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SALALM Scholarship Winners Announced

The winners of the 2023 SALALM Attendance Scholarship have been announced. 

Melissa Aslo de la Torre
Melissa Aslo de la Torre is a graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin (UT), where she will complete a dual master's program in Information Studies and Latin American Studies in May 2024. Her research is centered on archival praxis among queer Latine/x communities. She is a 2022–2023 American Library Association (ALA) Spectrum Scholar, a 2022-2024 Association of Research Libraries Kaleidoscope Scholar, and a recipient of the Gerd Muehsam Award from Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA) for her paper on Latinx queer performance and archives.

She spent the 2021-2022 academic year as a Graduate Research Assistant for Reference at the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection, where she fielded reference questions, created finding aids, and curated an exhibition. Since fall of 2022, Melissa has been a Graduate Research Assistant for Instruction at the Harry Ransom Center, utilizing special collections to teach primary source literacy.


Sergio Estrada
Sergio Estrada is a first-year Information Sciences Master's student at the University of Montreal. Previously, he was a Librarian at the University of Antioquia Colombia. He is passionate about promoting and encouraging reading, working with communities, and diversity issues. He has participated in different international academic and artistic events in Peru, Argentina, and Chile.

Throughout his career, he has led several social and environmental projects that have contributed to the sustainable development of remote communities in Colombia, including the establishment of school libraries in rural areas, storytelling competitions, and training for the development of socio-cultural projects.



Ana Rico
Ana Rico headshotAna recently completed her first year as a graduate student in Information Studies at UT Austin, where she is also working towards the Graduate Portfolio in Mexican American and Latina/o Studies. She is particularly interested in archival silence, zines, and accessibility of information. Growing up in the El Paso-Juarez border, she has had the opportunity to help the bi-national community through initiatives like the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program and the Terry Scholars Student Organization. Her passion for librarianship began when she interned for the El Paso Public Library, where she got the opportunity to have a direct, positive impact in the community. This passion was redirected towards US Latine librarianship after developing a digital scholarship project with the Onda Latina collection held by the Benson Latin American Collection.

Ana is the Collection Development Graduate Research Assistant at the Benson, where she processes gifts, purchases books, occasionally assists with community engagement efforts, and is currently curating an exhibit. In 2023, she was published in the E3W Review of Books.

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