CORI Annual Picnic

 

20th Annual REFORMA Northeast Joint Mini-Conference

We are excited to invite you to the 20th Annual REFORMA Northeast Joint Mini-Conference! This regional coming together of the five ALA NALCos will take place on Friday, June 14, 2024 at the Bronx Library Center of the New York Public Library. This year's theme is "The Power of 'Welcome!": Strategies for Maximizing Libraries as a Place for Everyone."

We are thrilled to announce that our keynote speaker will be Ms. Shauntee Burns-Simpson, currently Director of Youth & Family Services for the District of Columbia Public Library Foundation and known to many of us as a long-time librarian in New York and for her tireless work in BCALA and ALA. The day will also feature a variety of speakers from both public and academic libraries in the Northeast.

To register for the Joint Mini-Conference, please use the following link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/16w9DYARuS5FhUcDAlf-fzSOFx0MvUtYBVNLWyhMDYU4/edit [docs.google.com]. (More information about the day's events and a link to the conference website will be shared soon on our home page, https://www.reformanortheast.org/ [reformanortheast.org].) 

A boxed lunch from Panera will be provided, and please make sure to let us know of any dietary restrictions. In addition, we are excited to announce that the program will also be a hybrid program for the first time, so please let us know if you will be attending in person or remotely.

REFORMA Meeting May 17th

Join us on Friday, May 17th for our next Membership Meeting from 1-4pm at the Providence Public Library in Rhode Island.

Please use the following link to register for the meeting: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1PrrZ8iK5_HHmrutrNMlmrWsLMQzRUuUF71MV_J3CG_E/edit [docs.google.com]. Please remember to share if you will be attending in person or via Zoom.

The Agenda and the Zoom link for the meeting will go out Wednesday, May 15th. If you have anything you would like to add to the Membership Meeting Agenda, please let us know.

All the best,

Louis Muñoz Jr., President

REFORMA Northeast Chapter

P.S. If you haven't already, please be sure you've saved the date for the Joint Mini-Conference in New York on Friday, June 14th! The JMC Committee is finalizing the program in the next few weeks, and we're looking forward to sharing a great day together!

The Northeast Chapter of REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library & Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking, covers people living or working in the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, or Rhode Island. http://www.reformanortheast.org/ [reformanortheast.org]

Information Services Technician I - URI Library Position

Posting closes o4 | 21| 2024

The University of Rhode Island's University Libraries seeks a full-time
Information Services Technician I.

    * The regular work schedule for this position is Sunday through
Thursday, 4:30pm to 12:30am.
    * During the summer & Spring Break & Winter Intersession - that
schedule is subject to change.

Under the direction of the Robert L. Carothers Library's Head of Access
Services, the Information Services Technician I will provide assistance
to library users and respond to a wide variety of user needs at the
Circulation Desk.

The Information Services Technician I, in conjunction with other
full-time staff, is also responsible for the training and supervision of
student employees.

For more information, and to apply, please visit the URI Human Resource
page [click on or copy & paste the link below to your browser]:

https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://jobs.uri.edu/postings/13224__;!!KKphUJtCzQ!KvOsUqjakoCpf_dBt4dYt86zimJgTjiUzVCQYNJaaQs5Zw8QtDgln7AtIlw2uPwZ4e78rknSA5TjRAEEaeTfySQ$[jobs[.]uri[.]edu] [1]

Black Caucus American Library Association Conference

July 24 - 27, 2024New Orleans, LouisianaRegister today!bcala.org

Behind the Scenes - Memories of Co-Founder Dr. Donna J. Gilton

Submitted by:  Ida D. McGhee

I first met Dr. Donna Gilton over 20 years ago when I was a librarian at Hartford (Connecticut) Public Library attending a conference at the New Haven, Connecticut public library.   I believe the all-day conference was on diversity in our local libraries.  Donna was in attendance with Dr. Michael Havener, the then dean of the University of Rhode Island Graduate School Library and Information Studies program. The main speaker was Dr. Carla Hayden, presently the 14th Librarian of Congress, whom at that time was the CEO of Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, Maryland.  While working on her Ph.D. at the University of Pittsburgh, not only did they room together but Donna and Dr. Hayden became very close friends.  

