While UNM maintains one of the most high profile and extensive Latin American and Iberian research collections in the world, staff members are working to make sure people on campus know it exists.
"In some respects, our collection enjoys a wider recognition outside of New Mexico than here," said Russ Davidson, curator of Latin American Collections. "It's one of those paradoxes that librarians sometimes grapple with. It's a matter of taking constant effort to promote a program rather than passively waiting for someone to knock on the door."
To better promote the University's stronghold in Latin America, Iberia and the Southwest, the General Library was restructured and the Division of Iberian and Latin American Resources and Services was formed. It works with a variety of other library divisions, including the Center for Southwest Research and Southwest Hispanic Research Institute.
The collections include about 415,000 monographic volumes, 1,100 current subscriptions, more than half a million microform units, 13,500 posters, 4,500 photographs, 310 cubic feet of manuscript material and a significant array of electronic resources.
"We are one of the top 10 in the country when it comes to academic research library collections of Latin America and Iberian material in the United States," said Carolyn Mountain, manager of the new division.
Mountain has had an office next to the Latin American Reading Room on the second floor of Zimmerman Library for four months. She says that while it remains too early to call the program a success, people have seen the light on and are knocking on her door.
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"I basically have been very busy acting as a starting point for people on campus seeking information about anything in Latin America," she said. "I direct them to the right person to talk to or help them out if it relates to Latin American business and economic issues, which are my specialty. We're really promoting this program and people are starting to notice the value of the collections we have here."
Davidson coordinates the collections and sets up promotional displays, including the one titled "Vicente Lombardo Toledano: Paths of Struggle, Triumph, Defeat." It opened in the Herzstein Latin American Reading Room Gallery on Jan. 22 and will run through the spring semester. It showcases numerous Lombardo-related materials drawn from the Latin American collections including prints and posters; political tracts and pamphlets; early issues of Lombardo's magazine, Futuro; and biographies of the Mexican labor leader.
"We try to draw on interesting and colorful segments of Latin American holdings so that the University community has the opportunity to learn more about the collection and some of its more unusual collections," Davidson said of the process of choosing portions of the collections to be featured. "We have a lot of rare collections that just aren't accessible anywhere else, but they don't do enough good for the community if people don't know about them."
Davidson has supervised the collection for 20 years and says it has taken decades for the University to establish its Latin American resources, which he says the current staff works hard to maintain and expand.
While he insists on separating his opinions from his work, Davidson says he one of his favorite aspects of the collection is the extensive Latin American photography, which he said nicely complements UNM's strength in that area.
"It would be hard to pick any one area because there are just so many outstanding and rare aspects of our collection," he said.
Mountain says she is working with Davidson; Mina Jane Grothey, who catalogues the collection; and all of the Latin American-related library offices to promote UNM's resources.
"We want to keep building on this amazing collection and make it very user-friendly," Mountain said.
