ráquira - Lots of clay pottery and artesanias.

¡Gracias a mi amiga Sandhya por su ayuda con esta lista!

Images;

La Candelaria

Museo del Oro

Ráquira

collaboration's the word

2010-07-27T00:10:00.002-04:00

Monday was filled with panels on collaboration, where I spent most of my time. (Really sorry to miss all the other excellent presentations on Monday and yesterday's Pecha Kucha or however you spell it. Thanks for everyone who has shared their thoughts, slides and all the tweeting)

I'll soon get my slides on the 2CUL Cornell-Columbia initiative up. Two of the other panels on collaboration brought up a wealth of ideas. We heard a lot about what works and what's different today about collaboration. I think there definitely has to be an alignment of certain pressures AND certain support to make this work. We heard from Dora Loh about Calafia and how they are moving forward, taking advantage of existing and emerging infrastructure in California for sharing print and coordinating acquisitions. Check out their site for descriptions of agreements. Denise Hibay walked us through the analysis of collections that was done as some major shifts and redirections took place at the NYPL. She shared an interesting schema for describing and categorizing collections--hope that will be available soon. Angela Carreno spoke about their cloud library project--understanding overlap between digital content and files deposited in the Hathi trust, digital content and overlap in the shared ReCAP facility. Can a library source what it needs from these digital and print repository "clouds" instead of duplicating the effort to store and manage print? Read more of this OCLC supported project. We heard more about Dartmouth and Brown's "boutique" collaboration for Brazil and Miguel Valladares showed us his impressive report analyzing LANE collections--how did he do this all with nothing more than regular WorldCat searches? Search strings are included for those of you who want to try this at home (but maybe not alone).

Take aways? We need to have a place on the SALALM website where we can centrally list all existing collaborative arrangements.

Perhaps we should have a preconference on collaboration next year. Start with having the regional groups work on this at their next meetings, and come to the preconference ready for a structured type of discussion or exercise.

We must work with vendors on this--they are an important part of the picture. Collaboration won't work without them.

faculty buy-in is key, as well as educating users about what we are doing and how this affects how they work and where they will find what they need.

SALALM SWOT Analysis

2010-07-26T17:38:00.004-04:00

On July 25, Jesús Alonso-Regalado and Anne Barnhart led a roundtable discussion called “Quo Vadis? And What Are We Going To Do About It? Roundtable on the Evolving Role of the Latin American Studies Librarian.” As part of the discussion, the audience was asked to break into small groups to do a SWOT analysis on the profession of Latin American Studies Librarian. We decided to use this format because, as presenter Anne Barnhart noted, as a profession we do not know how to speak with administrators. The SWOT tool is an example of the strategies, language and tools invoked by upper-level library and campus administrators. This discussion was just the first step in trying to establish where we, as Latin American specialists, are as a profession and how we want to position ourselves for a successful future.

Perhaps the most important conclusion from this exercise is the recommendation that SALALM create a strategic plan with a 3-5 year tangible workplan so we can better influence where we are going. Such a plan could also offer SALALM members talking points when communicating with campus administrators.

Please read the complete SWOT analysis.

Opening Remarks from SALALM's President Fernando Acosta Rodriguez

2010-07-26T17:32:00.002-04:00

Some of the very productive discussion that have taken place at SALALM have already been posted by others, but I wanted to share with us all the remarks from SALALM's president at yesterday's opening session.

"Good morning, bienvenidos, bemvindo, welcome to the 55th meeting of the Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials (SALALM). My name is Fernando Acosta-Rodríguez, I am serving this year as President of SALALM, and I am also the Librarian for Latin American, Iberian and Latino Studies at the Princeton University Library.

I want to start by thanking very specially our hosts in Providence, the Brown University Library, the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at Brown, the John Carter Brown Library, and the Local arrangements group lead by Patricia Figueroa for making this conference possible and for their amazing generosity and hospitality. It is a pleasure to visit your beautiful campus, its libraries, and the city of Providence.

I also want to offer my special thanks to the Princeton University Library, which was another generous sponsor of this event, and to the vendors that have sponsored the coffee and bagel, ice cream and smoothie breaks that will make our conference a more enjoyable one. They are, in alphabetical order, Gale-Cengage Learning, Iberbook Sánchez Cuesta, Iberoamericana-Editorial Vervuert, Libros Centroamericanos, Puvill Libros, Retta Libros, and Susan Bach Books from Brazil.

I have to admit that in many respects, the theme of this year’s conference, The Future of Latin American Library Collections and Research: Contributing and Adapting to New Trends in Research Libraries, is not really a response to new or recent developments. I say that because many of these developments, at least those having to do with the incorporation of digital technologies into libraries, originated more than two decades ago, and research libraries have been both adapting to and implementing them since then. Latin American Studies and area studies librarians, the collections for which they are responsible, and also scholarly research and teaching in these disciplines, have of course always been a part of this process, even if sometimes from the fringes of the research library world.

On that note, please allow me to read a couple of quotes:

1. “Area studies collections, which had comprised the library vanguard, are perceived as relics of an outdated library philosophy emphasizing ownership over access, and of disciplines somewhere between quaint and archaic in their dependence on print formats.

Scholarly communication in general, as well as for area and LAS, is becoming ever more complex. The evolving process is straining all aspects of the traditional system. For research libraries, reduced buying power and diminished coverage are among the most immediately dramatic results. Our efforts to anticipate, react to, and utilize these changes will become increasingly crucial as we attempt to maintain the information base necessary for our scholars.”

2. “The increased availability of information in digitized format is leading to shifts in research libraries’ acquisitions patterns, reducing the portion of library budgets available for conventionally published materials…

Developing current and future cooperative arrangements among libraries is an important component of the project. The issues include: …delivery mechanisms for full text as well as bibliographic information to scholars throughout North America; and the need to further understanding broadly among librarians and scholars that the physical location of foreign language collections need not limit their utility geographically.

The first quote is from an article titled “Latin American Studies, Information Resources and Library Collections: the contexts of crisis,” by Dan Hazen, from Harvard University who is probably sitting somewhere around here. The second one is from an article by Jeffrey Gardner titled “Scholarship, research libraries and foreign publishing in the 1990s”. Both appeared in the Papers of the 36th Annual Meeting of SALALM, which was cohosted by University of California-San Diego, and San Diego State University, in June of 1991, almost twenty years ago.

So, fundamental concerns, key questions, aren’t new. What is different today is that we apparently are in a juncture where technological capacity and know-how, economic incentives and constraints, as well as personal preferences and biases among the various categories of stakeholders, are truly converging into new dominant models of access and of scholarly communications. The shift has already taken place in many disciplines, in the natural and physical sciences in particular, and is rapidly gaining steam across the social sciences and the humanities.

It truly is time then, as our colleague David Block invited us to do two years ago during the SALALM meeting at New Orleans, through his paper titled “Where are we; Where we may be going, What will we do there?”, to examine what all of these apparently systemic changes mean from the perspective of Latin American Studies, and of other area studies too.

This is essential because the conditions and circumstances that characterize our area of responsibility (the academic field of Latin American Studies, and in a broader sense, the intellectual-creative expression production that originates in the region – two things that aren’t exactly the same) do not, at least in my opinion, always fit well with the new models being implemented. To be sure, major changes in publishing, scholarly communications, and distribution are also taking place across Latin America, of course, but these are not always be related to the same set of circumstances that have driven change across the research libraries that most of us work at.

Some questions for us then are, what can we do to avoid or minimize the possibility of an increasing disconnect, in some areas, between the Latin American reality that we wish to document and to represent, and the systems of collection development and scholarly communication that scholars rely on? Conversely, how do we take better advantage of new technologies and other factors to reduce long existing documentation gaps? How can we achieve this when most Latin American Studies librarians are tremendously overstretched as they have had to undertake an increasingly wider range of duties and subject areas, not to mention the cases where even libraries with venerable Latin American Studies traditions have left vacancies unfilled for prolonged periods of time, leaving us wondering if these are permanent decisions? How do we achieve this when, amid talk of the need to globalize education, Latin American and area studies programs apparently lose weight and presence in many of our campuses and are slotted into generic international categories?

We are not going to answer these questions during the next three days, but I think that the program will help us to examine them, and many other related ones, from a wide variety of perspectives. At a minimum, it will at least help us to be better informed and to learn from each other’s experiences, ideas and strategies. Ideally, it will stimulate us to think about and propose new ways of acting in coordination to successfully adapt to and influence future developments affecting our field. We’ll see. "

Many thanks to Fernando who endured my many pleas to have his remarks forwarded to me so that I could include them here.

Analysing La Cuna

2010-07-26T09:10:00.003-04:00

Bridging Physical, Virtual and Hybrid Spaces

If anyone wants to follow my presentation, or see the slides, they are available online.

Resources Mentioned in the Pecha Kucha

2010-07-26T07:46:00.003-04:00

As usual, SALALM has me frantically jotting down ideas and resources as they get shared by colleagues on panels. Because there are so many excellent concurrent panels, I wanted to share some of these for those of you who may not have been able to attend yesterday's first (of many, I hope!) Pecha Kucha.

Katherine McCann (LoC) had a variety of suggestions for finding translations and reviews of translations:
The Complete Review: A Literary Saloon and Site of Review
(Contains Index of Latin and South American Literature)
World Literature Today
Open Letter
Words Without Borders

Kent Norsworthy of LANIC highlighted some of their projects:
UTLANIC is on Twitter
Latin American Government Documents Archive (LAGDA)
Latin American Electronic Data Archive (LAEDA)

Daisy Dominguez presented on her experiences with Twitter. If you tweet, use #Salalm55 to tweet about the Conference. She invites you to connect with her at @daisilla

Martha Kelehan mentioned a number of resources to help you create data visualizations:
GapMinder
Google Motion Charts
VUE (concept mapping software)

Daniel Schoorl also mentioned a number of ways to visualize data in his presentation on the Statistical Abstract of Latin America
Many Eyes
GeoCommons
Ushahidi
Social Explorer

In Orchid Mazurkiewicz's presentation on federated searching and Latin American Studies, she reminded us of a resource that many of us learned about at Berlin's conference:
Cibera

And Luis Gonzalez talked about two databases/resource pages that he has been maintaining and expanding over the years:
Researching Brazil
Researching Mexico

Pecha Kucha

2010-07-25T18:13:00.019-04:00

Pecha Kucha has just finished, and I, for one, have three pages of notes to follow up on! Owing to wifi failure, I was seen without my computer surgically attached to my fingers; I even proved that I do still know how to write. However, I still managed to learn a lot from each presentation and hope that we have started a new SALALM tradition.

Thanks to Daisy for maintaining the Tweets!

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A big thanks to all the presenters who did a fabulous job! Presentations are bring embedded on the blog

Moderator: Alison Hicks

Speaker 1: KD McCann

In Translation 3

Speaker 2: Daisy Dominguez
Tukushka Minga Virtual

Speaker 3: Kent Norsworthy
What's New at LANIC

Speaker 4: Martha Kelehan
Gapminder, GIS, And the Digital Humanities

Speaker 6: Daniel Schoorl
Visualizations

Speaker 7: Luis Gonzalez

Bibliographic Commons

Second Day at SALALM's Conference in Providence

2010-07-24T15:16:00.002-04:00

After a constant "vaiven" of back to back activities, the 2nd day of SALALM's internal meetings seemed less hectic but with just as intense discussions on a variety of topics.

The "libreros" gathering provided a forum for SALALM's vendors to address issues like the constant reduction of library budgets (will it ever end?) and how to position themselves as independent booksellers to face the competition from the larger and better funded media conglommerates. At some level it's preaching to the converted (we in SALALM) that vendors based in Latin America go the extra mile in trying to locate materials that dealers in the United States may not be able to do OR are not willing to do.

A much anticipated post-lunch meeting (e-SALALM discussion) drew a standing room only audience. We focused on ways in which the organization can transition into an electronic environment, make better use of emerging technologies and have a more dynamic online presence.

As participants approached the registration area, they could not miss the many souvenirs displayed on an overflowing table nearby. These are the items being raffled to raise funds for the Enlace/Outreach Subcommittee that for more than 20 years has been granting scholarships to bring Latin American information professionals to participate at SALALM annual conferences.

Stay tuned for tomorrow for a report on the keynote speech and much more.

SALALM's 55th Annual Meeting from Providence.

2010-07-24T10:56:00.003-04:00

More than 180 SALALM members (librarians,vendors and visitors) have gathered at Providence for the group's annual meeting which started on Thursday (July 22nd) and is being hosted by Brown University.

SALALM's professional activities started with two pre-conferences:

1) An eclectic group of 22 SALAMistas enjoyed a unique experience: studying rare books dating back to the 17th century as part of the "History of the Book in Mexico" seminar.

2) A similarly eager group of 7 professionals new to Latin American Studies learned about collection development where topics ranged from Spanish-language publishing to the ever-present discussion of everything digital (e-books, e-journals...).

The first day of internal meetings (Friday, July 23rd) provided a full agenda where veteran librarians, vendors from Latin America and Europe and few newcomers participated in discussions on a wide variety of topics of interest beyond Latin American Studies Librarianship: reference services and BI in a digital environment; electronic resources; reduced budgets; cooperative collection development projects, etc.

It is all part of the umbrella of the conference's theme: "The Future of Latin American Library Collections and Research: Contributing and Adapting to Trends in Research Libraries."
As good colleague and friend from the other side of the Rhode Island borders says: more as it happens.

2010-07-21T14:48:00.002-04:00

Dear loyal blog readers,

Just sending along another plug for our eSALALM session on Saturday, thinking that this kind of stuff might be especially interesting to those of you who are part of our blogosphere. See some of you soon! //pamela

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A reminder that we will be holding an e-SALALM Discussion on Saturday, July 24th, 1:30 – 2:30 p.m. in State Suite B of the Providence Biltmore.

Please join us to discuss and provide feedback on several topics related to using technology and the internet to disseminate information about SALALM. The discussion will focus on the following topics and we welcome the attendance and input of all SALALM members.

SALALM Newsletter -- possibilities and opportunities for online publishing of newsletter content (a recommendation from the Editorial Board will be distributed via LALA-L prior to the conference)

SALALM Publications-- options for online access and publishing of SALALM content (conference papers, etc.)

Webinars -- opportunities for engaging in training and sharing SALALM expertise via webinars

For members who won't be attending the conference next week, please contact us with any ideas and suggestions related to these topics.

Since we only have an hour it’s going to be a tight squeeze but, should time permit, we’d love to hear what other ideas you might have.

Thanks!

Pamela and Orchid

Pecha Kucha: SALALM LV

2010-07-15T09:34:00.002-04:00

I'd like to invite you all to attend SALALM's inaugural Pecha Kucha!

