Latinx voices: Cas Laskowski

This battle of identity is one I have waged in some fashion most of my life. I am Cuban and Italian, gamer and veteran, reader and poet, disabled and strong-willed. I feel connected to all sides of me, except la Cubana. I tried to join different heritage groups, but it always seemed like I was being judged. By attempting to connect to my razas, I’d get the paradoxical feeling that I am appropriating my own culture. ¡Imagínate!

My Spanish is terrible. I conjugate verbs incorrectly and fail to recall basic terms in conversations regularly. Never is it more apparent how far from fluent I am than when I speak to my abuelita. It is not that she has ever made me feel deficient. Quite the opposite. However, we keep our conversations shallow and short, cognizant of the language barrier that neither of us is skilled enough to scale. The older I get, and the further from my family, the more this disconnect from my heritage troubles me.

That was until I joined the Latino Caucus. From the first meeting, everyone was welcoming, non-judgemental, and extremely helpful. Barely knowing me, they believed in my potential, voting me to Vice-Presidency. That connection, faith, and mentorship gave me a foundation to launch the beginnig of my career. For that I am extremely grateful!

Taking on Latino Caucus presidency gave me the opportunity to advocate for our members, speaking out about AALL silence on the sanctuary city bill at the Members Open Forum that year. I was fortunate that the Caucus supported my idea to fundraise for KIND, and we raised over four thousand dollars for an urgent cause. (See: KIND of a big deal by Casandra Laskowski. AALL Spectrum, September/October 2008).

Latino Caucus presidency was just the first in a series of leadership opportunities. I am currently the Chair of the AALL Diversity & Inclusion Committee and am incoming President of Duke Libraries Assembly. I am proud of the Committee’s work this year as we will host ABA President Martinez and Louisiana Chief Justice Johnson at this years D&I Symposium! Powerful women during a powerful moment. The Symposium will take place on Sunday, July 12^th from 4pm to 5pm.

I am the Technology & Research Services Librarian at Duke Law. It is my job to find new ways to engage with technology tools and knowledge in the law school. I have been able to design engagement events, connect with technology leaders, and provide students the skills they need for 21^st century law practice.

But the facets of my job that I love most are those that allow me to make an impact. Recently I took part in the ABF Future of Latinos Southern Roundtable. All participants collaborated to consider different ways we can build a better future for Latinos nationally. As an extension of the roundtable, I’m working on an interactive map of all the organizations that serve Latinos. We hope to have a pilot up in a few weeks and will need all the help we can get identifying additional organizations for the map.

This past year, I worked on a cross-university collaboration using design thinking to create innovate solutions for human trafficking survivors. There we were able to lay the groundwork for a solution that may help those serving farmworkers in North Carolina, if not the farmworkers themselves. I am not sure what the final project will be; whatever the result, I am honored to be working for change.

I have accomplished a great deal in the last four years. I have written articles and had a technology column on a library publications. I wrote two book chapters: one in Law Librarianship in the Age of AI and one in the forthcoming Millenial Leadership in Law Libraries. I have spoken at conferences, judged the innovation contest, been party to university level strategic planning, and partnered on projects with local community partners. But I still feel honored to be featured in a upcoming leadership profile in AALL Spectrum.

I have grown tremendously since that first meeting. I am braver, more confident, and more determined. I am grateful to be part of this community that has allowed me to feel connected to my roots and contributed to what I have become. In attending the upcoming AALL Leadership Academy, I hope to gain the skills to follow the Latina leaders I admire. We are in a tumultuous time in our nation and cannot be passive. I am committed to helping in whatever way I can.  I know I am surrounded by others that feel the same way.

P.S. I am editing an Open textbook on Librarianship and would absolutely love if every Caucus member would propose a chapter or subchapter. We need the next generation to feel as welcome as I’ve felt and to see themselves as they learn about our profession.

Issue: 7

(2020/02)

Latinx voices: Cesar Zapata

I’m the Collections & Access Coordinator for the Lillian Goldman Law Library at Yale Law School and the incoming President of the Latino Caucus (my second time now!).  I’m also a very proud founding member of this Caucus back in 2005 in San Antonio, Texas. I have not missed one single AALL meeting for the past 14 years mainly because I like to attend the Latino Caucus meetings and its “bailes” — please don’t tell my director this! (Teresa is probably reading this anyway.)

 

Some of you might recognize me for bringing donuts to the meetings (except for this year, sorry, I couldn’t find a DD close by in Washington D.C.), or for bringing my son Christian to the meetings for the past few years. He wants to be a Military Lawyer, but if he changes his mind and becomes a law librarian, then he knows he has a home with the Latino Caucus; a group of great, dedicated people he can call his friends; hopefully the legacy will continue for many years to come.

How did I end up working at the Yale Law School Library? Well, by accident! I was a hotel manager for over 13 years with Holiday Inn and I loved it, but once you become “the manager” everything changes, especially the time to interact with the guests, which is what I always liked. I continued to host weekly happy hour gatherings with the guests, but that was the extent of it. Anyway, luckily for me, my franchise company went bankrupt (not my fault, our hotel was the best out of 7 that the company owned in the Northeast) and, therefore, I was laid off.

