Personal anecdote time, baby.When we moved from Mexico to the West Side of San Antonio in the late '80s, our mother took us to the Bazan Branch Library (pronounced bah-ZAHN). At the time it was housed at some other building with a ramp connecting the ground floor and the basement, and I used to love to run down the middle. Of course the librarians were not happy with me running wild and about to trip myself. *SNIFF* It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
I remember being nine or ten and still loving to play with the wooden blocks in the children's section. And wasn't there a plastic rocking chair in the shape of a kangaroo? Yeah... Something like that. Good times.
Anyway, here's the old building, back when it was Prospect Hill Branch in the 1950's. I love how the "u" in "Public Library" is actually a "v." How historical.We used to pass by this tiny building each time we went to the Bazan. I seemed to just know that this was the first place where the library was at. Now it houses a WIC office, but it was abandoned for awhile.
Due to a horrendous lack of space, the library was moved to another building a few blocks down, probably in the 60's or 70's. (I should totally research that.) Unfortunately I didn't get pix of the second building. These are pictures of the third *improved* library, built in 1993.Oh, the services!
The failed guitar lessons!
The numerous internet sign-ups!
The Mexican trash celebrity magazines!
This is definitely a library where employees *need* to speak Spanish to get by. You don't have to be great at it grammatically but ya gots to be able to lay it all down en español. I know of various library employees who have suffered simply because they can't communicate with their public. I mean, that's hard stuff. You don't get in the profession so you can feel clueless and unhelpful.
To me, this library branch is a piece of home. It's totally not perfect. Teen services there have struggled, and not for lack of trying. They have a bilingual and energetic teen librarian but I've heard that public interest is just not what it should be. Although, I don't know. Maybe it's better now. It's definitely one of these branches that has its own vibe going on. That's not necessarily all negative. Hispanics who do not speak English well-- which, granted, tend to live on the West Side, among other areas-- have a library that definitely does what it can to cater to their needs.
Part of me feels like I should give back to my community, you know? I am likely to end up back in the homeland at some point. I still got San Antonio West Side written all over me. I know this sounds like the same old thing. I mean, librarians talk about this kind of thing constantly-- getting kids to read, getting them to take their education seriously, blah blah blah. I've met many brilliant and literate Latino teens in my time, but we're still waaaay behind. I want to do something about it! I want to focus on those that have not yet been given the opportunities they need. I want them to take a bite out of books, the way I am doing in the picture above. You know what I mean? I want them to feel like they have *options* and that they can go for it with a little bit of animo (energy/desire/focus).
So... yeah. That's a long-term goal. Do my kick-ass librarian thing with struggling Latino kids. Not for my own glory but because I feel like I was given guidance by my teachers and mentors all along. Maybe because I was cute, but hopefully because I was intelligent and constantly looking for something interesting. I don't want to be the only one who had it good.¡Mucho animo! ¡Si se puede!
