Award: A Certificate or Plaque of Recognition.

Rationale:  As we enter the new century, it is increasingly obvious that Hispanic communities, once minorities, will soon become majority populations.  According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Latinos will be the largest ethnic group by the year 2020.  The growing Hispanic population and their ever increasing need to take advantage of new information technology will present challenges to libraries, to library schools and to their graduates. To recruit and train these new librarians, library schools need to recruit and enroll more Latino and Spanish-speaking students, hire and retain professors and lecturers who have expertise in services to minority communities and whose research may lead to better approaches, and offer specific ethnic or Latino-related courses or continuing education activities, to name the most basic strategies.  Library schools that promote and cultivate diversity, advocacy, creativity, flexibility, and allocation of resources for this purpose will be the most  successful in preparing their students for the 21st century.  To recognize and encourage such vision and commitment, we have created the REFORMA National Conference Library School Excellence Award.

 Members of the RNC2 Award Committee:

 Lillian Castillo-Speed (chair), UC Berkeley
 Susan Freiband,  University of Puerto Rico
 Arnulfo Trejo, Hispanic Books Distributers, Tucson, Arizona
 Ninfa Trejo, University of Arizona, Tucson
 Judith Valdez, Auraria Library, Denver, CO

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For more information contact Lillian Castillo-Speed, Committee Chair