While looking for a job, I learned that Yale University Library was looking for a candidate with hospitality background and computer knowledge. Well that was me, so I got the job as a Senior Administrative Assistant for the Yale University Librarian. After a year with YUL, I applied to the Yale Law Library which was seeking  a candidate with organizational skills to manage the stacks (among other duties), and since I’m a stamp collector, this was second nature and an excellent fit for me. Thus, after 18 years, I’m still here and loving it more and more every day. My colleagues are amazing, my supervisors and administrators are very supportive, and the law school environment is very rewarding. I just wished I had found librarianship much earlier in my life! Nonetheless, I have no regrets and I enjoy every minute of what I’m doing now.

¡Nos vemos en New Orleans el próximo año!

Issue: 6

(2019/10)

Latinx voices: Lyonette Louis-Jacques

I am Haitian-American. I spent my early childhood in Haïti and was mostly enveloped in francophone/Haitian culture. The spirit of Carnaval and Mardi Gras is in me. And, I believe also, the spirit of the Arawak/Taíno indigenous peoples who lived on the island of Hispaniola before Christopher Columbus arrived.

Being “Latinx” is a given, considering my Haitian background. But I never really knew or consciously identified as such until I took Spanish in college.

Although Spanish was there next door to me since Haiti shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic, I don’t remember hearing it as a young child. But Spanish was there when I attended public school in New York. I learned all the curse words in Spanish along with some in other languages. Spanish was there in the merengue we danced. Spanish was there in the music my older sister listened to and introduced me to. For the longest time, I couldn’t decipher it, but loved it. Spanish was there in Les Ambassadeurs’ song, “En Mi Viejo San Juan”. I felt the love, nostalgia, and need to return to Puerto Rico in the Spanish song, followed by the similar sentiment in French about longing to go back to Haiti. Who could not feel what it was saying?

“Me voy

Pero un día volveré

A buscar mi querer

A soñar otra vez

En mi viejo San Juan”

Cover of Les Ambassadeurs d’Haïti, Album Boleros, 1992

“J’m’en vais,

Mais un jour je reviendrai,

Loin de toi ma patrie,

Loin de ton doux climat,

Se sera de la nostalgie.”

Les Ambassadeurs d’Haïti ,“En Mi Viejo San Juan [music video],” Amour, Toujours Amour (IBO Records, 1970).

Dennis C. Kim-Prieto, La Solucion Seremos Todos (We Will All Be the Solution) – Why the AALL Latino Caucus Matters to You, 10 AALL SPECTRUM 12, 43 (2006).

As I told Dennis Kim-Prieto in a 2006 AALL Spectrum article (“La solución seremos todos (We Will All Be the Solution) – Why the AALL Latino Caucus Matters to You”, at 12, 15): “Even though French and Creole are our [Haitians] languages, some of us know Spanish, and we also share a lot of things in common: food, music, [culture], and similar histories.” Through our love of football/soccer, and dancing, we are/I am Latinx.

I joined the Latino Caucus from the get-go, I am a founding member.

 

(From left to right: Pedro Padilla-Rosa, Claire Germain, Elena Gonzalez, Lyonette Louis-Jacques in Puerto Rico, 2008)

Being part of the Latino Caucus means having a place where I belong in AALL. A home. Caucus members share similar languages, food, culture, sports, and history. And law librarianship experiences. Being in the Caucus means I can bond over telenovelas and Korean dramas (because there’s crossover), plantains, fútbol, salsa tropical (who can resist Marc Anthony’s Contra la corriente?) and merengue music, and dancing! For several years, the Caucus hosted a Baile at the AALL annual meeting. Those were some of the most fun times I’ve had. Thanks to Dennis Kim-Prieto for making them happen.

Being in the Caucus means I can get personal tours. Pedro Padilla-Rosa (may he rest in peace) drove with me across the island when either IALL or ACURIL was meeting in Puerto Rico. It was wonderful! He was also a dear friend who I miss very much. I miss his hugs and warm, friendly personality.

On the same day the Latino Caucus was started, July 19, 2005, I moderated a program featuring co-authors of a new book, Mexican Americans & the law: ¡el pueblo unido jamás será vencido!, Reynaldo Anaya Valencia, Sonia R. García, Henry Flores, and José Roberto Juárez. This was the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) 98th Annual Meeting. The venue was San Antonio, Texas. And the program was sponsored by the Academic Law Libraries and Foreign, Comparative, and International Law special interest sections.

I saw a recent photo from AALL 2019 in D.C. and there were a couple of the original members there, but folks new to me. That is great! It means that the Latino Caucus is continuing to grow. I look forward more educational programming and networking and the occasional Baile outing from the Caucus in the future!

