Presidential Message, February 2025 (By David Woken)

• By: Taylor Leigh
• On: 04/08/2025 10:00:46
• In: News

Estimades colegas SALALMistas,

It has been a while since I communicated with all of you, so as conference submissions and registrations begin to pour in I wanted to let you all get a glimpse of the work we have done to prepare for SALALM 70 in May, and some other major SALALM business we have been up to.

From January 29-31 I visited New York City to see the spaces we have reserved for SALALM 70, which are looking to be a wonderful setting for our meeting. The afternoon I arrived I checked in to my hotel in Greenwich Village and immediately met with our co-Executive Director Angela Carreño to join the New York Public Library's Denise Hibay at their Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library, where we will hold our host reception on their rooftop terrace. It is a lively, active public library branch across the corner from the main NYPL research library (of the famed twin lion statues Patience and Fortitude). The rooftop gives us a fabulous view of the city from which to celebrate our conference and will allow members time to slip across the street and check out the NYPL's exhibits of treasures form their collections. The following morning I met up with Angela and Nelson Santana to head to the New York University campus to see the spaces where our panels and business meetings will happen. The Kimmel Center will be home most of our panels and presentations, providing us with plenty of rooms for simultaneous panels, a large, windowed room with another fine view for our opening ceremonies, and another lovely upper-floor room for our libreros' exhibits and meetings, allowing them to display their wares against another stunning backdrop of iconic New York City skyline. After that we visited the KJCC down the street, where NYU's Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies is housed. The center has comfortable, well-appointed spaces to hold our business meetings, and NYU CLACS's Director Dylon Robbins welcomed us warmly and affirmed their support for us, including a pledge to share NYU's space at LASA with us.

After meeting with Dylon at NYU CLACS Angela, Nelson, and I made our way to the Moxy NYC East Village (after a brief stop for lunch at the delicious Ukrainian restaurant Veselka, conveniently located on the walk from NYU to the Moxy) to see the conference accommodations. As many of you may remember from the initial plans for the New York City SALALM in 2021, it is a bit on the cozy side. However, the rooms are all in excellent shape and well appointed, with smart use of the space available, and the hotel itself is home to multiple bars, a rooftop Mexican restaurant, lounge spaces, and even a “speakeasy” style club in the basement. Considering how intense Manhattan real estate can be, it is remarkably affordable and accommodating. After our tour of the Moxy Angela and I met up with NYU Librarian for Latin American, Caribbean, Spanish and Portuguese Studies and fellow SALALMista Melissa Aslo de la Torre at Carroll Place, where the Libreros' Reception will happen. We had a delicious Italian dinner and checked out its two spaces, a large upstairs dance hall and the downstairs bar and stage. All told, I am impressed by the spaces that our hosts Angela Carreño and Nelson Santana have been able to arrange for our conference, and that's not even to mention the incredible neighborhood where we will be. Whatever art, culture, or entertainment you are into, New York will have something for you, and I hope our members will be able to take some time to themselves to enjoy the city while we are here.

As for the conference itself, I'm sure you are all aware that our submissions and registration are now open, and the submissions are coming in apace. I am already hearing from members with multiple different thematic panels, and I encourage others to get creative and bring their own passions to the presentations. We are still looking for submissions for the Dan Hazen Fellowship, the SALALM Award for Institutional Collaborative Initiatives, and nominees for the José Toribio Medina Award, so if you have colleagues you want to see honored at SALALM or projects that need some seed money don't hesitate! The time is now!

Finally, I want to let you all know about the progress we are making on the strategic planning process the SALALM Executive Board approved at SALALM 69. This past fall I convened a Strategic Planning Task Force which has since developed, posted, and distributed a request for proposals (RFP) from consulting firms to work with us in exploring how SALALM can adapt to our changing information world and remain a valuable space for our members. These concerns are only growing stronger as we see the U.S. government pulling back from so many of its commitments to education, research, and international engagement, a development that will no doubt send massive waves through our profession, so I was glad to see so many members step up and contribute. Our RFP's deadline is March 14, so there is still time for submissions. Currently the plan is to evaluate the proposals and interview our top candidates in April so that we can have a recommendation ready for the Executive Board at SALALM 70. I want to thank the Strategic Planning Task Force members, Anne Barnhart, Melissa Guy, Manuel Ostos, Matt Hill, Michael Scott, Laura Martin, Angela Carreño (ex officio), and Jill Baron (ex officio), for all their work on this project. This wouldn't have made it this far without your work, and I'm looking forward to seeing our consultant's recommendations in the coming years. I'm excited by the work we have accomplished so far this year, and hope that we have a stimulating, productive, and fun conference when we see each other again in New York in May.

David