Also many other thrilling presentations; see the Program for more details.
See you there!
Alison H

Exhibits on Latin America at Brown University during the SALALM LV Congress

2010-06-16T18:35:00.004-04:00

John Hay Library
20 Prospect St. (12 minute walk from the Biltmore Hotel)
Monday - Friday 10:00-5:00
John Carter Brown Library
94 George St. (13 minute walk from the Biltmore Hotel)
Monday - Friday 8:30-5:00, Saturday 9:00-12:00
Pérez de Soto, a Book Collector Faces the Inquisition

A joint exhibition in honor of the SALALM LV Congress. Melchor Pérez de Soto, a Mexican astrologer and architect, built one of the most impressive private collections of printed books in 17th Century Mexico. According to an inventory of its library made by clerks of the Inquisition, the collection contained 1,592 volumes, covered various disciplines, and represented authors from the classical to contemporary periods. During the last five years of his life, the Holy Office gathered evidence on perceived heretical activities carried out by Pérez de Soto which included practicing astrology and owning prohibited books. He was arrested by the officers of the Inquisition on January 13, 1655, and spent several weeks in solitary confinement. He was found dead in his prison cell on March 17 of the same year. This exhibit illustrates the depth and breadth of the Pérez de Soto private collection and provides a glimpse into one of the finest minds among humanists in colonial Mexico.

Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology at Manning Hall
Campus Green (13 minute walk from the Biltmore Hotel)
Tuesday - Sunday 10-4
Reimagining the Americas

This exhibit brings together innovative anthropological ideas and evocative artifacts from the Amazon to the Arctic to plumb the cultural diversity of the Americas before European contact and explore the forgotten histories of its indigenous people. Building on recent discoveries and methods developed by archaeologists and anthropologists over the past decades, Reimagining the Americas uses cutting-edge perspectives to illustrate intriguing, often complex, histories through artifacts of ceramic and stone, jade and gold, bone and textiles that illuminate the past and expose themes that resonate with present and future concerns. From the arrival of humans in the Americas to the rediscovery of ancient Amazonian cultures and the deciphering of lost histories written by the Maya and Aztec, Reimagining the Americas challenges us to rethink the past and to recognize 13,000 years of indigenous achievements before Europe looked to the west.

Ibero American Cinema at Harvard

2010-05-17T17:30:00.007-04:00

El cine como historia; la historia como cine: Simposio internacional sobre cine iberoamericano was held at the Harvard University Film Archive from May 7-9, 2010.

Among the many presenters were Néstor García Canclini (UNAM), who wondered (as did other presenters) whether there is such a thing as Ibero American cinema in this age of co productions, television-sponsored films (HBO), and international financing. Juana Suárez (Univ. of Kentucky) and Gonzalo Aguilar (U. Buenos Aires) spoke about the international and multi-national nature of Ibero American film as well.

Historical memory and documentary film in Spain was a major topic, addressed by Ignacio Oliva Mompeán (Univ. de Castilla-La Mancha), Francisco A. Zurian (Univ. Carlos III) and Josetxo Cerdán (Univ. Rovira I Virgili). Oliva Mompeán discussed films made outside of Spain that address events of the Spanish Civil War: Muerte en el valle (Cristina Hardt) and Land and Freedom (Ken Loach) are two of them; to date few films addressing historical memory of the period have been made in Spain. He referenced the website “Imágenes contra el olvido” (http://www.imagenescontraelolvido.com/) which archives 13 such films.

From Cuba, Juan Antonio García Borrero (Camaguey) spoke about “ICAICentrismo” in Cuban film history, mentioning films produced by organizations and people outside of Cuban National Film Institute, and Luciano Castillo (San Antonio de los Baños) discussed the productions of Cuba Sono Film. Both García Borrero and Castillo have published extensively on film in Cuba.

Other notable speakers were Jorge Ruffinelli (Stanford Univ.), who discussed the work of Glauber Rocha while in Cuba; Román Gubern (Univ. de Barcelona), on anti-Semitism in Spanish postwar cinema, and Leonardo García Tsao (Cineteca Nacional de México) on Mexican cinema.

Laura Baigorri (Univ. de Barcelona) gave a presentation on video art in Latin America and discussed the project “Videoarde” (http://videoarde.com/). This presents a series of workshops, links, and publications; she hopes to develop a database of Latin American video art as part of the project.

The Colombian film director Víctor Gaviria presented three of his films: Vendedora de rosas, Medellín: sumas y restas and Rodrigo D no futuro and held discussions after each with Jorge Ruffinelli.

Jet setting librarians Patricia Figueroa (Brown Univ.), Jesús Alonso Regalado (SUNY Albany) and Lynn Shirey (Harvard) were in attendance and purchased copies of titles on Cuban film for their collections.

Lynn Shirey (Harvard University)

Subject Guides 2.0 continued...

2010-05-13T12:01:00.002-04:00

Lists of web links were one of the biggest headaches of 1.0 subject guides. Links went out of date or got hijacked, and the long list of text was overwhelming. While the question of cataloging and archiving free web links is far from being resolved, there are a now a few options to make this an easier process. Intute, from the University of Oxford, is a database of links to academic web resources [disclaimer; I used to work for Intute] and it allows you to embed their search box on your page. Intute resources are evaluated by librarians and are strongest in Iberian resources.

LANIC remains the strongest for Latin American resources [disclaimer; I used to work for LANIC.] Thanks to Kent Norsworthy, LANIC search boxes that search the LANIC site, the LAOAP project or the e-text collection can also now be embedded on your page. For both resources, researchers will search from your page but the results page is part of Intute or LANIC's site.

If these resources don't give you the flexibility that is needed, it is very easy to create and embed your own search engine that searches a specific subset of websites. Simply select the web pages that you wish to search and Rollyo or Google Custom Search will allow you to create and embed your own mini search engine. The easiest option is Google's On the Fly Search box, which makes an existing page of links, blog or directory searchable, with no account needed. A final option would be to tag useful websites in a social bookmarking tool, such as delicious. It is then possible to display your links as a linkroll (list of new links) or as a tagroll (cloud of new tags) on your page. All these link tools present information in a visually attractive way, and take the hassle out of updating pages of links. By adding a widget or direct connection to the resource, you're making the search process more visible and attractive too.

While all these tools make it much easier to ensure that your page contains the most accurate and up to date resources, it's often impossible to work on web pages regularly. There are a few tricks though, that give the impression that your page is constantly being updated, while also helping contribute to the learning community atmosphere. This is where those RSS tools that you learned from one of my previous columns come into play...

Using a program such as Feedburner or Feedsource it is possible to embed appropriate RSS feeds into your webpage. (Libguides users don't have to use these tools- just select embed RSS feed.) An RSS feed is new content from a specific page, which is automatically updated. Using RSS on your subject guide is just another way to display current information for your subject area-here are some ideas for relevant feeds.

Instead of providing a long list of appropriate academic journal titles, you could embed the latest journal Table of Contents on your page. Try TicTocs for a list of RSS feeds from academic journals. Including relevant news on your page makes a lot of sense too- instead of enumerating useful news websites, use RSS to embed LANIC's Twitter feed of news stories, Molly Molloy's Frontera list serv or BBC headlines. You could even use RSS to bring in appropriate photos from Flickr or a photo sharing website. These tools help to break up the text based subject guide, as well as physically demonstrating to students what useful web resources exist.

A final key feature of the 2.0 subject guide is providing space for feedback and/or interaction. Web 2.0 is all about conversation and community; the idea that content is a shared process that isn't imposed top down. So enabling a comments feature, a poll for people to vote on different topics or an IM chat window ensures that there is a mechanism for communication and feedback, even if, in actual fact, very few people actually use this feature...

All of these features are quick, easy to implement, and achievable even if you don't use LibGuides. The tools allow you to present relevant information in a visually attractive and interactive way, that make the lost of a subject guide format.

(Quick Update: Thanks to Sócrates and Orchid from HAPI for putting the HAPI tutorials on Youtube. This means that they can easily be embedded on your page. Search for HAPI on the UCLA Youtube channel.)

Alison Hicks
alison.hicks @ colorado.edu
University of Colorado, Boulder

Choosing your own time….at the 2010 Buenos Aires Book Fair

2010-04-28T23:19:00.026-04:00

Sunday, April 19th. Not too much traffic on Avenida del Libertador yet. It is, after all, barely past noon on a Sunday. “Lindo dia,” I say to the taxi driver, “es un domingo peronista,” he replies. When I ask why, he proceeds to tell me how politicians used to gather after a typical Sunday “asado” and some good Argentine wine, to plot “como joder al pais…” then adds, “como los de ahora…" Who would have thought that simple weather question would uncover such deep political sentiments, which appear to have been building up for some time now.

Soon we arrived at my destination, the Recoleta section of Buenos Aires, probably best known for the cemetery where Evita’s tomb is located and home to a home of trendy shops, restaurants, and museums. A few Salamistas are in town already for the annual book fair and I have just run into Alfonso Vijil, later that afternoon we will run into the Karnos at the Museo de Arte Hispanoamericano Isaac Fernandez Blanco

I will have my yearly dose of “asado” before visiting the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes for an exhibit on Martin Fierro, the 1920’s avant garde publication. Wondering through the exhibit, I cannot help to think about a forthcoming event in California where Stanford and Berkeley will host a joint exhibit in September 2010 to celebrate Mexico’s Independence Bicentennial and the 100th Anniversary of the Revolution. My ongoing dreams about Pancho Villa, Emilino Zapata, and independence heroes Vicente Guerrero and Xavier Mina are a constant reminder that the due date approaches. At least mine are “heroic dreams,” not nightmares.

Monday, April 20th. This morning Phil MacLeod (Emory University) and I will follow a “recorrido libresco” up Avenida Corrientes home to many a bookstore. A pre-book fair outing that will supplement what awaits us the next day. It’s more manageable to visit “librerías” that carry the kind of materials of interest to an academic audience like ours.

Asunto Impreso’s Librería de la Imagen appears to be closer to our hotel than in previous years, perhaps is the pleasant weather that makes the recorrido seem less cumbersome. Along the way we stop by the place where last year I found the movie outlet Blackman, familiar to us all for it’s wide selection of Argentine films. But the office is closed (it’s past 11:30am and there is no indication of when it will open).

When we arrive the art bookstore, Alfonso Vijil is just leaving and points to the new women’s bookstore next door. It’s the one familiar to SALALM members from its previous location on same street where the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo also have their coffee/book shop.

I alert Phil that books will all be wrapped in plastic and we'll have to ask the staff to unwrap them. Surprisingly, not all of them are and we are able to browse at the “novedades” shelf with much ease. Perhaps the publisher headed my plea a few months ago at the Bogotá book fair when I complained, actually, suggested that at least an “ejemplar de muestra” be available.

I jotted down several titles, and purchased one for the library the bilingual book *Arte naïf : libros de notas : una visión poética de la vida : 34 artistas Argentinos (OCLC: 47841717), although this is a special edition in a case and with some original prints.

For my own collection I purchase: *Body Politics. Políticas del cuerpo en la fotografía latino-americana (OCLC: 495778935); and *Desnudos sudamericanos (OCLC: 516281697), which appears to be available also as a photo portfolio, but that’s beyond my budget. A set of the photos has been on exhibit in Los Angeles until just a few days ago.

We now move next door to the women’s bookshop, where I take down many more titles, which I will have to reconstruct from memory since I lost my ubiquitous notebook on the last day of the fair!

On the way back to the hotel, I recognize the restaurant where last year Teresa Chapa (UNC-Chapel Hill) and I had our very own “comida casera,” It’s just before the lunch rush hour and we go in for an early meal so that we can make it on time for the matinee showing of this years Oscar winner for best foreign film, EL Secreto de tus ojos, which just a few days ago has opened in selected cities in the United States.

For dinner I will meet a friend from my UC-Santa Barbara days. He lives in the northern section of Belgrano and does not teach on Mondays and has agreed to meet me for an early dinner, early for him, but way too late for me at 8:30pm.

Tuesday, April 21st. Today will be the second part of our “paseo imperdible” up Avenida Corrientes, this time all the way to the Callao intersection….looking for…..books, what else. The vibrant publishing industry of Buenos Aires has been recognized by the Ministerio de Desarrollo Económico not only as a worthy enterprise but also one of commercial value celebrated with a “Noche de Librerías”.

Our first stop will be Antigona, which has expanded into the Centro Cultural de la Cooperación that houses a series of performance spaces and a coffee shop. We spend most of the morning there, probably annoying other customers with our constant “have you seen this book? And this other one?” But, Phil will have to fill in the blanks…. my notes are gone in that notebook I lost on my last day at the book fair.

After lunch, I take a well deserved rest and catch up reading the dailies I have accumulated during the past 48 hours: La Nación, The Buenos Aires Herald and the Argentine edition of Spain’s El País. There is already some press coverage of the book fair that opens the next day, one day shorter for the “días de profesionales,” but still 3 weeks for the general public.

Wednesday, April 22nd. Our visit to the fair grounds at La Rural will start with an early bus ride at 8:30am. The group of 7 Reforma and SALALM librarians and a few other US distributors is being generously supported by Fundacion ExportAr. After a brief meeting/reception with book fair dignitaries, some of us will hit the aisles, while others will meet publishers. Our task for the next 2 days will be, “comprar, mucho, pero mucho” as we have been instructed by our hosts,

During one of the first meetings with publishers when I explained that we work with distributors, he gave me a copy of booklet on the Editores del Plata, which brings together several independent publishers in an attempt to compete with both large publishers and distributors.

Thursday, April 23rd. Today will be a continuation of the previous day, meeting with publishers, visiting stands, check the OPAC.... While visiting the almost hidden section that housed the combined regional Argentine research centers I saw fellow SALALMista Peter Alterkrüger from Berlin's Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut. He did not see me until the following day when I was madly in search of my lost notebook.

To end the evening it will be dinner with one of SALALAM’s vendors in Uruguay (Luis and Carlos Retta). They seem to have convinced Colombian vendor Angela Silva Castillo (Siglo del Hombre) to attend the upcoming Brown conference this July. She already who knows several SALALMistas from the Bogota and Guadalajara book fairs.

Friday, April 23th. Last day, which we know share with the general public. I am seated by the Clarín stand, which competes with La Nación, not only for daily readers but also for space at the fair main entrance. I am joined at my table by a pair of older ladies with whom I share my copy of La Nacion’s literary supplement, adn Cultura “lo importante es leer, no importa que sea de la competencia,” says one of them. When I ask what time it is, the other one shows me her watch and says, “elije vos a tu gusto,” the same response she got from a youngster when she asked the same question. It’s almost 6pm and the closing reception for "Profesionales" is about to start, so I bid my farewell to them as they join the thousands of "porteños" who have come to "curiosear," through all the many aisles overflowing with books.

Saturday, April 24th. One last minute visit will be to a DVD store that sells a variety of Argentine films. We thought they opened at 10am and arrived promptly at 10:05. When the sales clerk arrived at 10:15 and saw 2 SALAMistas and 1 Reformista, I thought he would close the door and wait until 10:30. But he welcomed us inside the small locale. Little did he know that we would drive him crazy: me asking for the same movies that Phil had bought a few days earlier and Alfonso Vijil saying he also wanted a set…plus a few more he needed.

