Special Collections travels to Mexico City

During the first week of this month, Rare Books Librarian Agnieszka Czeblakow and I had the opportunity to travel to Mexico City for the annual Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials (SALALM) conference. This year’s theme was “Sites/Cites, Texts, and Voices in Critical Librarianship: Decolonizing Libraries and Archives.”

As a first-time attendee, I was excited to learn that SALALM is so interdisciplinary; the event brought together librarians, archivists, book dealers, curators, scholars, and other professionals. Our shared goal was to think critically about how processes of selection, organization, and description give shape to research and teaching on Latin America, Iberia, and the Caribbean.

I was able to participate in a wide variety of activities, including panels composed of experts discussing issues relevant to all institutions that collect Latin American materials (UTSA included). I learned how other institutions think critically about their holdings, develop innovative workflows…