Issue: 5

(2019/08)

Latinx voices: Samuel Serrano

My career as a law librarian started in 2004, when I was hired as an assistant librarian for the night shift of the Circulation Department of the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) Law Library. After completing my MLIS degree in 2006, I was selected to occupy a position as Reference Librarian.  Having as mentors my esteemed colleagues Pedro Padilla Rosa, Maria Otero de Leon and Lizette López Gracia, provided me with the necessary support and inspiration to continue my studies towards my J.D., which I completed in 2013.  Today, I am in the process of completing my LL.M. from the Complutense University of Madrid.

As a professional librarian,  I supervised the Circulation Department, the Reference Department, and in  2016 I was named Interim Director of the Law Library.  During this time I was able to develop and oversee the establishment of many important initiatives,  such as the  improvement of the library web page, library presence in the social media, the acquisitions of our first electronic books, the most extensive library subscriptions evaluations in our library’s history, the updating  of our collection development policies, the acquisition of many new digital collections and electronics services for our libraries, and the beginning of digitization projects. Since 2015 I have also taught the Legal Research and Writing course in the Law School and worked in the establishment of ProBono Acceso (that offers free exams reviews for law school candidates for the LSAT and EXADEP graduate admission tests).  After Hurricane Maria in September 2017, I was in charge of the recuperation efforts in our library, among many other responsibilities.

I have been a member of the American Association of Law Libraries since 2006. My first AALL conference was the 100th annual meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana. I also participated in the Portland, Philadelphia, and Baltimore meetings. In 2018, during the SEAALL Annual Meeting in Nashville,Tennesse , I was able to present  the conference “The Experience of Hurricane Maria in the University of Puerto Rico Law School Library: Dealing with Disaster“  with Lizette López Gracia, Acquisitions Librarian at UPR Law Library. Just few months later, in the AALL Annual Meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, Jeannette Lebrón Ramos and I presented the conference “We made it through: Before, during, and after the disaster hits: Improving the disaster plan after the event“  sharing our experiences after Hurricane Maria and the measures that had to be taken.

We have always been warmly welcomed in all AALL annual conferences and in the Latino Caucus. I would like to thank all Latino Caucus members who continue the legacy and history of this group. Marcelo Rodríguez-Escribano, Marisol Floren-Romero, Casandra Laskowski, Teresa Miguel, and all those Caucus members, that when they identified us in the 2018 conference, did not hesitate to contact us and support our participation in the conference  and invite us to continue as active members of the group. This Latinx voices section is part of those efforts. Thank you all.

Issue: 4

(2019/06)

Latinx voices: Jeannette Lebrón Ramos

Soy bibliotecaria en el Departamento de Recursos  y Servicios de Información en la Biblioteca de Derecho de la Universidad de Puerto Rico.  He laborado en la Universidad de Puerto Rico como Bibliotecaria desde el año 2000. En el año 2012 me integré a la Biblioteca de Derecho como referencista y espero poder continuar ayudando, durante muchos años más, a nuestros estudiantes de derecho, a nuestra facultad y a la comunidad en general, a resolver sus necesidades informativas del campo académico legal. Durante mis años en la Biblioteca de Derecho he tenido la oportunidad de crecer profesionalmente a través de mis ejecutorias como referencista encargada de los procesos investigativos de los usuarios, manejo de las bases de datos, prestamos interbibliotecarios, instrucción bibliotecaria y otros asuntos relacionados.

Como biblioteca especializada guio a nuestros usuarios en investigaciones que abarcan temas legales de Puerto Rico, Estados Unidos y España principalmente, pero también se extiende a diversos asuntos legales a nivel mundial: Caribe, Unión Europea, Extranjero y otros. Poder ayudar a nuestros a nuestros usuarios con sus inquietudes, dudas y preguntas me llena de mucha satisfacción.

En el 2012 me hice miembro de AALL y SEAALL. En abril del 2013 tuve la oportunidad de asistir por primera vez de la conferencia anual de SEAALL celebrada en Decatur Downtown en Emory, Georgia. En el 2017 participé en la Conferencia Anual de AALL en Baltimore, MD, también por primera vez. De dicha conferencia tengo recuerdos excelentes. No solo tuve la oportunidad de enriquecer mis conocimientos en el campo a través de múltiples presentaciones, talleres y foros, sino que también pude presentar,  junto a Samuel Serrano, Director de la Biblioteca de Derecho, la experiencia en nuestra biblioteca antes, durante y después del paso del Huracán María en Puerto Rico. Las muestras de cariño y solidaridad recibidas por la audiencia y muchos otros asistentes de la conferencia, las llevaré siempre en mi corazón.

Otra agradable experiencia, fue conocer y compartir en el Latino Caucus, donde me sentí como en casa. No podía perder esa oportunidad de conocer y ser parte del comité del que tanto me ha había hablado mi colega Lizette López Gracia de la Biblioteca de Derecho de la Universidad de Puerto Rico y quien también forma parte del grupo de bibliotecarios que iniciaron el dicho comité en el 2005. Pertenecer al Latino Caucus representando a Puerto Rico me enorgullece. Asimismo, me llena de alegría saber que tengo nuevos amigos cuyos intereses en el campo son muy similares a los míos y con los que definitivamente pude establecer lazos de colaboración.

Issue: 3

(2019/03)