Interview with Rose Zertuche-Treviño
by Aline Pereira*

Rose Zertuche-Treviño is the youth services coordinator at the Houston Public Library and a former member of the ALSC Board of Directors and the National Día (“El día de los niños/ El día de los libros”) Advisory Committee. She is currently chair of the 2009 Newbery Award Committee and serves on the REFORMA Children & Young Adult Services Committee.

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As a librarian at the Houston Public Library, you are in a privileged spot (both geographically and professionally) to interact with a culturally diverse community that includes a large Latino contingency. What role does your own heritage play in your work as a Youth Services librarian?

I am in a position to mentor and train the children’s librarians on programming for Latinos and have provided each with a toolkit filled with bilingual rhymes, songs, fingerplays and more.  As a Latina, I am able to connect with those whose first language is Spanish and I am able to produce materials in bilingual format.  I can readily empathize with the frustration many Latino families face when they are unable to locate what they need.  With continued training, the barricades for excellent services to Latinos are slowly getting smaller.

The following quote, by fellow librarian and former REFORMA president, Ana-Elba Pavón, speaks of your various roles and your deep commitment to, and leadership in, providing youth services:  “Rose Treviño was the Chair of the Pura Belpré Award Committee when I served on the committee. Thanks to Rose’s professionalism and example, having her as Chair made being part of the committee extra special for me.  She also served as Chair of REFORMA Children's and Young Adult Services Committee and ALSC's Executive Board, when I was REFORMA president, and was instrumental in bringing the two organizations closer together in their joint projects.”  When and why did you decide to become a librarian? In whose footsteps do you follow?

I had a mother who read to me and took me to the library and I credit her with giving me the gift of loving books and libraries. 

When I was older, I would ride my bike to the bookmobile every two weeks.  I was standing inside a bookmobile the summer I was ten years old, surrounded by so many books and that is when I decided that I wanted to work in that same bookmobile when I grew up.  I wanted to “show off” the books and give others the same joy I felt every time I was surrounded by books.  I am the first in my family to go to college and I have three sisters and a brother who followed in my footsteps and went to college.

Your library (HPL) seems to me to be at the forefront of providing appealing and meaningful programs/services. What are some of the most popular programs/initiatives it offers - ongoing and/or seasonal?

Here are a few of the Houston Public Library's offerings:

• Para los niños/For the children: the goal of this program is to provide monolingual Spanish speaking parents with increased access to resources, strategies and activities that improve their ability to serve as the “first teachers” of their children ages birth through seven. 
• What’s the BIG Idea? Science & Math for Children: the goal of the program is to teach basic science and math skills to children using picture books and activities that go with the books.
• Bilingual Early Literacy Stations: each of our libraries has these computer stations for our youngest customers, ages 2-5.  Programs are preloaded and very easy to use.
• Cultural heritage programs: all libraries offer programs in celebration of Hispanic Heritage, Asian-Pacific Heritage, African American Heritage, and more.
• "Fountain of Youth" Project: thanks to a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, as part of the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian program (designed to help offset a current shortage of school library media specialists, library school faculty, and librarians working in underserved communities, as well as looming shortage of library directors and other senior librarians, many of whom are expected to retire in the next 20 years), our "Fountain of Youth" program provides 15 project participants with scholarships to attend graduate school through the University of North Texas’ online library program. Plus it allows them to receive trainning and to travel to the major library conferences, including the American Library Association, the Public Library Association and the Texas Library Association.
• Our library also has established excellent partnerships, including a partnership with the Children’s Museum of Houston for a new science-based initiative called “Matteo and Cientina”; a partnership with the Houston Independent School District to include participation in the library’s summer reading club; and a partnership with Memorial Hermann Hospital System to promote reading to new moms through our "Born to Read" program.

You are the editor of Pura Belpré Awards: Celebrating Latino Authors and Illustrators, a wonderful resource for using the award-winning books in library programs and classrooms. Can you please tell us how this project came about?

The Belpré awards have been awarded for just over 10 years so it is a relatively new award.  To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the award, I was approached by ALA Editions to edit a book on the award.  I worked with a team of writers that included Ana-Elba Pavón, Oralia Garza de Cortés, Sandra Balderrama, and Jean Hatfield – all members of REFORMA and all past members of the Pura Belpré Awards committee.  In 2009, the award will be given annually and a revised edition should be forthcoming.

