About the Project

At the intersection of Chicana/o/x Studies, Digital Humanities and Library History, Bibliopolítica: A Digital History of the Chicano Studies Library chronicles the history of one of the first Chicana/o/x collections, the Chicano Studies Library at the University of California, Berkeley.

Bibliopolítica shares the stories of trailblazing library workers, students and community members who worked to preserve and make Chicana/o/x resources available. Featuring photographs, ephemera, archival documents, and oral histories, Bibliopolítica offers an original digital collection of primary sources and is the first audiovisual history of this special place that helped redefine what libraries could be.

Bibliopolítica takes its name from a book of the same title that Chabrán and librarian colleague Francisco García-Ayvens published in 1984, BiblioPolítica: Chicano Perspectives on Library Service in the United States. In 2024, it remains one of the few titles dedicated to the discussion of Chicana/o/x librarianship. Bibliopolítica: a Digital History of the Chicano Studies Library adds to this important conversation, but it is only the beginning of a much needed longer and more detailed history of the Chicano Studies Library and the contributions of Chicana/o/x library workers.

Project Team #

Amanda Belantara

Co-curator, project coordinator. Assistant Curator at New York University Libraries

Lillian Castillo-Speed

Co-curator, former Chicano Studies Library Coordinator, now Head Librarian of the Ethnic Studies Library at UC Berkeley

Richard Chabrán

Co-curator, former Chicano Studies Library Coordinator, Team Leader Latino Digital Archive Group

Matthew Haugen

Project metadata coordinator. Rare Book Cataloger at Columbia University Libraries

Inaiah Lujan

Graphic design, brand development, creative advisor. CEO at TruLu Productions

Ed Madrid

Web UI/UX designer

Marii Nyrop

Web UI & API developer and collection data wrangler. Senior Research Data Engineer at New York University

Additional Credits #

Gratitude #

Many thanks to everyone who agreed to be interviewed and share your time and stories.

Thanks to Angie Chabrám, Roberto Haro, Francisco Hernandez, Ysidro Macías, Juan Rodriguez, Nina Genera, and Carolyn Soto who shared important information but were not able to be interviewed.

We would like to acknowledge the following people who made many contributions to the Chicano Studies Library. These are Jose Arce, Herminio Rios, Myrtha Chabrán, John Gonzales, Raymond Padilla, Martha Rodriguez, and Oscar Treviño. Others who have also passed were not officially part of the library but who contributed to its story are: Rafaela Castro, Guillermo Hernandez, Susana Hinojosa, Octavio Romano, and Margaret Ulrich.

Bibliopolítica was made possible by a New York University Digital Humanities Seed Grant. The project team would like to thank The Center for the Humanities, NYU Libraries, and NYU Research Technology for the opportunity and Molly Rogers and Jojo Karlin for their support.

Heartfelt thanks to Emily Drabinski for generously providing additional support for travel and tape sync recordings. Thank you, Emily, for helping make this project possible.

Thanks to the Ethnic Studies Library at UC Berkeley for providing additional funding in support of the project.

Many thanks to Pablo Gonzalez, Continuing Lecturer, Chicana/o Studies Program and Ethnic Studies for recording with us and giving permission to record the oral histories with staff in the Ethnic Studies ChangeMaker Podcast Studio.

Thanks to NYU Libraries Office of Budget and Finance team for your generous guidance and administrative support.

Muchas gracias to Rodrigo Cortina for additional translation support.

Purita Mesa, Richard Chabran, Lillian Castillo-Speed. Outside Ethnic Studies Library, September 2023

Richard Chabran, Chela Rios Munoz, Carlos Munoz, Lillian Castillo-Speed. UC Berkeley, September 2023

Richard Chabran, Lillian Castillo-Speed, Clementina Duron. Ethnic Studies Changemaker Podcast Studio at UC Berkeley, September 2023.

Lucha Corpi. Ethnic Studies Changemaker Podcast Studio at UC Berkeley, September 2023.

Contributor Notes #

"Creating the Bibliopolítica digital exhibit allowed me to make present special moments of labor and why I thought they were important. It allowed me to continue conversations with past colleagues who we were able to interview as well as an opportunity to celebrate those who have passed who I learned from and struggled with, especially Jose Antonio Arce and my Aunt Myrtha Chabrán. It has also provided moments of learning and a rare opportunity to work with a gifted team. For all of this I am extremely grateful. My hope is that this exhibit not only brings a history of a library alive but also points to the importance of documenting subaltern histories."

–Richard Chabran

"I am grateful to all the staffs of the Chicano Studies Library and to all the staffs of the Ethnic Studies Library. Their work and their courage gave life to both libraries. I want to especially thank Gema Paola Morales-Mendoza and August Eli Eppler for their teamwork in searching through files and boxes for most of the historical documents in Bibliopolítica."

–Lillian Castillo-Speed

"For my family, especially my mother and aunties and uncles. I wish you had a Chicano Studies Library when you were growing up."

–Amanda Belantara

Francisco García-Ayvens, friend and former Coordinator of the Chicano Studies library, passed away in 2018. Richard Chabrán and Lillian Castillo-Speed shared many collaborations and conversations with Francisco about the Chicano Periodical Index, the Chicano Thesaurus and Chicana/o/x librarianship. His participation was missed while working on this version of the Bibliopolítica project.

Contact #

bibliopolitica@gmail.com