If my Buenos Aires trip started with a visit to a museum, it was very fitting that it should end with a similar visit, to the MALBA’s show on art of the Cuban avant garde. I had no more room in my carry on luggage, so I exercised restraint while visiting the museum bookshop. Besides, I was already late for the hotel check out and would be heading for the airport soon.

As I mentioned earlier, I lost my notebook with multiple book titles and diary entries, but here are some titles of interest. For public and academic libraries:

*Editorial Capital Intelectual
El Atlas III: Un mundo al revés. De la hegemonía occidental al policentrismo. It's part of series that includes Atlas de las religiones (OCLC: 497187406, already at Los Angeles Public Library); and Atlas del Medio Ambiente. They are translated from the French by Le Monde Diplomatique and can be a good reference source.

*Editorial el Maizal has a series of books on various aspects of Argentine life: tango, wines, gauchos as well two others on native Mapuche culture

*From La Marca Editores the Registro Gráfico series includes some bilingual titles that supplement those from Maizal above.

*Editorial Heliasta has several dictionaries on law and business, some bilingual (see the diccionarios section at their site)

*Retina Editores has an interesting book, Potrero, on soccer culture in Argentina's working class neighborhoods (OCLC: 271111308).

For Academic Libraries:
From Retina Editores,
SANGRE/ BLOOD: Buenos Aires - Rio de Janeiro -México DF – Medellín (by Diego Levy) documents violence throughout some of the major metropolitan areas in Latin America.

Poesía diaria: porque el silencio es mortal (a series of “desaparecido” notices that appeared in the daily Página 12, OCLC: 213098498)

From Editorial Aquilina
A series of detective fiction titles seemed to be of potential interest to our literary clientele, especially 1-2 graphic novels. A virtual browsing through their recent published titles is possible, giving it "hip" sense of it all, right?

You can also see read some of the "prensa" generated by this new/independent publisher.

Photo of SALAMistas courtesy of Luis Retta.
L-r: Phil Mcleod, Carlos Retta, Adan Griego, Alfonso Vijil, Luis Retta and Angela Silva Castillo.

Closing reception photo courtesy of Maria Kramer (Redwood City Public Library, California)

XIX International Book Fair in Habana, Cuba. February 11-21, 2010

2010-04-13T13:32:00.002-04:00

By Martha Mantilla

I traveled to Cuba using Pitt’s Center for Latin American Studies license and Title VI funding for book acquisition trips. The administrators from CLAS advised me to request my visa, plane ticket and hotel accommodations through MARAZUL, a travel agency located in NY.

I got my initial taste of Cuba at JFK airport in New York. From the time I joined the other passengers of this charter flight, I felt like part of a very large Cuban family traveling together. Most of them were Cubans living in the US.

Before boarding the airplane, we spent four hours making three different lines: one to get our boarding passes, another to check- in our baggage and one more to pay the airport fees. While we stand in line, people were spontaneously sharing their reasons for their travel, telling stories about live in Cuba and giving tips on what to do to avoid extra charges at the José Martí international airport in Habana. I learned that in addition to paying at the JFK airport for the luggage, we would also have to pay at the José Martí airport. The general view of the Cuban travelers was that their Cuban compatriots would try to overcharge them for their luggage. Thus, they were a little bit concerned about that. Traveling with a lot of stuff was almost the norm for most passengers since they were bringing food, medicines, and other things to their families and friends.

I engaged in a very lively conversation with the people standing besides me on the lines. I asked one of them the reason for his travel and the length of his stay in Cuba. He said that his trip was going to be short: he was going to Havana to shave Castro’s beard and come back. I started laughing! I later learned that this compatriota from Medellín, Colombia, was actually not traveling to Cuba. He was helping a Cuban passenger carrying all his stuff: suitcases, boxes, and more. My time at the airport was spent between reading “La sombra del viento” de Carlos Ruiz Zafón and listening to the most fascinating and lively conversations.

I was lucky from the start. The man next to my seat in the airplane was the eighty-year old Cuban who had spent most of the morning at the airport singing coplas that he would compose on the spot. His nice told me that it was very common for him to make coplas related to the situation he was experiencing at that particular moment and sing them. This sweet viejito coplero kept singing from time to time with joy and humor. We arrived in Havana as scheduled. I went through immigration and customs without trouble and did not have to pay any luggage fees for my tiny suitcase. The representative from MARAZUL helped me to change money and put me on a taxi on my way to hotel Vedado. I felt the wonderful breeze of the sea, saw again the lights of the Malecón and wonderful memories came back. I had been in Cuba in four previous occasions, the last one in 2000. I noticed changes on the streets. I saw Pullman buses used tourists and public transportation as well as modern cars of recent models and different makers. I did not recall seeing those on my previous trips. The bicycles and well-known old Cuban automobiles were also populating the Havana streets.

The next day I went to the Hotel Nacional, two blocks from the Vedado, to change money to CUCs. I started a conversation with a Cuban who kindly took me to a Casa de Cambios to get moneda nacional, which I needed it for buying books at the Book Fair. Many books at the fair and on the street are sold in moneda nacional. My next step was to get to the Fortaleza San Carlos de la Cabaña the fortress where the Book Fair took place. Located on the east side of the Havana Bay, this is an impressive fortress with XVIIIth Century walls. Every night at 9 p.m., soldiers dressed in suits of the epoch shoot “el cañonazo de las nueve”, (the gunshot of the nine). I took a taxi to get there. I had learned about taxis, mostly used by foreigners, which are easily recognizable and clearly marked. The jitney-like cars (colectivos), on the other hand, are basically for the Cubans. Taxis are to be paid in CUCs, thus significantly more expensive than the jitney-like cars, which are paid in moneda nacional. Some Cubans I met, being somewhat concern about me paying for taxis, wanted me to ride with them in the jitney-like cars. Indeed, I rode a jitney-like car once with a Cuban guy that I met at the Book Fair. He asked me to keep my mouth shut while riding the car because he did not want the driver to know that I was not a native. As a foreigner, I was not supposed to ride the jitney-like cars. He later offered to get for me a “cuban outfit” so that I would blend in more easily, to which I politely declined.

One of the highlights of my trip was a memorable tour that Joaquín Borges Triana gave me of Havana Vieja. We had met by e-mail when he contacted me in 2009 about his newly published book “Concierto cubano/Cuban Concert”. In our exchange of e-mails, we agreed on having coffee together if I ever traveled to Cuba. We met at the Café Escorial, a very cozy place in a beautifully renovated building with a tradition in coffee business located in la Plaza Vieja. While we walked through the narrow streets of Old Havana, Joaquín gave me a little bit of history of some of the buildings: Hotel Plaza, Gran Teatro de la Habana, the Cathedral. We stopped at the Biblioteca Publica Provincial and met Joaquín’s friend Gretell Lobelle, the Director of the library, who gave us a tour. I was very impressed with the facilities and the services of this public library as well as the José Martí Public Library, which I also visited.

What I admired the most, in both libraries, were the rooms for services to the blind and vision-impaired. Fully equipped with the latest equipment and computer technology, these rooms were attended by vision-impaired librarians trained in the use of the latest computer technology for the blind and vision-impaired users. I remember the librarian at the José Martí Public Library telling me about the endless doors that the new computer technology has opened for the blind.

At the Book Fair, I attended the presentation of Joaquin’s latest book, “La luz, bróder, la luz: Canción Cubana Contemporánea”. He introduced me to some of his friends including Victor Casaus, Director of the Centro Cultural Pablo de la Torriente Brau. This Center seeks to rescue and maintain alive the collective memory of the Cuban nation through a program called MEMORIA devoted to the research and promotion of Cuban oral history. The Centro Pablo held a number of activities commemorating the birth centennial of Miguel Hernández, including presentations of a new generation of Cuban TROVADORES in the fair’s Programa Artistico Cultural held throughout the city. I also met Fidel Díaz Castro at the Book Fair who is the Director of the Caimán Barbudo. He kindly gave me several publications including issues of Caimán Barbudo to fill gaps of the Pitt’s Latin American Collection.

I visited the Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria inematografica (ICAIC) together with Patricia Figueroa and we met with Lic. Rosa María Rovira García, Directora de Relaciones Internacionales. We talked about the Cuban Film Series that Pitt is planning for the Fall and the experience in Brown with a similar program. I also visited the Instituo Cubano de Investigación Cultural Juan Marinello and made exchange agreements. I bought some of the library materials although many of them were given to me as gifts for Pitt’s LA collection. The generosity of the Cuban people never cease to amaze me. On this trip I was reminded, once more, of the generosity that was afforded to me during a conference in Education that I attended in the mid 90s during the Período Especial. Eventhough the mid 90s were a period of economic hardship, I was tremendously moved by a teacher who gave me a gift of a T-Shirt, which I had complemented it the day before when I saw her wearing it. Once again, on this recent trip, I was surprised when a book vendor took his scarf off and gave it to me after I had completed it. The gratitude one feels, for their generosity, is hard to express in words.

My Book Fair trip to this beautiful island in the Caribbean was unforgettable. I made time to walk in the Malecón, the avenue that runs along the seawall at the northern shore of Havana, had a meal with a Cuban family, attended a concert of the Cuban Van Van and another concert of Polito Ibáñez in the teatro Mella. I met wonderful people along the way. Our exchange of e-mails is already working well. The packages with the books, journals, CDs and other materials that I acquired in Cuban are arriving safely to Pittsburgh. My fear that the materials would be lost in the mail is gone. I am already starting to dream about my next trip to Cuba.

SALALM/JCB workshop on the History of the Book in Mexico -- JULY 28, 2010

2010-04-02T10:56:00.004-04:00

Given the interest expressed on the SALALM Pre-conference workshop on the "History of the Book in Mexico" on July 22nd, the instructor, Ken Ward, Maury A. Bromsen Curator of Latin American Books at the John Carter Brown Library, has agreed to offer a repeat session on July 28th. This session is open to anyone interested. Attending the SALALM congress is no longer a requirement. We have about 14 seats open at present.

Those interested in registering for this workshop may use the registration form found in: http://library.brown.edu/salalm2010/pre_conference.html

The registration fee is $100.00

All forms and checks for this workshop should be mailed directly to Ken Ward at the John Carter Brown Library. The address is indicated in the form.

Overview of the program:
Session 1: "History of the Book in Spain and Latin America"
Session 2: "History of the Book in Mexico"
Session 3: "The Role of Women in Printing and the Book Trades in Mexico"
Session 4: "Collection Development in Colonial Mexico - Monastic Libraries and Private Collectors"

A list of suggested readings for each section will be provided, and each session will feature materials drawn from the John Carter Brown's Library collection.

Please note that registration for the July 22nd JCB workshop is now closed. We are only accepting registrations for the July 28th repeat session.

If you have any question, please contact Ken Ward directly at Kenneth_Ward@brown.edu.

Julio Herrera y Reissig: La mejor de las fieras humanas

2010-03-26T17:36:00.003-04:00

Julio Herrera y Reissig: La mejor de las fieras humanas

"Este sitio está dedicado a Julio Herrera y Reissig. Aquí se puede leer su poesía, observar facsimilares, imágenes y piezas olvidadas. También incluyo las repercusiones críticas de mi biografía del personaje [La mejor de las fieras humanas. Vida de Julio Herrera y Reissig. Montevideo: Taurus, 2010] y discusiones conexas."

Proyecto del Prof. Aldo Mazzucchelli, Hispanic Studies Department, Brown University.

PUBLICACIONES PERIÓDICAS DEL URUGUAY

2010-03-26T14:55:00.002-04:00

"PUBLICACIONES PERIÓDICAS DEL URUGUAY presenta la construcción progresiva de un sitio dedicado a la difusión, en formato digital, de periódicos que se publicaron en el Uruguay desde su constitución como país independiente y, aún antes, en la última etapa de la época colonial y durante los años de incertidumbre y conflictos que le sucedieron.
La prensa fue el espacio fundacional de discursos y discusiones, un ámbito propicio para la información de acontecimientos y disquisiciones intelectuales, de posiciones políticas, de aventuras literarias y artísticas, de miradas críticas rigurosas o polémicas, refiriendo tiempos y circunstancias, desde instancias que, dados los recursos tecnológicos actuales y sus incontenibles innovaciones, seguirán prolongándose.

Asimismo se podrán leer, en este sitio, las numerosas publicaciones organizadas o sostenidas por exilados e inmigrantes. Acontecimientos decisivos de la historia nacional se vieron reflejados en muchas de ellas (en italiano, francés, portugués e inglés, entre otras lenguas), por lo que son valioso testimonio tanto de la experiencia de una realidad extraña y nueva, la nuestra, como de los intereses y posiciones de los recién llegados ante sucesos locales y extranjeros.

Efímeras o duraderas, influyentes o marginales, sus páginas sorprenden por la multiplicidad de sus planteos, muchos de ellos todavía vigentes; sorprenden, algunas veces, por la belleza de su diagramación; otras veces, por la calidad de sus contenidos y los elevados atributos de sus colaboradores, por la gracia y humor de sus ocurrencias, por la virulenta severidad de las diatribas pero también, y en casi todos los casos, por el lamentable desconocimiento general en el que hoy se encuentran. Rescatadas y difundidas, son huellas y reliquias de vicisitudes y visiones que podrán favorecer la consolidación de nuevas reflexiones, de invenciones, de iniciativas de la imaginación que, gracias a las redes y sus tecnologías, habilitan el acceso a un tiempo que pasó y aún nos concierne."

Archivo de Prensa -- Biblioteca Digital de Autores Uruguayos

2010-03-26T14:37:00.002-04:00

Archivo de Prensa -- Biblioteca Digital de Autores Uruguayos

"El Seminario de análisis de la comunicación, de Ciencias de la comunicación, Universidad de la República se ha propuesto habilitar este Archivo de prensa con el fin de difundir textos e imágenes, entrevistas, testimonios, obras periodísticas y literarias del pasado uruguayo que, hasta ahora, no fueron de fácil acceso ni frecuente atención."

Iberian Studies in SALALM has a Blog

2010-03-26T13:35:00.002-04:00

Please visit the ISiS Blog and share your comments.

Latin American Travelogues digital project -- 135 new volumes added

2010-03-26T11:51:00.003-04:00

The Latin American Travelogues digital collection draws on the expertise of Prof. James N. Green, Professor of Latin American history; Patricia Figueroa, Curator of Iberian and Latin American Collections; students; and the staff of the Center for Digital Scholarship at Brown University Library.

The goal of this project is to create a digital collection of Latin American travel accounts written in the 16th-19th centuries. The works selected are linked to critical essays produced by undergraduate students who are enrolled in Prof. Green's courses on Latin American history. This site will serve as a free-access visual and research tool for students and scholars alike.