“Hispanic/Latino Heritage Month” offers a promising opportunity for outreach, library promotion, and building public awareness. Have you ever joined in the “Latino vs Hispanic” debate? How is your library celebrating it this year? What sorts of partnerships have been formed to help bring the festivities to life?

The Latino/Hispanic debate is not one that I have ever been involved in.  I have just submitted a manuscript to ALA Editions on bilingual storytime for children and, for the sake of continuity, I use the term Latino throughout the book.

Our library celebrates "Hispanic Heritage Month" and uses that as our term for this celebration.  All libraries participate and offer programs for all ages with a large percentage of these programs geared for children.  Our partner agency is the Children’s Museum of Houston, where we have one of our libraries.  It is called the "Parent Resource Library" and offers books, CDs, magazines and more especially for parents of young children, ages newborn through 10.

What sorts of issues and ideas related to serving Spanish speakers were discussed at this year’s Public Library Association Annual National Conference? Any new practices/tools in place, or under way, with regards to addressing the problem of language as a barrier between the library and its potential users?

It was promising to see programs offered that addressed diversity and how to reach hard-to-reach customers. I attended the following, that related to serving Spanish speakers:

• Cultural Programs for Libraries: Linking Libraries, Communities and Culture;
• Supporting Early Literacy in Young English Language Learners: Language of the Heart @ your library;
• Reaching Across Borders;
• Understanding the diversity in our neighborhood libraries.

How do you feel about technology and pop-culture trends, and how do you incorporate them into your professional life? Do you find the information age daunting or do you see its challenges as an opportunity to reinvent your role?

The information age is definitely daunting but it’s here to stay, so we have to keep up! It is important to offer what our customers need and want. For instance, all of our libraries now have a bilingual early literacy computer station for children, a gaming area for kids and teens, and wireless laptops available for checkout.

Sometimes keeping up means you yourself taking a course, playing Guitar Hero, buying an ipod and learning how to download or learning how to develop a web page and a wiki (as I recently had to do). I love new challenges!

Some advocate replacing the title "Librarian" with a more modern term such as "Information Specialist."What’s your take on that?

The term "Information Specialist" definitely keeps up with what we are doing.  The word "librarian" has often been associated with someone with a bun who wears sensible shoes and who says “shhh” quite a bit.  A librarian is often seen as someone who simply checks out books. Information Specialist feels like a promotion!

What sorts of other changes do you foresee happening in the near future in the way libraries serve their communities? In your opinion, does “new media” equal “new libraries and library services”?

New media does translate into new items and programs available (for example, our library now offers gaming software as media that can be found and used in the library), but also into traditional services offered in new ways.

Libraries will continue to change as customers request new services, materials and programs. Libraries are no longer just the place to find books. They must keep up with new trends, must remain visible, and staff must become part of the community they serve by attending neighborhood festivals, meetings, events and celebrations.

What online and/or print sources do you regularly use to stay abreast of what’s going on in your field?

I read Críticas, Booklist, School Library Journal, ALSConnect (a quarterly newsletter for ALSC members), and BCCB.  I use online sources such as NoveList, an electronic readers' advisory resource which assists readers in finding new authors and titles.

I recently read about “the small number of Latino librarians in the US.” Can you offer some words of encouragement to those considering a career in children’s librarianship – in particular to Latinos who may be considering such a path?

Nationally, and locally, public libraries are experiencing a shortage of librarians specializing in children’s and youth services. Bilingual applicants in Spanish, and also in Chinese and Vietnamese, were given special consideration for our Fountain of Youth project, which will increase the number of librarians of color delivering services to youth in Houston in a short period of time. The first class of this project is expected to graduated in 2009.

As for some words of encouragement to those considering children's librarianship as a career, I believe you have to be the change you want to see, and you must dedicate yourself to your chosen path. Children learn to value what they are taught has value.  The library field is not a field to choose if you are looking for monetary rewards.  It is a field to choose if you are looking to make a difference in the life of a child by dedicating yourself to bringing the best in children’s literature to them and by instilling in them a love of learning.  It is very important for children to have good role models.

It is with much satisfaction that I look back at my own decision. I know that I made the best one for myself when I decided to become a librarian.

*Aline Pereira is PaperTigers Managing Editor

Posted September 2008

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