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El Coraz—n de Tejas
Central Texas Chapter of REFORMA
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Meeting Notes
December 12, 2009
Terrazas Branch Library
Austin, Texas
Present: Don Bos, Bob C‡rdenas, Melinda Curry, Mary Donley,
Melinda Ferrell, Elva Garza, Oralia Garza de CortŽs, Hope Lochridge, Ana Christy Loya,
Loriene Roy, Eric Travis
Items Discussed
¥ Membership – Don passed out blank membership
forms for the upcoming year. Current members and new members are encouraged to
submit the filled-out forms and payment in person to our chapter treasurer, Bob
C‡rdenas, or via the chapter post office box.
El Coraz—n de Tejas- Central Texas Chapter of
REFORMA
P.O. BOX 2463
Austin, TX 78768-2463
A link to the 2010 membership form: http://www.reforma.org/MembershipForm2010.doc
¥ Meeting Schedule – We discussed a variety of meeting
schedules and locations, including every two months, every month, restaurant,
library, etc. We will stay mainly with the fourth Saturday of each month. Don
will put out a schedule.
¥
IMLS Laura Bush Grant – December 15 is the deadline to apply for various funds from
IMLS, including the 20th Century Laura Bush Library Grant. The time
period is up that prevented Loriene from applying. Status: The proposal is at
the UT office. Once approved, it can be submitted online. Partners are
required. The iSchool qualifies as a library; the Coraz—n de Tejas
Chapter is the other partner. Proposed: Six students to attend the iSchool,
each receiving a laptop. Option of getting a masterÕs in indigenous studies.
There is a nice round of people willing to host students.
Eight students have inquired so far. We wonÕt know results until April. Our
chapter voted to support the project. Don and Loriene met to do the
paperwork. We must have a tax identification number and a DUNS number.
¥
Noche de Cuentos –Oralia
told the group that Camila Alire, ALA President, will announce more details
about Noche de Cuentos at the ALA Mid-Winter Conference, so caucuses can get
started after that. The object of Noche de Cuentos is a night of storytelling,
not necessarily book reading, held in mid-March 2010. There is a stipulation that
each event involve a school library and that the audience contain both children
and adults. Don will contact Anita Rubarth-Lay about the ideas we discussed at
the last chapter meeting concerning a Noche de Cuentos event at Martin Middle
School where she is the librarian. Another possibility would be a connection
involving Sanchez and Metz elementary schools and the Terrazas Branch Library.
Meeting attendees discussed possible dates and venues for
our chapter event, and Thursday, March 25 seemed to be the best date (avoiding
the annual SXSW Musical Festival and public school spring break.) We talked
about meeting spaces. Eric informed us that the Carver Branch Library has the
largest meeting rooms. Using Carver, we could include other schools in near-East
Austin such as Ortega, Zavala, and Blackshear elementary schools. If held at
an Austin Public Library facility, the event could be fed through library
channels for publicity. The central library needs to know six weeks ahead to
do graphics for such events.
More ideas of topics and presenters included the following:
Tejanos who fought against Spain in a battle near Medina; Danny Camacho,
Grandma CamachoÕs son (East Austin family stories); Gloria Espitia (involved in
Latino oral histories); Martha Cotera; Jesse Herreras; the Mexadillos. Danny
Camacho is a volunteer in Gloria EspitiaÕs office and at Metz Elementary
School. He is involved with Save Austin Cemeteries, a project which could
provide interesting stories.
Elva told us about Night of the Stars, a previous event
involving ÒstarsÓ of the neighborhood (the mayor, priests, Mrs. Camacho, other
leaders of the community). Some read, some told stories.
Oralia volunteered to be committee chair of Noche de
Cuentos. Volunteers for a working group: Oralia, Eric, Don, Melinda F.,
Melinda C., and Elva.
¥
DonÕs Wiki –
Don has established a wiki to help school librarians build their collections of
books by Latino authors. Don has given sessions at Austin ISD vertical team
meetings, and a few people have ordered books after having looked at the wiki.
The wiki is called Bilingual Library Talk by Bos. To use, go to PBWorks
online and ask to get on. Don will give permission.
National Reforma has a wiki; so does Austin ISD. Perhaps
our chapter could start one or post to the national Reforma wiki.
Announcements
Scholarship
Award Winner – Oralia
reported that Megan McMillian, last yearÕs Coraz—n de Tejas scholarship winner,
is now the director of the Lake Travis Library District supervising 65 library
volunteers and a board.
Javier
Garza Visit – Ana
Christy reported on author Javier GarzaÕs visit to Sanchez and Metz elementary
schools. She had arranged the visit for Sanchez, and Don went in on the
opportunity for Metz. The whole Sanchez campus was excited about the upcoming
event and made lucha libre masks. Javier Garza read, embellished, and
translated a different story/book to each class level, 1st through 5th
grades, and everyone enjoyed his storytelling.
At Metz, Don has a Meet the Author event for book club
members and hosted one with Javier Garza. (Members are students who read a
book of 120 pages or longer.) Hope provided refreshments. Twenty Metz
students were invited to sit with the author and ask him questions.
Literary
Resources – Ana
Christy is interested in more bilingual titles for her library. She will get
in touch with Santillana and/or Lectorum representatives. Lectorum just got
sold by Scholastic to a Colombian investor. Kirkus Reviews just vanished.
Permabound does Lectorum. The Gandhi Bookstore in Mexico City and Guadalajara
is MaryÕs favorite. They also have a good supply of audiovisual materials.
MayorÕs
Book Club – Elva
announced that the 2010 MayorÕs Book Club selection is Amigoland by local author Oscar Casares.
Quincea–eras
Event – Eric
reported that a Quincea–eras event will be held at Terrazas Branch Library next
April.
The
Big Read – Hope
learned from the NEA website that the Big Read will take place the third week
in April of 2010.
We
Shall Remain Webinar – Loriene announced that she will participate in a free WGBH
webinar on December 17 from 3-4 pm. Cassandra Barnett, current president of
the American Association of School Librarians, will also be on with Loriene,
and the subject is planning events around the ÒWe Shall RemainÓ series.
Feria
Internacional del Libro de Guadalajara – Oralia attended the festival this
year. ALA sponsors $100 off airfare for attendees; the Feria gives other
perks. (Suggestion: If you go, register as Òprofessional.Ó) Los Angeles was
the featured ÒcountryÓ this year. Luis Rodriguez had a lowrider display; there
was a ÒcholasÓ display as well and a celebration of 25 years of the festival.
The feria has developed a culture of literacy in Guadalajara. The first large,
public library open to the public is being established, partly by the
university and partly by the state of Jalisco. Members mentioned Ben Franklin
libraries in Mexico City and Guadalajara.
Oralia had a Òshow and tellÓ of books she bought at the
Feria:
Tsunami by Joydeb and Moyna Chitrakar, Petra Ediciones
Ziba vino en un barco by Liz Lofthouse, illustrated by Robert Ingpen
El pa–uelo de mi abuela (similar to Carmen TafollaÕs rebozo story) by Heinz
Janisch
El pato y la muerte by Wolf Erlbruch, Barbara Riore, editor
El mayor nacimiento del mundo y sus alrededores by JosŽ de la Colina, published in
Mexico.
Margarita by RubŽn Dar’o (an old book remade). [DonÕs remark: Òone
of the best lyrical storiesÓ]
Future Chapter Meetings -
The next meeting will be at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, January 23, 2010, at the
following location:
Terrazas Branch Library
1105 East CŽsar Ch‡vez Street
Austin, TX 78702
512-974-3625
Our chapter website: http://www.main.org/reforma/