The main purpose of the project is to integrate Brown's Latin American special collections into the classroom; to introduce students to their research value; to promote them as an undergraduate research tool; to make them freely accessible world-wide; and to preserve them for a future generation of scholars.

We welcome questions and comments about this project.

Subject Guides 2.0: The first installment

2010-03-24T12:53:00.002-04:00

Underused and neglected, subject guides seem to struggle to pull their weight in today's library. Students rarely seem to know that they exist, while pages are either outdated or barely touch the surface of potential online and library resources. Notwithstanding, subject guides often remain the only web presence that bibliographers have in the tightly controlled library website. Furthermore, this page may be one of the only contacts the digital native student has with the library.

2.0 subject guides still fulfill their original purpose of pointing students in the direction of resources but they expand the potential of the subject guide by creating a dynamic learning community. By providing a one stop shop for easily accessible research resources, the subject guide serves as a complete community or subject hub. This helps students become immersed and grounded within their subject, making their research more relevant and thereby directly contributing to academic learning objectives.

Many different tools are used to create subject guides in libraries; LibGuides from Springshare are a popular choice, while other libraries have gone with blogs and wikis, or stuck with plain html. Whatever the format, this column aims to provide ideas to jazz up research guides and convert static subject guides into dynamic learning communities.

According to Jakob Nielsen, most people take under 1 second to decide whether to stay on a webpage or not. Most web page visits last 2-4 minutes. Therefore, if we want to ensure patrons use our subject guides, it is important that they are attractive (clear, easy to use) and have enough easily accessible content to make them stay there- and to return. Furthermore, it is important to remember that patrons come looking for answers, not tools. While a list of useful tools make the librarian happy, the same list can be off putting and overwhelming to patrons who have no idea how or where to start. So how can we include useful academic content in a visually attractive way that inspires students to use our resources?

One simple way is to embed widgets into the subject guide. A widget is a chunk of code that you can easily paste into your page and which provides a dynamic link back to an original resource. A widget is usually a tool that can be used directly from your page, for example a search box for a database. Widgets break up the text on a page and mean that students can find and use resources straightaway rather than following endless links to the library's main page. Furthermore, a search box is a familiar option that implies immediate results; an attractive option for students!

Widgets are starting to become more and more frequent. They already exist for many Spanish and Portuguese databases, including ones housed through Proquest and Ebsco. Redalyc and JSTOR among others are also in on the action. Widgets also include tools that students might need during their research. Oxford Language Dictionaries Online or Wordreference both provide code for dictionary widget search boxes. Including easy access to tools that students use in their research not only makes your page look more thoughtful and user friendly but it also contributes to the learning community feel of the subject guide and encourages use of academic tools.

Videos and video tutorials are also prime candidates to embed on your webpage. Many libraries are uploading video tutorials directly to Youtube, Google video or other video sharing websites. These videos are easy to embed on your web page; simply cut and paste the code on the right of the video. On the other hand, it may be easier to produce your own video tutorial. Jing, free screencasting software, is a very simple and user friendly way to record five minute videos. It also automatically uploads and provides the embedding code for your video. For videos that don't provide embedding code, here is a quick tutorial.

If you can copy and paste, you can embed a widget. And, if you are using Libguides, it is even easier to embed these tools. Widgetify your life!

The next column will include more ideas to transform your subject guide.

Alison Hicks
University of Colorado, Boulder
Alison.Hicks @ colorado.edu

19th International Book Fair, Habana, Cuba, February 11-21, 2010

2010-03-22T18:41:00.009-04:00

Getting the license and authorization letter to travel to Cuba through Brown University was a smooth process. The Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at Brown offers a study abroad program at Casa de las Americas in La Habana and a number of students and faculty members have already set the path for Cuban travel. I received Title VI funding for the trip and was advised to request my visa and plane ticket through Common Ground Education and Travel. My port of departure from the United States was Miami where I boarded a 50 minute charter flight to La Habana.

Prior to leaving for Cuba I had made arrangements to stay at a casa particular in El Vedado. This private bed and breakfast was run by Caridad Vera and her husband Elio Rodriguez Peréz. I was so happy with their services and friendship that I created a free Webpage through Yola for them: http://casavera.yolasite.com.

I arrived in La Habana on Monday February 15th in the afternoon. Changing my Euros to Cuban Convertible Pesos (CUC) at the José Martí International Airport was rather easy; however I failed to also acquire a few pesos in moneda nacional which travelers need for riding the municipal bus system and purchasing a few token items. It’s recommended that you do not change US dollars to CUCs. Not only is the US dollar worth less than the CUC but there is an additional 10% bank charge for the US currency.

The next day, I was able to visit the Feria International del Libro thanks to the kindness of a stranger. Not having any moneda nacional on me as I was boarding the special bus to the Fortaleza of San Carlos de la Cabaña, I had to ask the lady standing behind me for change. She quickly offered to pay for my bus ticket and for the entrance to the fair grounds. All I had to do is keep my mouth shut since foreigners have to pay a special price. I would have gladly paid the price for extranjeros but at the time following her advice seemed like the fastest way to get to my destination. Once we got through the doors my new companion paid to have our bags put away in a locker (you cannot enter the exhibits halls with handbags) and showed me around the various rooms where the publisher and bookdealer stands were located. Unfortunately, I soon realized that most books were sold in moneda nacional and I didn’t have the heart to ask my friend for change and, through her boundless generosity, have her pay for Brown’s burgeoning Cuban book collection. I just looked around with the intention of returning the following day.

I didn’t find any materials at the fair that I couldn’t purchase through my regular bookdealer. When you purchase books in Cuba you must keep in mind that you will need special permission to take out of the country books, journals and maps published before a certain date. The Biblioteca Nacional and the Instituto del Libro will assess the materials and process the paperwork for you.

On Wednesday I visited the Instituto Cubano de Arte e Industria Cinematográficos (ICAIC) with Martha Mantilla. I knew a few people from the ICAIC thanks to a Cuban panel and film series that was organized last year by the Providence Latin American Film Festival (PLAFF), an annual event co-sponsored by Brown University. Unfortunately we missed the Festival de jovenes realizadores cubanos that was due to start the following week.

That afternoon I walked along the Malecón to Casa de las Americas to visit its library and bookstore. The staff was friendly and very helpful. The gentleman managing the bookstore even created a list of Cuban films I should purchase for Brown’s collection.

On Thursday, I visited the Biblioteca Nacional and La Habana Vieja were one may find small bookshops and street book vendors. In the afternoon I strolled down to the famous Heladeria Coppelia where locals and tourists alike may purchase tasty ice cream for a few pesos. Given the limited sitting space and the large crowds people are forced to share tables, a civil way to make new friends in a foreign land. I sat with a young couple attending university. They spoke about the reality of the job market for young Cubans, salaries and the varying levels of job satisfaction. Having spoken about the world financial crisis they paid for my almond ice cream. I was rather mortified, especially since I now had many pesos in moneda nacional in my pocket, but they would not have it any other way. We later exchanged e-mails.

Friday was my last full day in Cuba and I decided to visit film director and theoretician Fernando Birri (Santa Fe, Argentina, 1925) at the Escuela de Cine y Televisión de Tres Mundos (EICTV) in San Antonio de los Baños, near La Habana. Don Fernando, who donated his personal archive to Brown University two years ago, co-founded the EICTV with Colombian novelist and Nobel Prize recipient Gabriel García Márquez in 1986. Since its foundation, Birri travels to Cuba every year and stays at the school for about a month to see its progress and talk to faculty members and students. The EICTV not only offers an impressive program in film and television but is self-sustainable through agriculture.

I left Cuba on Saturday afternoon. My book fair companion made sure to meet me at the airport to say goodbye. Not once did she accept repayment for all the pesos I owed her and only reluctantly accepted my gifts of Argentinean chocolates and Panamanian cookies.

Traveling to Cuba was a unique and culturally enriching experience.

Public Libraries in Bogota and Medellin, Colombia

2010-03-15T18:01:00.008-04:00

Back in February I got the chance to visit a few public libraries in Bogota and Medellin. Below you'll find a brief description of each place and a link to the full story, including photographs.

Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia
Colombia's Nacional Library and Legal Deposit.
http://www.bilinguallibrarian.com/2010/02/19/biblioteca-nacional-de-colombia/

Biblioteca Luis Ángel Arango
Probably Colombia's most famous library. The library is owned by the Banco de la República de Colombia, but its doors are open to everyone.
http://www.bilinguallibrarian.com/2010/02/19/biblioteca-luis-angel-arango/

BiblioRed: Red Capital de Bibliotecas Públicas
Bogota's public library systems. I visited the Biblioteca Pública Parque El Tunal, and the Biblioteca Pública Virgilio Barco.
http://www.bilinguallibrarian.com/2010/02/20/bibliored-red-capital-de-bibliotecas-publicas/

Paradero Para Libros Para Parques
Small public library stands, usually found in parks. There are 47 in Bogota, and 100 across the country.
http://www.bilinguallibrarian.com/2010/02/21/paradero-para-libros-para-parques/

Parque Biblioteca España – Santo Domingo Savio
Medellin's most famous library. The library is located in Santo Domingo Savio, formally one of the most dangerous part of the city. The library has also won a number architectural of awards.
http://www.bilinguallibrarian.com/2010/02/26/parque-biblioteca-espana-santo-domingo-savio/

Surprising Visit to an Anarchist Book Fair

2010-03-14T18:55:00.044-04:00

Image
(http://www.crimethinc.com/blog/category/calling-all-anarchists/)

I had almost forgotten about it until a friend asked if I had plans to go to the Anarchist Book Fair. I replied, half jokingly, that the last I time I had been to one, it was an unusually warm day and the not so pleasant smell of body odor, combined with all the blooming trees and flowers at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, was just a bit too much for my allergies. I remember asking a true “lefty” friend if the annals of anarchy (I don’t think principles, or rules would be appropriate) commented on questionable hygiene as true anarchy. She gave me a “give me a F…ing break!” kind of look.

I decided going early (before the un-air conditioned warehouse by the park would hit above 70 degrees) would pre-empt worries about odors of any kind. So I called a Middle Eastern friend who boasts of his rugged adventures in India and claims he is always ready and willing to try new things in America.

I no longer have that 20-something “aventurero” spirit, the same one of my junior year abraod when I embarked for Spain with barely enough money to last only a few months. I spent a year there, the best of my limited West Texas existence!

The anarchist tide was in our favor, parking only a block away. We could already see a few [mostly white] young people sporting the attire de rigeur: overly worn black outfits, multicolored hair styles coupled with body piercings and tatooes. I was starting to feel that my dark green pants and blue shirt were not quite the uniform to fit in, especially the jacket….but more on that later.

At one of the first tables I found posters supporting the Zapatista and Nicaraguan revolutions. A few tables down there were others in support of immigrant rights, the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, the United Farm Workers.... I was starting to feel at home. Then I recognized some of the posters from an earlier show at San Francisco’s Galeria de la Raza: Dignidad Rebelde: Art in Action.

Some of the more established publishers like AK Press seem to have an extensive presence of Latin American titles. The stand of PM Press had a glossy catalog (80 pages) with titles from a collective of publishers with revealing names like: Big Noise Tactical Media, Found in Translation, Switchblade, Spectacular Fiction, Reach & Teach, Trade Root and the Green Arcade.

One of the titles will be familiar to those of us at the 2009 Guadalajara Book Fair, Diario de Oaxaca. It's a sketchbook journal by American graphic artist Peter Kuper's two years spent in Oaxaca at the same time that teachers's strike led to a seven month siege in 2006-2007.

Those same tragic events in what up to then had been a picturesque and bucolic Oaxaca were also the subject of a 19 page pamphlet (Broke Barricades: the Oaxaca Rebellion in Victorry, Defeat and Beyond) published in Palo Alto by the group Collective Reinventions. Who said there was no anarquist activity in the same town that's home to the Hoover Institution?

By chance, I happened to have the office’s Pcard, but I doubted any anarchist vendor would even consider it. Sure enough, I noticed a sign indicating “we accept checks and credit cards.!” I mentioned this to two other librarians I encountered there and we were all a bit surprised. I guess there is some truth to that old saying "if you cannot beat the enemy, join them."

In the past I have seen pamphlets by the Flores Magon brothers, considered to be intellectual precursors of the Mexican Revolution. A copy of their publication Regeneración in its original format is hard to find these days. That's probably more for the antiquarian book fair that comes to town in February of 2011. Those of you in New York can check at next month's fair and tell us what other treasures (anarquist or antiquarian) you found.

I stayed longer than expected and more than once lost sight of my Middle Eastern friend. He loved the whole experience, even argued with a young exponent of anarchist thought who finally admitted to him, “I am just here for the day….”

I must have been one of the few people with an outfit not really made for an early Spring anarchist gathering. A faux leather jacket does not quite cut it....but I had a great time....and happy to report no allergic reactions.

Antiquarians in the Age of E-everything (e-books, e-readers)

2010-02-15T22:12:00.067-05:00

Apple’s iPad was unveiled about 2 weeks before the San Francisco Antiquarian Book Fair. The latter event might almost look anachronistic at a time when e-readers seem to be the “último alarido de la moda….tecnológica,” certainly with more potent/newer technologies to come. And yet, for the avid collector/bibliophile, the bi-annual event held in the City by the Bay on even numbered years, was a “gran deleite visual” not easily reproduced in hand portable devices.

Some items seemed out of reach, no doubt: Bruce Weber’s O Rio de Janerio ranged from $1,800 for a signed edition to a mere $500 for the most affordable. I had gathered enough strength (and credit) to buy that one, but it was gone when I went back the second day!

Weber’s ventures into Iberoamericana may be lesser known than the highly seductive and charged images of sexually ambiguous men and women, but it's there, like the photo of the Chavela Vargas for her live 1994 concert in Madrid, after she had been (re)discovered by the Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar.

You had to look closely to find other rare Iberoamericana, and after browsing casually the first day, I went back (obsessed?) for a second round with lots of notes, not taken in any “dispositivo electrónico,” but done the old fashion way: with pencil and paper. This is not to say that laptops and cell phones were not present at the fair. Indeed they were, and they provided a good “pasatiempo” to many a dealer as there appeared to be fewer customers than in previous years.

Hidden among the many boxes of vintage postcards was a real treasure of images from the Mexican Revolution, some of which have a library presence at Yale or Texas A&M. (Did I miss other libraries?) The one I found of a woman soldier went beyond the iconic image of the “soldadera.” Here she was, surrounded by other "revolucionarios." Some one had written the words “mujer valiente” right next to the image on a horse, proudly posing for the camera, with her pistol, rifle on hand and “carrillera” ready for the next battle. I could not help thinking of the famous song that has cemented the fame of these “adelitas.”

