Lowrider Librarian

From Jerome Offord, Jr. Colleagues: Thank you for the notes of support and the quiet concerns. However, I want to make sure you understand the purpose of the press release and BCALA's intent. Please allow me to provide you a timeline of events. ·         In the fall of 2013, BCALA leadership received a note regarding the Orlando Conference and the Stand Your Ground issues in the State of Florida. ·         The aforementioned question sparked dialogue on the Executive Board electronic list. ·         Several board members requested that this issue be on the January 2014 Executive Board Midwinter Meeting agenda. ·         During the Midwinter Meeting, the Executive Board discussed this issue at length and the Board voted that BCALA should go on record expressing our concern about the implementation and interpr...

Black Caucus of ALA Denounces ALA’s Decision to Hold 2016 Annual Conference in Orlando, Fla.  For immediate release: March 10, 2014 Media Contact: Jason Alston, jasonalston@gmail.com The Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA), condemns the American Library Association’s (ALA) decision to continue with plans to hold the ALA 2016 annual conference in Orlando, Fla. in the wake of the George Zimmerman verdict and that state’s refusal to revise or repeal “Stand Your Ground” laws, which were included in jury instructions in Zimmerman’s trial for second degree murder for fatally shooting unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Fla. in 2012. BCALA believes that “Stand Your Ground” laws enable a “shoot first, ask questions later” mentality against African-American men perceived without merit to be threats or assumed without evidence to be engaged in criminal behavior. Kenneth Nunn, a professor at the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law, wrote in the ...

Ten D2L Retention Strategies By Max Macias 2/2014 Email the class their assignments for the week via D2L email every Monday to make sure everyone is kept abreast of where they are supposed to be and the time frames for the class. Create a Google Calendar and share it with the class.  Either embedd it, or send it to your students via email.  Have all the class assignments on entered on the calendar and the due dates clearly stated.   Embed your Google Class Calendar in your news feed with the D2L embed tool.  Tell your students they can click on events in the calendar and directly copy them to their own personal calendars. Give clear feedback that lets the student know what they are doing well, and what they need to work on to get the outcomes for the class.    Make comments on the student’s documents with the “insert comment” tool.   Contact Students via Dropbox list, when dropbox assignments...

Pathways to Progress: Issues and Advances in Latino Librarianship Review by Max Macias Last fall I had the honor of being asked to review the much anticipated Pathways to Progress: Issues and Advances in Latino Librarianship; edited by John L. Ayala and Salvador Güereña.   This book is a collection of essays by Latino Librarian/Advocates on Latino Librarianship.   It is part of a series called Latinos and Libraries Series, published by Libraries Unlimited.   I do not have time to write about every essay in the book--there are 12 chapters and 17 pieces written by some of the leaders of the Latino Library Movement.    Chapter one is by Dr. Sergio Chaparro and is entitled: Common Denominators in the Development of Latino Library Leadership.   This chapter was far too short and underdeveloped.   It was surfacy and generally vague without references to the diversity within the “Latino” label.   It was supposed to outline and disc...

Instagramatic!   I love Instagram and am in a state of constant inspiration from those I follow.  Advertising, nor those stupid PR people have not ruined it yet for me. I am an insta-junkie at the moment.  Have you found any interesting library related uses for Instagram?

Superintendent John J. Pedicone, Ph.D. Tucson Unified School District 1010 E. Tenth St. Tucson, AZ 85719 (520) 225-6000 Hinchas de Poesía c/o Yago S. Cura, Publisher Max Macias, Librarian 11928 Venice Blvd. L.A., CA 90066 Dear Dr. Pedicone:             We have never met, and my son and/or daughter is not matriculated in the school district you oversee. I am writing today in my capacity as the publisher of Hinchas de Poesía (www.hinchasdepoesia.com), a fledgling online literary journal, and in collaboration with Max Macias, a Chicano librarian living near Portland, Oregon. We are both members of REFORMA, although the contents of this letter and the opinions expressed herein solely belong to us (Yago S. Cura and Max Macias). We are writing to express our intense gratitude for your continuing, yet albeit wholly indirect, support of Ethnic Studies in the United States of America. Put simply, if it we...