Ida's Speech at the ALA Conference 2007 in DC

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Ida's Speech at ALA DC for the 10 year Anniversary of the Spectrum Scholarship. Good afternoon everyone, My name is Ida and I am very proud to be a Spectrum, 2003 Scholar and I am especially delighted to be here for the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Spectrum Initiative. I wish EVERYONE could experience the sheer joy of getting that phone call from ALA telling them that they had just won this terrific scholarship. I still remember receiving that phone call on May 26, 2003. It was at 8am in the morning. "Hello this is Wendy callingl from ALA… I'll never forget it! Since then the Spectrum program has provided me with the wisdom of mentorship and the courage and strength to grow to become the –professional. I feel I am today. I would like to tell you - how the mentorship - I received from the Spectrum program was so valuable, that changed the course of my life. For example The Spectrum guidance helped me change the poor perception that I had - of my own ethnic identity. Previously, I felt, that my heritage hindered me in life. I am half Mexican and half Italian and Portuguese. Being interracial and, going through grammar school and high school in the 1970's in the United States is not the experience that it is today. I grew up in a white neighborhood. where there was no one like me that I could really identify with and to top it off I was even cruelly teased at times. The importance of this is that When a person is young and doesn't (see successful people of color in positions) - like Librarians or teachers or doctors it limits a person's dreams of what they think they can be achieve but now because of the - J-Lo's,- Halle Berrys, and Obamas, we have minority pioneers forging new and exciting paths and thanks to the Spectrum Initiative we also have growing numbers of minority librarians. Yeah! I hope younger generations will not feel the same limitations I did I hope they will think --- If others can do it why can't I? And this feeling of why can't I do it? Is something that I learned from role models at the Spectrum Institute. At the 2004 institute I listened to motivational speeches given by - (Brilliant women of color) who included deans of universities and even (a former president) of ALA. I heard Stimulating lectures, from : Dr. Camile Alire, Dr. Carla Hayden Dr. Patti Montiel Overall & Tracie Hall and many others... This Institute changed my perception about careers being unattainable and replaced those ideas with the thoughts of many attainable possibilities. It was also at the Spectrum Institute that I felt for the first time, that my bilingulalabilities - HAD - SPECIAL - WORTH. After receiving the Spectrum Scholarship I was able to complete my graduate education at San Jose State University in 2005. I also started my professional journey by joining other ethnic librarian groups like Reforma and CALA where I became friends and colleagues with other multicultural librarians. Through these groups I was able to observe different libraries serving California's multicultural populations in San Francisco Oakland and San Jose. where I live But despite all these broadening - multicultural experiences I –was- still stuck I was still working in a library position where the only time I used my Spanish was when the staff would ask me to write the basura on the side of trash boxes. One such day I was writing basura over and over again on boxes when I guess I had what some would call a "moment of clarity" I stopped and thought to myself– "I have got to put my Spanish language skills to better use than this"! Sothe next lesson I learned from other spectrum scholars was to take action! Specifically I received my push in getting unstuck when I went to ALA's conference in New Orleans last year. There I was so fortunate to sit next to two of my colleagues- who are also presenting here today; Tracy Hall and Luis Mendes. I confided to both of them about my desire to be doing something more meaningful for Spanish speaking communities than writing out the word Basura and at the same time, I confided that I was really scared about moving jobs. I will never forget what Tracy Hall told me at that dinner. She looked straight at me and said – "Ida, Just Do it…. Do it with fear" Something about those encouraging words pushed me forward – I felt a new found sense of motivation in knowing that others felt fear too – but still pushed forward despite of it. Well I am happy to tell you that it was within two months of that dinner - I did leave my comfort zone – and entered the fear zone I interviewed for the position of a BIlingual cataloger for San Mateo County Library System. and I was offered and took the challenging job! In this position not only do I catalog Spanish language materials but I also serve on a Spanish language committee that includes LIBrary staff from ALL of our 12 county branches. This year was a GOOD year for the Spanish committee I want to proudly tell you that my new library won the ALA - PR -award this year for Best Website 15within our budget range. And this website was designed by two of my Latino colleagues; Cris Miranda and Robert Esparza one of whom is on the Spanish committee with me. The catalog has an English and Spanish version I think that really sets it apart from other library catalog web sites. As a committee we also encouraged two other committees; the Children and Programming committees to mount the very first evern system wide program celebrating - dia de los ninos, dia de los libros. I designed and conducted a craft and literature event for one of the branches. I had expected 14 children but 40 actually turned up to learn how to make piñatas. But that was fine ! I showed 40 children how to make mini piñatas we listened to Mexican Music and we had a lot of fun. We also reviewed some of the bilingual literature that was there at the library. I had long been inspired, by Pat Mora's Dia de los Ninos – Dia de los libros project ever since I had read about it in college I had even written papers about the importance of the program in promoting literacy and helping Latino families learn about libraries. I feel we reached out to non latinos as well and shared Latino culture in a positive light. After the event, I couldn't believe that I had actually turned my virtual knowledge that I had learned at the university into an actual program for children. It was a great feeling to be able to do something meaningful like this at last. As you can see the Spectrum initiative has been much more than a scholarship to me and many others, I'm sure Although the scholarship was important – (I was charging my tuition before that on my credit card) The Spectrum initiative provided me with mentorship that I had never known before It offered me friendship wisdom help and encouragement. It helped me obtain a job where I feel I am putting my Mexican heritage to good use and most of all I feel that I am personally making an important difference – finally. Thank you all for being here today and for your grand support of the Spectrum scholarship and Happy 10th anniversary Spectrum!! ida