And yes, in the age of the GPS, the antiquarian map goes beyond left and right turns to give us an ethnographic layout of a region, in this case mid 19^th century Mexico. Even a booth with travel posters gave a peek into the exotic art of going to far away and distant places. There’s always a surprise, like the one showcasing a Buenos Aires Book Fair from the 1940s with no tango motifs and certainly no Evita!

A ring of my cell phone told me it was time to get some lunch. Once I finish with my (un)traditional taco with no chiles and no onions, I go home to update my Facebook status so all my 450+ friends can hear about my antiquarian adventure!

Images above:
1) Borges Poem

2) Spanish Civil War Poster

3) Si Adelita se fuera con otro

4) Air France Travel Poster

2010-01-27T18:05:00.004-05:00

Language Learning 2.0

In 2007, the Modern Language Association (MLA) suggested a radical shakeup of modern language provision. Horrified at the lack of language skills and the two-tiered language and literature divide in foreign language departments, the MLA proposed that foreign language programs should evolve into a more relevant and integrated language, literature and culture curriculum.

The conclusions that the MLA came to were directly reflected in much of the theory behind CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning), a student centered, technology rich learning concept that aims to provide learners with an authentic context in which to practice language skills. The MLA's propositions were also reflected in the new scholarship of teaching and learning that uses web 2.0 as a bridge to make the process of learning more adaptive, more significant and more relevant to students today. Consequently, the new language learning 2.0 encompasses technology enhanced learning with a focus on real life situations and scenarios.

What are these language learning 2.0 tools that are being used to integrate culture and language in a realistic way into the classroom? I will cover a few tools here, before exploring how we can support the successful integration of these resources in Spanish and Portuguese departments.

The first category of tools involves web 2.0 as place- the creation of a online, collaborative classroom or interactive learning community that facilitates student immersion in the language and culture. Blogs and wikis have been used with certain success, but cool kids today are looking at Ning, a tool used to create a group space or social network. Functioning as an online classroom, Ning (which is available in many languages) gives students the opportunity to participate in a Spanish context outside the classroom, as well as making it easy for students to create and explore language through a variety of different media formats, (for example, video, audio, images and texts.)

The second category is formed by digital narrative tools. These are web based, interactive tools used to create online stories and research projects such as webquests, digital stories and videos. Students have to research and role play a story or an event in the language or add images, captions and music to narrate an online event. For extensive projects, iMovie from Apple provides a professional tool, while Jing from Camtasia is a fantastic, free and easy to use screen capturing tool (which has lots of applications in libraries too). Photostory from Microsoft memoryminer and even slide show software are tools used for digital storytelling as they provide easy ways for students to upload images, captions and narration. Audio programs such as Voicethread or Audacity allow students to add voice recordings and comments to images. These tools allow students to explore and engage creatively with the stories, events and culture of a country through the language they are learning.

What can librarians do to support these learning activities? For a start, many of these activities need original, primary sources in the target language or culture, such as images, video clips and music. Excellent sources of cultural objects are found in library databases such as Artstor and Naxos Music as well as more specific web resources, such as the videos from Jesús Alonso Regalado's guide, Pandora online music or the Europeana digital library, to name a few. Additionally, as many students or even instructors have little idea about where to find these types of resources, particularly in a foreign language, a review of online search techniques can be very useful to students. Finally, students and researchers should be reminded of basic copyright rules when they are using these primary sources in their classes, particularly if they are looking to publish student projects.

Language learning 2.0 is creative and collaborative with a growing community. Websites such as Language Box hosts examples of successful uses of technology in the classroom and is a great way to keep up with the field.

Alison Hicks
University of Colorado, Boulder
alison.hicks @ colorado.edu

Presidential message

2010-01-26T18:11:00.002-05:00

I would like to use this space to tell about some of the discussions that took place in late November during the Fall meeting of the Latin America Northeast Libraries Consortium (LANE), hosted by Angela Carreño of the New York University Libraries. The meeting was noticeably different from previous ones because the group had previously agreed to dedicate most of the time to discussing new models and possibilities for cooperative collection development among the members.

During the day-long discussion, we learned about how small groups of libraries within LANE (Brown and Dartmouth, Columbia and Cornell, and BorrowDirect consortium members, for example) are currently exploring and even starting to implement new models of cooperation. We also took time to map the collecting areas within each institution that have or are likely to be adversely affected by budget cuts. The idea was that by identifying those areas and sharing the information, the consortium would be better prepared to coordinate future decisions about collection development priorities and directions.

We also discussed the impact that electronic books might have on our Latin American and Iberian collections, and how could those fit into new models ofcooperative collection development. It was fascinating to hear how some libraries are beginning to incorporate e-book collections in different ways. Some, for example, are encouraging and financially supporting emerging ventures in this area, hoping that their support will be an incentive for the development of better digital products in the near future. Other libraries are proceeding more cautiously and are concerned about costs aswell as about the effect that the trend might have on the future quality of their collections. Interestingly, what did not seem to be possible to answer at this point in time was whether e-books would represent a replacement or a supplement of print.

Additionally, we learned about the 'Cloud Library' pilot project currently being conducted by New York University and OCLC Research. The objective of the project is to explore the cost-effectiveness of sourcing a significant proportion of NYU's local collection through the combination of large scale digital repositories and off site, shared print repositories. We also heard about the impact that the recent study released by Ithaka S+R, "What to Withdraw? Print Collections Management in the Wake of Digitization" (available at http://bibpurl.oclc.org/web/37738) ishaving in some libraries.

I describe the nature of these discussions to the broader SALALM community because the topics are tremendously relevant to the 2010 conference theme and I would like to encourage members to propose papers, presentations and/or workshops that relate to them. Something that became immediately apparent during our discussions was that more data and analysis are necessary to implement new cooperative collection development models that can both, sustain future research and teaching, and preserve the scholarly record. If SALALM, through its committees and its individual members can help to generate some of the data and the analysis that is relevant to Latin American Studies scholarship, the organization would possibly be making a very important contribution to the field.

Fernando Acosta-Rodriguez
Princeton University Library

Salalmistas/Lanistas in London

2010-01-25T14:37:00.003-05:00

Patricia Figueroa (Brown University) visits colleagues Geoff West (left) and Aquiles Alencar-Brayner (right) at the British Library on January 12, 2010 (following a monumental snow fall throughout the UK).

Heard it at the 2009 Gudalajara Book Fair

2009-12-08T12:24:00.016-05:00

I had just left the Larousse stand, immersed in nostalgia at seeing the red dictionary I remember from high school. I had memorized many of the Latin phrases in the “pink section” and wrote them on the back of my general biology exam. I got an “F” and the teacher called me in to say that if I could learn those words I could pass my next exam.

¿Para qué sirven los libros? The questioning voice was loud enough I could hear it clearly over the echoes of those from the hundreds who had opted to spend a Sunday afternoon book browsing. When I turned around to see who could utter such an aberration at a book festival, I caught a glimpse of the young boy. He was probably not much older than 12 or 13 and for a moment I felt transported hundreds of miles away when I filed a similar complaint: ¿para qué sirve la doctrina?

My many quejas were in vain. I had to stay after Mass for Sunday school. But the Spanish cognate gives a much better sense of what it all was, indoctrination. My brother, five years older than I, responded to my protest: para ir al cielo. al paraíso. I was hungry and could care less about paradise, but my mother had already decided for me. One hour of doctrina… and at 12 (going on 13, I always corrected everyone) I had no say in the matter.

Perhaps I stared at the boy with such intensity that his mother held out her arm to protect him from my penetrating gaze while he questioned out loud again, ¿para qué sirven los libros? I wanted to reassure him: para ir al paraíso ….son el paraíso. I wanted to tell him that books had saved my life those endless summers when the never ending smell of onions permeated my soul and my sole refuge were the words of Steinbeck and Hemingway (which I encountered first in Spanish at the local public library). Later those of Lorca and Machado gave solace to the scorching days after toiling in the onion and cotton fields. Their lulling metaphors gave me the fortitude and comfort lacking in that Church indoctrination.

¡Para eso sirven los libros!

Photo (c) Juan Boites, EL UNIVERSAL, 2009

Using RSS for Collection Development

2009-12-07T15:18:00.002-05:00

This first appeared in the October 2009 issue of SALALM newsletter, as part of the web 2.0 column. Please contact alison.hicks @ colorado.edu for more information.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: RSS is the most useful tool in the web 2.0 world. If you only have time to play with one tool, make it RSS. If you’re already using RSS to keep up with your favourite blogs, cartoons and cake wrecks, it’s time you considered using it for collection development too. What is RSS? RSS (Real Simple Syndication) is used to receive automatic updates from a web page. An RSS feed is simply a list of new information that appears on a website. New material is automatically gathered into one place in a feed reader, arranged to be read, skimmed or saved for later, in one format that is easy to save or send by e-mail. Content updates exist for websites, blogs, searches – everything! For more information, see the ‘RSS in Plain English’ video.

Keeping abreast of contemporary fiction is a challenge, particularly for a new librarian when it is published a foreign country. Media outlets do not always pick up new and first-time authors until they win an award and furthermore, it is becoming hard to rely on published book reviews. Owing to the economic crisis in traditional journalism, many newspapers are cutting Literary Editor positions and reducing the number of book reviews (as demonstrated by Library Journal’s initial decision to close Críticas, for example.) At the same time, a new breed of book reviewer had emerged – the literary blogger. Although many decry the rise of the ‘over-opinionated and under-qualified dilettante’, literary bloggers often provide an alternative viewpoint, picking up on many titles and authors that are ignored by the major publishing houses’ marketing.

One of the central tenets of Web 2.0 is the facilitation of communication, using the Web as a two-way conversation rather than solely as an information provider. While we are extremely lucky to be able to rely on the specialized knowledge of the SALALM libreros, librarians also need to take advantage of this paradigm shift. Subscribing to personal blogs, small-scale literary magazines and newsletters through RSS means that the Internet can be used to develop a wider knowledge of recent publications as well as a barometer to gauge cultural and literary developments from within a country.

A good place to start finding literary information is to scour regular, foreign and speciality (such as Technorati, Blogalaxia, Blogazos) search engines for literary blogs. Search for key authors, literature prizes or recent literary news to find relevant bloggers. Most bloggers also provide links to the blogs that they read, which can be mined for further examples. Other sources of information include literary-prize websites, newsletters, literary associations, journals and magazines. Recently, book review aggregators have sprung up, which can make keeping up to date even more efficient. (Culture Critic, Complete Review.) I subscribe to around 20-30 sources, which gives me insight into formal and informal literary developments in the country in question without becoming overloaded. Obviously, a certain number of articles hold no interest for me, or overlap with others, but it is easy to skim through articles, and the inevitable overlap assures me that enough bases are being covered.

I channel these feeds into one super feed through Yahoo! Pipes. For more information about how to set up a yahoo pipe, please see my mini tutorial. Look at my sources here.

Alison Hicks

University of Colorado, Boulder

New column on Web 2.0

2009-11-23T11:47:00.002-05:00

This column appears in the SALALM newsletter. After consultation with various people, we've decided to publish it here too. Please let me know if you have any comments, questions or requests for future columns!
Alison Hicks
alison.hicks (at) colorado.edu

Hands up if you’re bored of the phrase “web 2.0” already? Who’s tired of thinking that if you’re not twittering/on facebook/creating iphone apps you’re tragically unhip? Who believes that web 2.0 is an overused, useless catchphrase that just gives students another excuse not to study and has no place in Latin American librarianship today? If you answered yes to any of these questions then this new column is for you!

Everyday we’re bombarded with journals and presentations and colleagues advocating that web 2.0 is the solution to all our problems, from student engagement to cataloguing, to world peace. Libraries are signing up in their droves to ensure that they have a facebook page and a twitter feed and if you don’t have a blog, well, you’re so twentieth century. Web twopointopia has taken over the planet- but is it worth it? Is it really the miracle solution that libraries have been looking for? And, does it really have a role in academia or in Latin American librarianship?

In this new column, I aim to explore the concept of Web 2.0 and to provide specific examples of how 2.0 can be useful for SALALM librarians today. I plan to show that there is academic value in some of these tools and to provide easy, non-technical introductions to the concepts so you can play along too. In future weeks I intend to cover how Web 2.0 is impacting book reviews and language learning tools among other things. I also want to hear what you would like to know about- so please feel free to challenge me to cover a tool or to solve a problem for you.

In this first column, I thought it would be useful to give a simple definition of Web 2.0. So, firstly, take a deep breath and forget everything that you know about Web 2.0. Because the most important concept about Web 2.0 is that it isn’t a thing, a tool or a trend that is limited to technology; rather, it is a state of mind. There are five main characteristics that define the state. Web 2.0 is collaborative because its ease of use ensures wide participation that depends on teamwork rather than individualism. It is communal because web 2.0 creates empowering connections between people with similar interests. It is creative because it uses and reuses material in novel ways. It is unControlled because there is not one centralised power controlling the web. Finally, and most importantly, web 2.0 is a conversation that changes us from passive to active consumers, giving us an online voice. It is for these reasons that Web 2.0 is a powerful force in society today, and has a growing role in academia and libraries.

Web 2.0 is permeating other areas of our lives too. Tivo, the digital video recorder is a great example of the 2.0 mindset. Traditionally, TV provided a package of information. Passive consumers had little flexibility about when or how they watched programs. With TIVO, however, live TV can be paused and shows are automatically recorded. TV companies are giving up control. Similarly, business is becoming more aware of 2.0. Companies used to be strictly hierarchical with all communication strictly monitored. They expected consumer brand loyalty. However, the most flexible businesses are giving up some of that control to enable a two-way conversation between the consumer and the producer. Zappos, the online shoe seller enables every service representative to have as much power to solve customer problems as the CEO. Wordpress, the blogging software, opened up its online support forum. This shows that it has glitches in its software but it also enables a faster response time and glowing testimonials. These examples show that Web 2.0 is changing markets, consumers, employees and companies. For these reasons, web 2.0 is much more than just a tool. I hope that the following columns will show how we can tap this sentiment in Latin American librarianship.

Presidential message...

2009-11-17T10:00:00.003-05:00

During the last few weeks, I have received several emails and phone calls from SALALM members wishing to discuss their ideas for the Providence 2010 conference program, and also from others who simply wanted to express that they were glad to learn that SALALM would dedicate a whole conference to examining how recent technological and economic trends are transforming the way in which we make available documentation, information, and an important part of the cultural production from Latin America. To those who contacted me, thank you very much for your interest and support.

One of these callers also recommended stating more clearly to the SALALM membership why I think that this is an important and timely topic. I will follow the advice and be very straightforward.

Just as many SALALM members eloquently expressed during the New Orleans and Berlin conferences, I also am concerned about the potentially adverse effects that recent trends will have on the strength of future Latin American research library collections and, consequently, on Latin American Studies scholarship. New technologies, to be sure, do offer fantastic opportunities in the areas of publishing, scholarly communication and access delivery, among others. But the way in which research libraries - often forced by economic circumstances- are implementing new models of acquiring, processing, reformatting and sharing information may unintentionally produce not only negative, but irreparable consequences that will limit the possibilities for future Latin American Studies research.