I saw Donna a few other times before relocating to Rhode Island at various library conferences.  We were always cordial and she invariably had something humorous to share to make you laugh.

Upon retiring from HPL and moving to South County, near URI, I met with Dr. Havener to discuss the number of unrepresented students of color in the GSLIS program.  I humored him by stating “I guess they do not have any Black librarians in Rhode Island other than Dr. Gilton.” I asked him this question due to my attendance at a Rhode Island Library Association annual conference at Bryant University. I remember seeing only one librarian of color that spring day, Marlene Lopes, former special collections librarian at Rhode Island College, who became a member of CORI. 

I am not sure what Dr. Havener said to Donna, she always used to tell me, “he instructed me to meet with you.” I recollect saying to her, “as a seasoned educator and a pioneering voice in the library world and due to your immense expertise and passion for librarians, he selected the right professor to meet with me.”  And not to mention her institutional and community knowledge.  These words would always make her smile, that grin and smirk she would portray.

During our first meeting, she stated that Attorney Denise Dowdell, a former librarian, should be on board for future meetings as we discuss the under representation of Black librarians in the state. Thus, the idea and discussion proved feasible to organize a group of librarians of color in RI.  Therefore, Cornucopia of Rhode Island: A Library Community of Color, CORI was established. 

Dr. Havener, Dr. Gilton, Denise and myself would meet several times a month at the home of Dr. GIlton and her mother, Mrs. Hattie Gilton, whom we decided would be ex-officio of our organization.  Plus, Mother Hattie always prepared a full course meal, whether it was breakfast, lunch or dinner and we always sat at the formal dining room table and ate off fine china plates.  No wonder it took forever to incorporate, we procrastinated just to continue with Mother Hattie’s sumptuous meals. 

After months of meetings, research, discussions and Denise’s design of the CORI logo, in September 2005 we had our inaugural program at URI’s University Club. An invitation to every RI librarian and library worker of color that Gilton and Havener could think of, including current and former URI GSLIS Prism Fellows was disseminated. Librarians of color from neighboring states, Connecticut and Massachusetts were also invited and many attended.  Our featured speaker for the luncheon was Andrew P. Jackson (Sekou Molefi Baako) former executive director of the Queens Library's Langston Hughes Community Library & Cultural Center in New York.  Andrew has returned to RI on several occasions as guest speaker for CORI as well as for RILA annual conferences.  

Since inception, CORI has presented at RILA’s annual conferences as well as established a yearly fall mini-conference.  Guess speakers for both have included well known and prominent librarians throughout the country.  From Dr. Hayden, who returned her honorarium from RILA and benefited it to CORI, with the stipulation that it be used for future CORI programs, to presidents of ALA, former ALA executive director, Tracie Hall and Jack Reed, Senior Senator of Rhode Island.  Whenever we invited a notable speaker to Rhode Island to speak pro bono or at a lower speaker’s cost and they accepted our invitation, Donna and I would always be tickled pink.

Without Dr. Gilton’s input and URI GSLIS support, there would be no CORI.  In between writing her books and numerous articles, teaching, playing the piano for her church choir, Donna was always present for CORI.  We normally carpooled together or with other CORI members in our area of the woods to drive throughout Rhode Island for our Saturday morning meetings.   I will forever cherish those drives and Donna’s funny stories.  When Donna learned that she had cancer, her tenacity and good humor never quit.  She preserved through it all without murmuring or negativity and always had a joke to share.

Rest in peace, my first librarian friend in Rhode Island.  Your kind spirit and willingness to march on will always be remembered with a smile.

CORI Meeting Notes/Schedule 2024