Interview: Washington’s first Latino Chief Librarian
By hola | Published | No Comments
Washington’s new Chief Librarian Richard Reyes-Gavilan often recounts how he discovered the public library as a boy growing up in the New York City borough of Queens.
“Here was a space that made me important. It encouraged my curiosity. It made me a better student, a more civic-minded person,” Reyes said during his introduction ceremony at the downtown Martin Luther King, Jr. central library in January, when he became the first Latino to helm the D.C. Public Library System.
That kind of passionate personal connection has made him a powerful voice for public libraries and, according to his friends and supporters, makes him well suited to lead the Washington public library system.
“He was a very powerful messenger for the library,” says David Woloch, a former colleague who worked alongside Reyes in New York City, where the Cuban-American rose through the ranks to become the Chief Librarian of Brooklyn’s public libraries three years ago. “When he talks about those personal experiences growing up in Queens and when he became passionate about the library he does it so well and he’s so heartfelt.”
The D.C. Public Library Board of Trustees selected Reyes earlier this year to replace Ginnie Cooper as D.C. Public Libraries’ Chief Librarian after a national search. He “brings a wealth of experience and is a well-respected leader across the nation,” according to John Hill, President of the Public Library Board of Trustees, who was involved in the selection process.
Albeit, today’s modern—computerized and Internet wired—library, is a place much different from the New York City library Reyes loved as a boy. Today libraries have to do much more than help students with their homework assignments and connect local residents with the latest bestseller. “In urban areas like Washington, D.C. public libraries are just incredible catalysts of human capital development,” Reyes said in an interview with Hola Cultura.
“Whether they be new immigrants or job seekers, the libraries in Washington have a tremendous opportunity,” he says. “The gap libraries are filling now is not only providing digital access but the skills that get you to the next phase in your life. Whether that be a job or the next stage of educational attainment.”
Other than a stint earning a Master of Library and Information Service from the University of Texas at Austin, Reyes has spent most of his life in New York City, which may make his Washington move seem surprising, particularly considering that the D.C. library network has fewer than half the branch libraries than the Brooklyn system he oversaw.
But D.C.’s public library system has fared better in terms of funding in recent years, than most other places around the country, including to New York City, where the system’s budget has been cut by 19 percent since 2007.
According to the District’s annual budgets between 2012 and 2014, funding for the public libraries has increased by roughly $19 million during that three-year period. And the system is in the midst of a $370 million program to build and renovate the 26 libraries across the city by 2019. In contrast, funding for public libraries has generally decreased nationwide since the Great Recession. The U.S. Congress cut national library funding by 5 percent in 2013, according to the American Library Association.
This national trend is not lost on Reyes. In fact he mentioned the system-wide revamp currently underway in the District as a leading factor in his decision to accept the chief librarian position. “For the past six years we’ve just been managing attrition” in New York, Reyes says. “It’s really exciting for me to come in and lead a group of new staff members.”
His appointment also sends a strong message that the D.C. Public Library values diversity and its Latino constituents, says Mario Ascencio, Library Director at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington and a board member of the DC Latino Caucus. “I’m very excited about where Richard will take the D.C. Public Library,” Ascencio says.
– Sam Sturgis
Recent Stories