For example, in one scenario that was discussed during the Berlin conference, research libraries continue to seek badly needed savings by uncritically adopting new acquisitions models that privilege large book distributors, discourage competition, and leave aside the smaller vendors that cannot afford to absorb new costs. The undesired outcome is the crippling of a bibliographic distribution network that SALALM successfully contributed to develop over several decades. With a diminished network, it becomes increasingly difficult and costly, if not impossible, to acquire the noncommercial, nonmainstream, and marginal materials that can only provide a balanced representation of the multiple perspectives, sectors and voices found across Latin American societies. If that scenario becomes a reality, it would represent a major failure on the part of the research libraries. What can and should we, as an organization and as individuals, do about this?

It really is not a matter of resisting change or of sticking to the practices that we know well. It is a matter of first, assessing both the opportunities and the risks presented by those trends, and then advocating for and putting forward the arguments in favor of the practices and strategies that will ensure that research libraries will continue to support Latin American Studies research well into the future. All of this will require increasing levels of collaboration and dialogue within and beyond SALALM. Hopefully, our 2010 meeting in Providence will serve as a broad forum for moving in that direction.

On a different note, as most of you surely know, SALALM isn’t exactly in great financial shape. To generate some savings, the Executive Board recently accepted a recommendation from the Finance Committee requesting that SALALM ceases to contribute matching funds to the Marietta Daniels Shepard Scholarship Fund. As SALALM’s Treasure Jane Garner explained, the scholarship fund has already reached and exceeded the endowment goal. At this moment, what the School of Information at the University of Texas-Austin (http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/) really needs from SALALM is assistance in finding qualified candidates who can make use of the scholarship. The Marietta Daniels Shepard Scholarship Fund’s objective is to support “a student who is committed to fostering the development of libraries in Latin America and the Caribbean by pursuing a professional career in one or more of the countries of Latin America or the Caribbean.” If you know potential candidates who may benefit from the scholarship, please refer them to UT’s School of Information.

Hasta la próxima!

Another Liber update!

2009-10-24T10:27:00.003-04:00

At the Revista del Libro breakfast.

I went to Madrid with the express purpose of building both the Catalan and the DVD collection for CU, Boulder; and yes, the irony of looking for Catalan books in the one year that Liber was held in Madrid wasn’t lost on me… The book fair held its usual surprises, however, and I came away armed to the teeth with catalogues and ideas that stretched far beyond my initial goals. For Catalunya, I visited both the Gremi d’editores de Catalunya and the Comunitat Valenciana, among others. At the Gremi I spoke with a vendor who seemed very surprised to see me; he spent a considerable amount of time showing me his extensive website and in particular some beautiful medieval Catalan texts. After the book fair, I visited both the Centro Cultural Blanquerna and the new Madrid branch of La Central. La Blanquerna “tiene por objetivo la difusión de la cultural catalana en Madrid”, part of which is a fabulous bookshop. Unfortunately they don’t currently have an online catalog but they are working on it. La Central, housed in the Reina Sofia art gallery, has three well set out floors, though it also caters to the Madrileño and the art crowd as well as the Catalans. Staff were infinitely more pleasant than the rather antipático crew at la Casa del Libro though…

DVDs were hard to find, as ever, though I managed to raid El Corte Inglés and FNAC before Mark Grover got there (sorry, Mark!) I also risked life and limb along the Gran Vía to reach Ocho y Medio, a shop that is dedicated to books on cinema. I arrived at 4pm, yet, in true Spanish style had to hang around for an hour till they opened; it was worth the wait though to talk to the extremely knowledgeable staff. I headed back via the Librería Juan Rulfo bookshop in Moncloa, who had a good Spanish film exhibition. Lists of titles are being made, and it was great to talk to them; they even gave me a free book for trekking out there in the very warm fall weather!

The book fair was very e-book focused this year; the Publidisa stand caused traffic flow problems every time they gave a presentation, and the ebook panels were standing room only. Ebooks in Spain still seem to be slightly behind US production (The European Kindle was released while we were at Liber) but every publisher that I spoke with at Liber seemed to be very interested in e-book production. So I think it’s a case of: Watch this space!

Alison Hicks
University of Colorado, Boulder

Update from Madrid's Liber 2009

2009-10-23T18:04:00.018-04:00

Visit to the Biblioteca Nacioal
Photo by Marisol Ramos (Univ. of Connecticut)

Saturday, October 3rd
Even before I entered my hotel, off Madrid’s Gran Via I noticed a bookstore right across the street and another one 2 doors down. Plus, the famous Casa del Libro is only 2 blocks away. I was surprised I did not venture into book stacks until well into the afternoon when I found myself in the basement of Libreria Berkana to update a project that fellow SALALALMista/Reformista Tatiana de la Tierra and I started several years ago

Although I had noted in my Facebook status that I would be away, by the end of my first day in Spain I had distributed a list of “novedades” via the social network. This prompted a suggestion from friends: Enjoy the City!

When I returned to the hotel there was just sufficient time to get ready for meeting a long lost friend from undergraduate school (the "re-encuentro" was through Facebook). Over a great “arroz con pollo” with a special Peruvian touch, we shared stories of our whereabouts for the past 30 years, his more adventurous than mine: work with an NGO in the Andes, waiting tables in Madrid….

Sunday, October 4th
I was fatigued enough that I slept through the boisterous crowd on a festive Saturday night. Today, I will meet a colleague who is taking an early train from Barcelona. The train station is easily reached from the subway, only a few stops away from the hotel. It appears more crowded than I remember from previous visits. The next day a friend tells me that several of the City’s main arteries had been closed for a bike race, hence the unusually crowded subway.

On the way back from the Atocha train station, the Metro continued to be as crowded as before and that’s when my wallet mysteriously vanished from my pocket. “Tremenda desilusion” for the “carteristas” as there were only $40 dollars. The inconvenience of canceling cards did not deter from walking around the city on a most warm Sunday afternoon, ending for a much deserved lunch outdoors where we were the only foreigners. It was the same neighborhood where Teresa Chapa (UNC-Chapel Hill) and Cecilia Puerto (San Diego State) had looked for “comida casera” several years ago.

The pleasant sunny weather lent itself to continue walking and indeed we did until we reached the Telefonica Building. The multinational company now owns much of Latin America’s telecommunication networks. There’s a “sala de exposiciones” on the upper level with an exhibit on Oscar Niemeyer, Brazil’s legendary architect, .

For dinner we were joined by a New York writer who has lived in Madrid for more than 10 years. Inevitably the conversation turned to Google. One of my friend’s books has been digitized without his permission (not sure by which of the participating libraries) so he has opted out of the agreement that was to be approved soon but has been postponed, yet again.

Monday, October 5th
Today my Stanford colleague gives a talk at Spain’s Biblioteca Nacional. Going over her presentation on digital preservation that morning, I realized that in our “afan desenfrenado” to digitize any and all resources, there appears to be little discussion on how to preserve what has been digitized; much less what is born digital.

After her presentation, on our way back to the hotel we make a brief stop to browse at some of the “casetas” of rare/used book dealers participating in the “Feria de Otoño del libro viejo y antiguo” already on its 21st year. Hortensia Calvo (Tulane University) arrived the day before and has already spent several hours there.

Tuesday, October 6th
Today I move to another hotel where the more than 40 US librarians sponsored by the Spanish Publishers Association and America Reads Spanish are housed. The group includes 8 SALALM members attending LIBER 2009 and the first official outing is later in the day for the opening of the 27th annual book fair that alternates between Madrid and Barcelona.

Hortensia Calvo and I decide to venture through the multiple construction projects along the Paseo del Prado (it was not even noon yet) in search of the Museo de la Imprenta Juan de la Cuesta where the “edición príncipe” of Don Quijote was printed back in 1615. Had we read the tourist guide, we would have realized there was no museum yet.

We were in the vicinity of the “Barrio de las Letras” where Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Quevedo and Gongora once lived and a brief rest was a most welcome option.

Then we went into one of the bookstores in the area. The door was locked and when a young fellow let us in he asked what we were looking for. We said we wanted to browse. An older man asked what we wanted, which elicited a not so amiable comment from his young companion “pues, quieren ver…” in a very “Madrileño” accent. Only after Hortensia bought a book, did we start to see some “indicios” of customer service when they brought out a series of photos for us to see.

Afterward we made it past the ever-crowded heart of the city, the Puerta del Sol, we reached the Telefonica where we paused and checked email using some of the laptops on display.

On the way back to the hotel we visited another bookstore (Electrico Ardor), this one with a wide selection of titles from independent Latin American publishers. The owners said the name comes from famous tango. I realized I had been there a few days earlier while searching for an art gallery I wanted to visit.

We continued our promenade and found ourselves by the Sociedad General de Autores y Escritores which is often confused as a Gaudi building. I convinced us to go in and look for the bookshop I remember from a visit a few years earlier. We were directed to the basement and met the group’s librarian (“documentalista” said her business card). I was having a diva moment trying to explain why we were there but Hortensia rescued the moment with unusual diplomacy. In the end we got a tour of the hidden stacks and received a few publications.

I knew we were very close to the art gallery I had intended to visit: La Estampa. I had acquired from them a few artist books earlier in the year at a Book Arts Festival in Berkeley. I kept asking for “Quintiliano” street (which was nowhere to be found) until some one pointed out that “Justiniano” was around the corner and surely “Quintiliano” would be in the same neighborhood! Well, it was the former, but it was past 2pm and as most establishments still do in Spain, they were closed for lunch until after 5pm.

By now it was time to return to the hotel and get ready for the evening’s official opening ceremony for LIBER 2009 which was returning to Madrid after two years.

As is customary in this type of events, there is a highly “protocolario” component, with the Minster of Culture and other dignitaries in attendance. One of the opening speeches included an anti-Google remark, although Google had noted the day before "En España sólo se digitalizarán libros cuyos derechos hayan sido pactados.” Inevitably, diplomacy gave in: “vivimos momentos que requieren valentia de parte de nuestros gobernantes” became a not so subtle critique of the central government.

After the Russian ambassador spoke, representing the featured country, the Minster of Culture praised Spain’s publishing industry as “empresas que generan empleos” and reminded the audience that it was the 4th largest in the world. A not so surprising choice of words as the county endures the highest unemployment rate in the European Union.

What followed was a reception at many of the stands. It was a first chance for a preliminary view of what might be potentially of interest. The ones that stood out as representing a country (not a publisher) were those of Rumania and Morocco, which happen to be the countries that send the most immigrants to Spain. Rumanians have become the single largest group of foreigners and a website addressing the community’s issues within Spain highlights the fact that they make up 14.2% of Spain's total foreign population of 5,598,691 people.

Wednesday, October 7th
It was still dark when our bus left the hotel to the IFEMA fairgrounds for a long day of visiting publishers. The program indicated my name as the first “charla” of the day at 8:30am. I had asked for 20 minutes and was ready to present in 15, but once I settled in with my PowerPoint, I spoke on “Bibliotecas en EUA: mercados para libros de interés general, E-books y edición universitaria.” I would have sworn I kept to the allotted 15 minutes as I continued speaking faster and faster. When it was over, I was reminded that I had taken 40 minutes! No one told me to stop and I did not see anyone falling asleep, but then again the lights were dimmed.

One of the points I stressed was the purchasing power of academic libraries, with statistics on hand and compiled from information supplied by vendors and replies from colleagues to my constant emails “dando la lata.” It may be the first time we have figures for the presence of Spain’s publishing output in academic libraries. It’s certainly something that can be updated to include other institutions. See chart at the very end of this posting.

It was now time to start jotting down new interesting titles to request via our book distributors and in between meetings, try to catch one of the panel discussions where e-books seemed to be more prevalent in the program than in previous years.

For those of us in the academic sector, the UNE stand of the Spanish university presses, as well as that of the government ministries made it all a “must visit.” Some one asked if UNE had a listing of titles by region (e.g., Latin America). Later on the suggestion was made to a member of the group who is both a librarian and a publisher. He agreed that it would be a very useful “apartado” to have and would bring it up for discussion at the upcoming group’s meeting. An advanced search in OCLC (“universidad OR universitat” as publisher and Spain as the location) gives 1369 titles for 1999-2009. Of the first 100 records, 16 were on Latin America. Here are the top 10 titles (with the number of holding libraries).

1) Edición e interpretación de textos andinos: actas del congreso internacional (93)
2) La memoria frente al poder: escritores cubanos del exilio (82)
3) El "boom femenino" hispanoamericano de los años ochenta…. (82)
4) El héroe pensativo: la melancolía en… Borges y…García Márquez (74)
5) El español en el sur de Estados Unidos…. (7)
6) Testamentos coloniales chilenos (70)
7) Borges y su herencia literaria (67)
8) Español y lenguas indoamericanas en Hispanoamérica (67)
9) Ensayos sobre la modernidad literaria hispanoamericana (66)
10) Cruzados de novela: las novelas de la guerra cristera (66)

In my analysis for UNE’s publishing output, the average OCLC holding locations ranged from 79 for joint publications to 70 for a single publisher. This, I think, strengthens my suggestion that electronic editions can reach a wider library audience in the United States where Spanish is by far the single largest foreign language with the most enrollment at the university level.

There seemed to be fewer attendees this year, something just as tangible at the Frankfurt Book Fair the following week where attendance was reported to have decreased by as much as 9,000(3%) from 2008. Even the 3 leading dailies (El Pais, El Mundo and ABC) did not seem to provide much press. The only news coverage appeared to be a segment airing on RTVE two days later, as LIBER was closing.

Thursday, Oct 8th
One of panels I wanted to attend was Javier Celaya’s “Redes sociales: nuevos canales para la venta de libros y compra de servicio.” Most of the audience seemed younger than I and had come to learn about ways to integrate social networks into their publishing business plans. Celaya is well versed on this topic as the daily postings on his blog Dosdoce highlight the most recent development on electronic publishing. Surely Celaya and those attending had read the news from the day before. “La Red está en España llena de compradores potenciales pero falta oferta - El negocio se estanca porque las empresas no acaban de embarcarse en el comercio electrónico.”

Today would mean an early departure from the IFEMA fairground to visit a Police Station and sign my “Denuncia” for the subway pick-pocketing. A very convenient phone call a few days earlier meant I just had to show up and pick up the document that proved to be a lifesaver back in California in all the forthcoming paperwork needed to replace stolen documents.

Afterwards, it would be a visit to the Biblioteca Nacional where several SALALM, WESS and REFORMA members would receive a detailed “visita guiada” to Spain’s National Library. It was founded in 1712 and houses a rich collection of resources: more than 30,000 manuscripts, 3,000 incunabulae, close to 110,000 serials, 20,000 newspapers and more than 6 million “monografías modernas.”

