Lizette Guerra (CSRC) and tatiana de la tierra at library opening. Photo courtesy of Sócrates Silva.

The Chicano Studies Research Center (CSRC) Library at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) celebrated its reopening on March 8, 2011. Thanks to support from The Ahmanson Foundation, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, The Major League Baseball Players Association, and individual donors, the library has been renovated with new shelving, computers, a vibrant new coat of paint, a new sound system for special events, and a new librarian’s office which is glass encased and makes a statement of accessibility to the user. According to Chon Noriega, director of the CSRC, the new layout and remodeling will help “bring the library in synch with its activities.”

The reopening program highlighted special collections and initiatives at the CSRC Library such as the Edward R. Roybal Papers, which reflect Roybal’s family history and his years of public service as a Los Angeles City Councilman and U.S. Congressman; the Strachwitz Frontera Collection, the largest repository of Mexican and Mexican-American vernacular recordings in existence; and the Latino Theatre Initiative/Center Theatre Group Papers, an initiative at the Center Theater Group’s Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles which sought to increase theatrical programming relevant to the Latina/o community. Donors and scholars spoke not only about the unique collections and their importance to the historical record, but the sense of community and collaboration that is part of the ethos at the library. The program also included a performance by Raúl Pacheco from the Los Angeles band Ozomatli who was joined by the audience in the singing of his song “Gay Vatos in Love.”

Sócrates Silva
University of California, Los Angeles