Publications and Research

Document Type

Book Chapter or Section

Publication Date

2019

Abstract

The Dominican Library is a haven where a diverse group of users congregate not only to learn about Dominican-related sources, but also to become information literate. This chapter provides an overview of the history and development of the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute Library since its inception in 1994 to its transformation from a local resource to an internationally recognized resource. In addition, this chapter seeks to establish the work the Library has done in making a unique contribution to Dominican studies scholarship and to the preservation and dissemination of Dominican history and culture in the United States and beyond. The chapter will describe how we used a mostly donation-based collection development policy to create a library of over 5,000 volumes (many of them unique). Secondly, it will analyze how the Dominican Library fits into Latino/a Latin American and Caribbean Studies Librarianship. This section will address how scholars and community members have built upon our library’s resources and contributed to scholarship on the Dominican presence in the U.S. and abroad. Finally, this chapter will serve as a case study of the unique experience shared between Dominican Library staff and the many users that come from around the world. These interactions have resulted in fruitful collaborations between the staff of the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute and other users.

Comments

This work was originally published in Latin American Collection Concepts: Essays on Library, Collaborations and New Approaches, edited by Gayle Ann Williams and Jana Lee Krentz and published by McFarland & Company, Inc.

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