Many of these resources are being digitized Biblioteca Digital Hispanica; Hemeroteca Digital and reach users beyond the Library’s physical walls.

Hortensia and I arrived early to visit the gift shop where many of the catalogs published by the Library are available for sale. We asked if there was a “listado” of their publications but there appears to be none. As elusive as their catalogs may be, OCLC lists 208 monographs for the last 10 years. Tesoros de la cartografía Española (2001) leads with 39 holding libraries. A centralized list of publications would highlight other interesting titles like:

* La Luna de Madrid y otras revistas de vanguardia de los años 80 (13)
* El voto de las mujeres, 1877-1978 : exposición, Biblioteca Nacional (20)
*Ephemera : la vida sobre papel : colección de la Biblioteca Nacional (16)
*Memoria de la seducción : carteles del siglo XIX en la Biblioteca Nacional (13)

Following the tour, some of us visited a recently opened exhibit (Sefarad Photo), which highlights episodes of Jewish life in Spain since the late 19th century.

It was still light out, so Hortensia Calvo and I traced our steps from a few days ago in search of the artist book Galeria la Estampa. This time we arrived during business hours and spent a most interesting evening with the artist-owner, extending into a visit to one of the local bars to savor some authentic “tapas” that included “morcilla.” I am quite “quisquilloso” on food (others would say “aburrido”) so I passed on the offer to try it.

Friday, October 9th
Today is the last day of my stay in Madrid and I often wish I had extra time for a movie or at least to visit a museum but I will have to make do with the next 24 hours.

One of the sessions attended by several SALALMistas was on e-books in academic libraries. The most interesting “ponencia” posed the question how libraries can and must justify their existence in a digital world. Joaquín Rodríguez, a sociologist by training, currently overseeing an joint academic publishing program with Grupo Santillana and the University of Salamanca who also blogs at Los futuros del libro provided a compelling response: “Las bibliotecas son una pieza fundamental del sostenimiento de las sociedades democráticas….” I had two more meetings with publishers, so I had to leave right as the Q &A session was about to start.

I leave the fairgrounds in the hopes of catching an early showing of Alejandro Amenabar’s latest movie. The award-winning director has just premiered Agora, which is being billed as the most expensive film ever produced in Spain. The movie was presented to the press only a block away from our hotel, at the Biblioteca Nacional a few days earlier. But I took a longer nap than expected and missed the film.

I had hoped for an early-to-bed last evening in Spain, but I could not turn down an offer for “tapas” with friends from the Revista de Libros and JSTOR. The latter will soon increase its offer of Latin American titles to include some ARCE journals, an endeavor close to SALALM’s scholarly constituency.

Also present at dinner was young woman from puntoycoma, a great publication geared to students of Spanish as a foreign language. Perhaps the last thing on their minds on a Friday night was “to talk shop” but I asked why the magazine’s content was not done totally online and forego the print.

Once our food arrived, I ceased to comment on work related matters and I could not resist tasting a thing here, a thing there….after all, I was going to take my cholesterol pill that evening.

Spain's Publishing Output in US Academic/Research Libraries

Many thanks to my friend and colleague Glen Worthey who not only read and corrected typos but also helped in up-loading images.

Space Still Available for ALA-FIL Pass Program

2009-09-23T16:10:00.001-04:00

[Cross-posted from LALA-L]

Dear Librarian,

We still have a few ALA librarian rooms available if you have not applied for the Free Pass and you still want to come to Guadalajara. You need to be an individual member of ALA and be involved in collection development. Airfares are still quite reasonable, but we need to hear from you immediately. The application is herewith attached; please fill out and email it back to me ASAP.

If you have already applied, your application is being processed. Please be patient with us.

Yours.

David Unger, U.S. Rep
Guadalajara Intl. Book Fair
Division of Humanities NAC 5225
City College of New York
New York, NY 10031
Tel: (212) 650-7925
Fax: (212) 650-7912
filny@aol.com or duy502002@yahoo.com
www.fil.com.mx
Exhibition Manager: Veronica Mendoza at veronica.mendoza@fil.com.mx
Rights Center: Pablo de la Vega at pablo.delavega@fil.com.mx

About SALALM 2010 conference in Providence, Rhode Island

2009-09-22T14:43:00.003-04:00

Dear SALALM colleagues,

Especially for those of you who couldn’t make it to Berlin and therefore missed my introduction to the 2010 conference theme, The Future of Latin American Library Collections and Research: Contributing and Adapting to New Trends in Research Libraries (Providence, Rhode Island, July 23-27, 2010), please visit http://dl.lib.brown.edu/salalm/.

You’ll find there more information about the conference theme and additional details, including a pre-conference workshop at the John Carter Brown Library on the history of the book in Mexico. Patricia Figueroa, our host at Brown University and head of the Local Arrangements Committee, will send more information about the workshop in the near future.

As you will notice, the SALALM 2010 conference will depart from the usual practice of organizing the theme around an academic topic or discipline. Instead, the meeting will serve as a broad forum for examining, debating and learning about technical and theoretical aspects related to the complex trends that are transforming the way in which Latin American research library collections are developed and the manner in which research libraries provide access to the region’s documentation.

The objective is to bring to the next level an essential conversation that was initiated in 2008 at Tulane University by David Block’s presentation of his paper Where Are We?; Where We May Be Going; What Will We Do There (available at http://hdl.handle.net/1813/10827). Ultimately, I hope that 2010 conference serves to foster the development of ideas and strategies that can be adopted by SALALM, its members, and other important stakeholder in order to both adapt to trends and shape outcomes.

To achieve this, I am asking SALALM committee chairs in particular and the membership in general to start considering and preparing substantial contributions for the program in the form of panels, roundtable discussions and workshops. As you do this, keep in mind that this is an excellent opportunity for producing high quality papers that might serve as documentation or reference for the broader library world. This is also a good opportunity to rethink and refocus, if appropriate, the work conducted within committees.

Even though an official press release and a call for papers have not been sent out yet, feel free to contact me to discuss preliminary ideas and potential proposals. I am looking forward to hear from many of you.

Muchas gracias y hasta pronto.

From Berlin 54 to Providence 55

2009-09-22T14:36:00.003-04:00

Wow! What a wonderful conference SALALM 54 was! My sincerest congratulations and gratitude to Past President Pamela Graham, to the Local Arrangements Committee chaired by Peter Altekrüger, to the Ibero-American Institute, and to the SALALM Secretariat for organizing a truly memorable event. What I appreciated the most from an overall solid and stimulating conference program was that it offered an excellent opportunity to engage the work and perspectives of colleagues and scholars from across the Atlantic.

Naturally, each participant experienced the conference according to his or her particular interests and time constraints, but I suspect that I would not be mistaken by claiming that most of us found the keynote address by Professor Ludwig Ellenberg, German Geographers in Latin America, to be one of the conference highlights. I am also sure that, for those of us who traveled to Berlin from the Americas, it was a pleasure and an enriching experience to count with the participation of numerous members of the Red Europea de Información y Documentación sobre América Latina (REDIAL). I am confident that the communication and the collaboration between the members of REDIAL and SALALM will increase thanks to relations established during the conference, including the signing of a formal collaboration agreement between both organizations.

I shall not leave unmentioned the truly special social and cultural events to which we were lavishly treated, including the guided tours of the Ibero-American Institute and of the exhibition on Robert Lehmann-Nitsche and Argentina, the spectacular boat tour through Berlin, and the Libreros Reception at the Gemäldegalerie. Thank you!

I would also like to use this space to personally thank a small group of librarians and libreros, including S. Lief Adelson, Darlene Hull, Angela J. Kinney, Nerea Llamas, Holly Ackerman, and Linda Russo, for participating in a panel that I organized and moderated, titled Adaptation and Innovation: Libraries and Libreros on Collections, Technical Services and the Economic Crisis. All of them offered thoughtful reports and/or reflections on the impact that the recent economic crisis is having or is likely to have on their areas of work, and on how their libraries or businesses are adapting to rapidly changing circumstances. Even though their perspectives and personal views differed, sometimes markedly, I found it quite revealing that all of them suggested that innovative forms of cooperation are necessary, and that successful adaptation will require a collective effort.

From the moment that I started putting the panel together back in the spring, I had been nervously hoping that it would produce a discussion as lively and serious as the one generated last year at the New Orleans conference by David Blocks paper Where Are We?; Where We May Be Going; What Will We Do There (available at http://hdl.handle.net/1813/10827). I was pleased to see that the panel was very well attended and that it also provoked many thoughtful reactions and ideas from an engaged audience. I think that it served, not only as a continuation of the previous year’s discussion, but also as a way of preparing our mindsets for the SALALM 2010 conference.

In order to bring what I consider to be an essential conversation to the next level, next year we will have a departure, or a hiatus, from the usual practice of organizing the conference theme around an academic topic or discipline. Instead, the meeting will serve as a broad forum for examining, debating, and learning about practical and theoretical aspects related to new trends affecting academic and research libraries. These trends, most of us probably agree, will have systematic implications on the way in which Latin American research library collections are built and the manner in which research libraries provide access to the region’s documentation and creative expression production. The aim of the conference will then be to foster the development of ideas and strategies which could be adopted by SALALM, its members, and other important stakeholders in order to both adapt and shape outcomes.

SALALM LV, The Future of Latin American Library Collections and Research: Contributing and Adapting to New Trends in Research Libraries, will take place at the Providence Biltmore Hotel in downtown Providence, Rhode Island, near Brown University, on July 23-27, 2010.
I am very excited about taking on the responsibility of organizing a successful conference and consider myself fortunate to be collaborating with Patricia Figueroa, our colleague from Brown University and head of the Local Arrangements Committee. Patricia initiated preparations for the conference months ago and has already made available a conference website at http://dl.lib.brown.edu/salalm/. Even though it is still a little early, please review it and start familiarizing with the conference theme and other important details.

We will be sending much more information about SALALM 55 soon. I promise!

Andanzas at the 2009 Bogota Book Fair

2009-09-02T18:44:00.028-04:00

Sunday, August 9th
I had planned to attend Bogota’ Book Fair as it was being held at the same time as a conference on Iberoamerican University Presses , where I had managed to get myself invited as a “ponente.”

As I waited to board my flight in Los Angeles, I looked over the reading materials I had gathered for the long overnight trip (past issues of the New York Times Magazine & Book Review…). One of the other pieces was a very timely front page story on ebooks which I plan to highlight in my “ponencia.” Later I will find myself being cited after my presentation…but I am getting too far ahead… too soon.

Monday, August 10th
The flight arrived “sin novedad,” other than it was 6 in the morning and we have just been welcomed in that clear Colombian Spanish to “Santa Fe de Bogota, la Atenas de America.” It’s been more than 4 years since my last visit and I noticed several new buildings that have sprung up along the road from the airport. Soon we go by the much transited street with Transmilenio buses. The mass transit project had recently received good press and is being emulated in other cities. One of the “taxistas” in Santiago had noted last year that people should come to see how it was operating in the Chilean capital so they could learn “como NO se debe hacer.”

Later in the day a Stanford student doing field work in Colombia called it “transmilleno” as local bogotanos seem to refer to the perpetually over-crowded buses. The next day, my driver (sharing a bit of “taxista” wisdom) had his own theory: it’s a government ploy, have few buses that are always full to make it look good. According to him they should build a metro, adding that any comparable big city had one. Bogota, he felt, could not claim any share of “modernidad” without an underground mass transit system.

The hotel is located in the Zona Rosa, half way between downtown and the Corferias section where the 22nd International Bogota Book Fair is being held (August 12-23). This time the fair will not compete with Buenos Aires and the hope is to attract many of those Southern Cone publishers that could not attend in the past. Mexico will be the featured country. In spite of initial press reports, neither Carlos I (Fuentes) nor Carlos II (Monsivais) will be attending. But, again, I am getting ahead of myself.

It’s past noon and I get call from Arte Dos Grafico inviting me to lunch. They are familiar to SALALMistas from our Cartagena meeting in 2003 and I had reconnected with them earlier in the year at the 2nd Biannual Codex Book Fair in Berkeley. They will host book artists from Germany and Argentina in an effort to highlight the book arts at the fair.

For dinner, I will meet a friend from my graduate school days in Wisconsin, an anthropologist well known for her pioneering work on violence in war-torn Colombia. Her next project, entitled “almas en pena” is almost "garciamarquesco" as it focuses on the guerrilla soldiers, some of whom are afraid of ghosts. Yes the “fantasmas, o almas en pena” from the many mass killings the country has endured for more than 40 years now.

Tuesday, August 11th
A horrible headache awoke me at 3 in the morning, probably a combination of the altitude (8678 feet) and a glass of red wine during dinner the previous night. I opt for reading the local daily and catch an interesting article on the most trusted/respected entities in the City of Bogota according to a recent survey, the local Bibliored comes in 2nd place, and it is no surprise given that in 2002 the library network was recognized by the Gates Foundation for its innovative way of providing access to information technology.

But I am scheduled for an 8:30 morning meeting with staff from the office of Libros Andinos, our approval vendor for Colombia and much of the Andean region. Having identified a gap in non-governmental organization (NGO) coverage the plan is to visit some local entities and try to fill that void as part of our cooperative collecting agreement with UC-Berkeley.

The first stop is the Bogota Office for the UN. The librarian, perhaps somewhat perplexed by our visit, nonetheless explains the purpose of the Colombian office and the scope of the resources available at their library. While much of it is available online, there are local publications that seem to elude the mandate of their local collecting. It is that “grey” area that is equally important to our collection.

The excursion continued to the other end of town, at the headquarters for Colombia Diversa, a local NGO working with LGBT issues which has just been noted for its “good practices” at an International Conference on LGBT Human Rights.

The group’s leader had been told of my visit by our mutual friends from Arte Dos Grafico and awaited us. After explaining one of my many roles as a librarian striving to document the publishing output of civil society groups she brought out copies of several of the reports they have issued in the past. Most of it is available on line at their site (Proyectos > derechos humanos > informes):

*Informe Derechos Humanos 2006-2007
*Informe de Derechos Humanos 2005
*Voces Excluidas (OCLC: 72805773 / 318282587
*Diversidad sexual en la escuela: dinámicas pedagógicas para enfrentar la homofobia

I asked about their source of funding and she noted that at present it came from some progressive European groups. Later on I wondered what would happen to those documents online if their funding ends. Do we run and print out the PDFs while they are up? UT-Austin has been harvesting official publications on the web from several government ministries, but I am not sure if a similar project for NGOs is being considered, certainly a worthy effort.

There was one more group to visit before lunch but the adept taxi driver and our guide from Libros Andinos could not find the address we had been given. I had another commitment and we all concluded: “se hizo el esfuerzo.”

We finished just on time for my lunch meeting back at the Arte Dos Grafico workshop. The 2 book artists from Argentina have arrived and the afternoon turned out to be a “gran deleite visual” as each one explained the meaning of their visual work. One of them, a book editor from Buenos Aires, remarked that he preferred no comments, feeling that if something needed to be explained, as in the text of novel, then the artist/writer had not done his/her work. This sentiment was enough to provide competing comments that lasted until dinner, when we were treated to a delicious soup to end the long day. My humble contribution was to suggest ways of marketing their artist books at various book fairs/conferences, including our very own 2010 SALALM conference.

Wednesday, August 12
Although I have gone over the notes for my presentation, I discovered I brought a printout of an older version of the power point. At least the one in my flash drive is current.

The opening of the Conference on Iberoamerican University Presses had an almost surreal start. It is customary at these events to sing the Colombian national anthem but the recording did not work. Not to be deterred, the panel’s leader decided to carry on with the song, without music. Later on, at exactly noon, and in the middle of a presentation, a recording of the anthem starts to play, catching us all by surprise. But we are reminded that by decree, Colombia’s national anthem is played at noon and at 6pm every day at public functions.

The key note speaker’s flight is running late and he has not arrived so we are given an early coffee break. When he does arrive, he does not disappoint. The “ponencia magistral” takes a refreshing anecdotal mode of presenting that would differ from some of the most formal papers. One of the points highlighted is the role of the university press at time when discussion of e-books is ever present. He encourages publishers to see it as an opportunity to reach a public whose reading habits are changing. Those remarks would frame my presentation later in the day when I will face an after lunch lethal time as a well as a jack-hammering noise from the construction crews who struggle to add the last finishing touches to the space where Mexico’s and Colombia’s president will attend the opening ceremony. In the end, I prevailed as I kept raising the level of my voice and was happy to see not a single snoozing head. It could have been the noise from next door or just the “colorful” images accompanying my power point slides.

An earlier version of the presentation was included in the conference papers.

Relieved that my presentation was over, I will spend the rest of the afternoon exploring the book fair and run into several of the other SALALMistas whose visit has been sponsored by Corferias, the entity organizing the book event. Attending were Hortensia Calvo (Tulane); Teresa Chapa (UNC-Chapel Hill); Edmundo Flores (Library of Congress); Martha Mantilla (Pittsburg); Phil Macleod (Emory) and Lesbia Varona (Miami). Among the vendors present were Alfonso Vijil (Libros Latinos); Howard and Beverly (Howard Karno Books) and local dealer Noe Herrera (Libros de Colombia). Alfredo Montalvo (Libros Andinos) would attend the following week.

I will miss the opening ceremony where Colombia’s president was interrupted by a heckler who urged him to reconsider plans to give US military bases in Colombia. Hortensia Calvo was seated within range of the president’s opponent and appeared in an online photo the next day. Certainly more than my 5 minutes of audible fame I could claim from the 2 university radio station interviews after my presentation earlier in the day.

Thursday, August 13
Before heading to the Corferia fairgrounds I catch a ride with SALALM dealer Alfonso Vijil for a visit to Bogota’s legendary Libreria Lerner. As the taxi made its way through the narrow and crowded downtown streets, I noticed an image in one of the walls “que vuelva el amor a las calles.” It seemed familiar and indeed it should have been. I had seen it the day before in a book just released, Amor a la colombiana and which had been reviewed the previous day in Colombia’s leading daily El Tiempo.

On my first trip to Lerner’s in 2003 I spent several hours taking copious notes of interesting journal titles and then lost the notebook. This morning, pressed for time, we could only spend 2 hours, which was just enough to jot down a few titles as well as asking the Lerner staff to run a report of the sections on Blacks in Colombia, Colombian Music, and Violence in Colombia, all very timely topics for our collections. I can share with any one interested that LONG list.

For recent journals, here’s a brief listing and the new/recent issues I consulted:

*Actualidad Etnica (ISSN: 2145-0242). Issue 1/2009
*Polemikus (ISSN: 2027-081X). Issue 1/2008
*(Pensamiento) (Palabra) y Obra (ISSN: 2011-804X). Issue 1/2009

Now I had the rest of the afternoon to explore the book fair. Unlike others familiar to us all, there are several “pabellones” housed in separate buildings. The one for “Edicion Universitaria” was a very logical stop for SALALM librarians and vendors. Materials for academic libraries were also available at the upper level of the pavilion that included publishers from “Empresas Publicas” and “Gobernaciones.” Teresa Chapa and I conversed with the representatives from the “Procuraduria General de la Nacion” and they gave us some sample publications when we explained to them the work we did in our libraries.

Here we also found a collective stand of independent publishers, REIC: Red de editorials independientes de Colombia . One that caught my attention not only for its catchy name, La Iguana Ciega but also for the list of “novedades” on display, covering a variety of interesting titles: Cantadoras Afrocolombianas de Bullerengue, Jazz en Colombia, and Locas de felicidad: Crónicas travestis y otros relatos.

It is gratifying to see that independent publishers are now coalescing in an effort to compete with the media conglomerates. In the last few years Spain has seen Bibliodiversidad and now there is Observatorio Iberoamericano de la Edición Independiente which joins similar groups like Editores Independientes. The city of Buenos Aires has also included independent publishers as part of its “industrias creativas.” Mexico’s Alianza de Editoriales Mexicanas Independientes made a strong showing at Guadalajara’s 2008 FIL.

At the “pabellon intenacional” I found a recent Atlas Electoral de Colombia and a revised (6ht edition, 2008) of the Atlas Basico de Colombia at the Imprenta Nacional booth, which complemented related titles Teresa Chapa and I had discovered the following day at Consulturia para los Derechos Humanos and the Cuadernos de Cine Colombiano (OCLC: 56332662 / 22196442) . But the issues on display were not for sale. By now I have accumulated more than I could fit into my suitcase but fellow SALALM librero Noe Herrera offers to include it all with the next shipment of Colombian journals for our library.

I have one more day left (tomorrow) and I want to catch a movie that has been getting good reviews. It means leaving the fairgrounds soon to avoid the rush hour traffic. The film is playing at the Centro Andino shopping center, only 2 blocks from the hotel. It appears the general public is starting to arrive so it becomes a very logical farewell from the many books on display.

The film, “La pasion de Gabriel” seems to be the only Spanish-language option currently in “cartelera.” It does not disappoint to experience on screen the life of priest mindful of social justice ideals and in love with a woman. Somewhere in a lost corner of Colombia, Gabriel is in the midst of the ongoing conflict between guerrillas and the army. In the end no one is spared critique as the Church, the Army, and the Guerrillas appear to care little for those caught in the middle of the “conflicto armado” Colombia currently faces.

I get back to the hotel and end up writing down titles of DVDs of Colombian cinema that Teresa Chapa and Alfonso Vijil have purchased. Of the 40 something films, we own only a handful in VHS which we received as a donation from the Ministry of Culture several years ago as part of the “La Maleta de Películas Colombianas” that was distributed through out the country.

Friday, August 14
It’s the last day and as always I am hoping for an extra 24 hours so I can visit the new Museo del Oro and La Candelaria, Bogota’s historical downtown. But I have agreed to meet my anthropologist friend at the fairgrounds and forgo that possibility.

I do a last minute visit through several stands to make sure I have collected publisher’s catalogs and verify titles I could not decipher from my notes. I convince Teresa Chapa to accompany to the Arte Dos Grafico booth as I know there are some artist books she will like. Right on target, she acquires several and this time we don’t fight over them as we did several years ago at the Belleza y Felicidad gallery in Buenos Aires.

While browsing through some of the limited edition titles, some one asked if Adan Griego was around. I thought it would be another radio interview to continue an additional 5 minutes of fame. But it was a friend of my anthropologist lunch date. She was running late and wanted me to meet her friend from CERLALC, one of the groups sponsoring the conference on university publishing in Latin America. I wanted to thank him and since he had missed my presentation we were not able to meet at the conference. He was also part of the group that has sponsored our visit to the book fair and I thanked him profusely, yet again. Not to miss an opportunity, I made my SALALM chamber of commerce infomercial!

We did a last minute visit to the pavilion where Mexico was showcasing an array of cultural artifacts, not to mention a very large space displaying a wide selection of its varied publishing output as the fair’s featured country. But it was time to leave before the Friday rush hour.

Back at the hotel, it was the usual packing, trying to get everything to fit in the carry-on suitcase and find something to read for the long (8 hours) flight to California. I selected the sample journals I had picked up at Lerner’s and a copy of Locas de Felicidad only to find out that SALALM’s keynote speaker (Jaime Manrique) from the Santo Domingo conference was thanked in the book’s preface.

Dispatches from Germany

2009-07-10T04:52:00.002-04:00

Dispatches from Germany
So far we feel right at home. The luggage came off the conveyer; the Budget rental car desk was handy and efficient; the car park opened directly to an expressway system that seems to go everywhere. But, wait, wind farms dot every horizon, their giant propellers slowly turning in the breeze. And there is no urban sprawl. Grain fields and pasturage reach right up to most city limits; even Berlin has yet to grow past its perimeter highway.

My wife and I are beginning our trip with a visit to an AFS student whom we hosted in Ithaca. Ten years later he is a medical student in Greiswald, on the Baltic coast. So we spent yesterday driving the diagonal from Frankfurt to the far northeast of the country. Right now we’re trying to shake the effects of jetlag and too many hours behind the wheel. Before I close this first entry, some basics.
“A” is for autobahns, Germany’s unbelievable superhighway network. They’re an Interstate system, only maintained, and along with the Volkswagen, Adolph Hitler’s only positive legacy. Although speed limits, 120 km/hour, are posted, don’t even think of getting into the passing lane at a speed less than 85 mph and don’t stay there unless you are willing to drive a hundred. “B” is for bicycle; every man, woman and child has one. Germans ride them all over, most without helmets. “C,” well, I can’t think of a “c” word now except “cansado.” But this will pass.

Not wanting to endanger my retired status, I have stayed away from most of the SALALM, but I will serve as your roving reporter, offering updates from venues outside the IAI and the Martim.
I am lodging in a part of the city that was off limits when SALALM met here in 1986. In those days the city lived in the shadow of The Wall. Visitors were never far from it, and Berliners lived with the daily reality that they were never far from freedom or oppression. The Wall is down now, chewed into tiny bits recycled as road fill, but its legacy will be a long one. Even with the incredible reconstruction of the city strange anomalies remain—tram tracks ending in nowhere mark the route of the wall. Enormous apartment blocks still dot the horizon, and no amount of paint and plaster will erase the memory of who built them. There is, apparently, a certain nostalgia for the good old days among some former East Germans. But I suspect that this is disingenuous. No one would want to return to a time when neighbors spied on neighbors, when consumer goods were frightfully scarce and when families were forcibly separated by the force of politics.

Since my last post, I have thought of some “c” words. The first is “c”rane, the tall metal ones. They are everywhere, even in these tough economic times, rebuilding the city. The second is “children.” They’re everywhere. Apparently, Berlin has the highest birthrate in Europe. I’ve amused myself by photographing children in strollers.

No one spending time here would fail to notice what a melting pot Berlin has become. The Turkish community is to Berlin what the Mexican community is to Los Angeles, the largest outside their countries of origin. Yesterday we were chauffeured by a Palestinian from Gaza and served by a Kosovar waiter. Each was expecting a child, the Kosovar, twins.

“D” is for dogs; Berlin is full of them, and in a strange contradiction of German rectitude, Berliners habitually walk them off-leash. Giants and toys, riding in bicycle baskets and trotting beside runners, sitting under restaurant tables, openly defecating in parks, all well-fed and collared, dogs are everywhere.
As another legacy of the Cold War, Berlin is filled with what are now overlapping cultural institutions. There are doppelganger opera companies, national libraries, and symphonies currently living separate lives but headed toward shotgun mergers. What brings this to mind is Sunday night’s trip to the Opera Komishe, a beautiful 19th century hall in the former East Berlin. Six SALAMists and dependents went to hear Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffmann. I am a great fan of the music—it lives on my iPod—but I had never seen it performed, and I was a little let down. The staging combined 1930s Weimar decadence with gangster Chicago and Olympia first appears as a dominatrix. Get the picture? I considered closing my eyes to the spectacle, but with a full-day’s touristing under my belt, that would have meant nodding off.
Another cultural duplication, if culture can ever be redundant, is Berlin’s vast array of museums. In the partition, the Commies got Museum Insul, three 19th century buildings dedicated to the glories of antiquity and German science. We saw the famous reconstructions of the Pergamon altar and Babylon’s gate, excavated and removed by German archaeologists nearly 150 years ago. The audio guide, recorded in rich, Oxfordian English studiously avoided the issue of cultural patrimony, but you have to wonder. On the western side of town, corporate and individual donors created new spaces for their collections, among the most notable is the Bergurren in Charlottenburg, with its remarkable collection of Picassos.

“E” ist für eis, cream, that is. It’s been hot in Berlin, and ice cream is just the ticket. It’s served everywhere and consumed copiously especially by children (see “c,” above). I have sampled widely and narrowed my favorites to the many flavors of chocolate concocted for German palates and strawberry a fruit now in season.

Last night the local organizers and book dealers really outdid themselves at the reception. The venue was nothing less than the Gemaldegalerie, a museum lit only by filtered sunlight. Here Berliners have lovingly reunited a collection of medieval and early modern paintings that were separated for half a century by politics. We marveled at the display of so much richness in a single, rather small, space.
The weather for the conference has been a mix of sun, clouds and rain, but on Tuesday, the haze lifted to reveal the east side of the Brandenburg Gate as a rich blonde-colored rectangle, topped by the Reichstag’s glittering dome. Nearby the Monument to European Jews, several hundred black granite rectangles aligned to suggest a cemetery cast dark shadows across its grounds.

Berlin must have one of the most efficient transportation systems on the planet. Bicycles roll along sidewalk lanes created for them. Electric trolleys work the crowds in East Berlin; buses and the Metro (UBahn) serve the West. Mass transit is supplemented by a ubiquitous fleet of taxis, mostly capacious Mercedes sedans. My wife and I have learned to reach most of the sites of interest by mounting two nearly-connected systems, the M-1 trolley that runs from the North Mitte to Humboldt University and the #100 bus that begins in the Museum Insul and runs along west toward Tiergarten. Somehow Berlin has also discovered an alchemy that makes rush hour disappear. A cab driver offered a not-altogether-satisfactory felicity about staggering office hours.

I can’t help but reflect on the passage of time between the SALALMs of 1986 and 2009. In those 13 years the city has undergone a remarkable transformation, reflecting the reunion of the modern German state. What the tourist sees is a tribute to ingenuity and determination, and the transformation is ongoing. Visitors in the coming years will see even more of the ongoing project to make Berlin a single city, but don’t wait for the next SALALM!
Your faithful correspondent has now left Berlin. I’m writing from the Rhineland.

Before I sign off, I want to add one more “a,” to my alphabetical list. Altakrueger and his staff did a fantastic job. Thanks, so much.