ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


6 9 6  / C&RL News ■ July/August 2001

C o l l e g e  & R e s e a r c h  L i b r a r i e s ew sn

A multicultural experience

Community college students create a library in a Mexican village

by Laurie S. L¡nsley

S em inole Community College (SCC) has had a M exican Studies Program for al­
m ost ten years. Students register for cou rses 
in anth rop olog y, art, b iolog y , nursing, or 
physical geography. In addition to this course 
w ork w hile in M exico, students are placed  at 
nonpaid w orksites selected  to fit their m a­
jors. Students have w orked  in health clinics, 
national parks, art c o ­
ops, and at archaeologi­
cal sites. Students have 
also taught English.

The library 
component
I had been taking Spanish 
for a couple o f years and 
had com e to the realiza­
tion that to increase my 
language skills, I needed 
to live among Spanish­
speaking people for a pe­
riod o f time. I discussed 
my interest in participat­
ing in SCC’s Mexican Stud­
ies Program with Profes­
sor Kenna Noone, coordinator of the program.

I w asn ’t sure w hat I could do— I cou ldn ’t 
s ee m yself w orking in a m edical clinic— but 
I d ecided  that I  could  m ake som e con tribu­

tion. N oone said: Sure, join our group and 
you can build a library! My response was: 
O h yes, that w ould  b e  a great exp erien ce 
(gulp).

For the first three w eek s o f  the summ er 
sem ester, term  IIIA 2000, a n ew  con cep t was 
introduced, the library com p o n en t o f SCC’s 
M exican Studies Program: create a library in 

th e  a n c i e n t  M a y a n  
pu eblo o f Cobá, in the 
state o f  Q uintana Roo, 
in the Y u catán p e n in ­
sula o f M exico.

I  had n o  exp erien ce 
in creating a library or 
e v en  in w ork in g in a 
p u b lic  lib r a ry  in th e 
states, but I thought that 
with alm ost 30 years as 
a librarian, I  could  pull 
this off.

Our group o f  15 stu­
d e n ts  r e g is t e r e d  fo r  
c o u rs e s  in  a n th ro p o l­
ogy, art, and biology. In 
addition to the plans for 

creating a library, students signed up for other 
site w ork in Cobá: testing the drinking water, 
teach in g English, and w orking in th e m edi­
cal clinic.

The new  library in Cobá, Mexico, and the 
SCC students (and tw o  faculty) w ho made 
it happen.

A b o u t  t h e  a u t h o r

Laurie S. Linsley is head o f technical services at Seminole Community College in Sanford↓ Florida, e-mail: 
linsleyl@mail.semmole. cc. fl. us



C&RL N ew s ■ Ju ly /A u g u st 2001 / 697

The donations
Where would we get the 

books for this library, con­

sidering our small budget?

We could not have created 

this library without the 

wonderful donations. With 

our tiny grant budget, we 

were able to purchase $250 

worth of books and office 

supplies. During the year,

I put out the call in print 

and on electronic lists for 

donations of Spanish-lan- 

guage materials.

Our primary contribu­

tors were San Antonio Pub­

lic Library, University of Mi­

ami, and Borders Books &

Music. And, of course, we 

couldn't have created this 

library without book and 

office supply donations 

from librarians and other 

citizens in Florida. We also were happy to ac­

cept cash donations.

During the months preceding the Mexico 

trip, I regularly checked local used bookstores 

for Spanish books and purchased them at 

greatly reduced rates. My happiest find was a 

manual typewriter that I picked up in Miami 

for a mere $5.

Our most impressive contribution was so­

licited by Kenna Noone: Aeromexico donated 

500 pounds of cargo. We put the remainder of 

the books in our personal checked luggage. It 

was a very heavy airplane and we joked that if 

the plane went down, only we would know why.

The work
I wish I could report that I planned for this trip 

all year and spent months sorting the donated 

books and office supplies, ordered just the right 

amount of library materials with our small bud­

get, and that everything came off without a 

hitch. But it didn’t happen that way.

I had zero time to weed and sort in ad­

vance, so rather like one who moves all the 

stuff from the old house to the new one, hav­

ing the garage sale after the move, that is what 

we did. Only a few books were unusable be­

cause of poor condition or unsuitability for a 

small community library. We were very fortu­

nate indeed.

Shelves for the library were built by 
SCC student Mary Arseneau and the 
Cobá village carpenter.

I underestimated the 

number of books that were 

in those unopened, do­

nated boxes. Because so 

many of the books were 

slender paperbacks, in­

stead of the fewer than 

1,000 books expected, we 

ended up with more than

1,200 books for our 

shelves— surprise!

When we got close to 

processing 1,000 books, we 

realized that we would run 

out of book pockets, date 

due slips, glue, and tape. 

A late night run was made 

to a small store, which sold 

glue and tape, and students 

made copies of the date 

due slips for current and fu­

ture use. Improvisation is 

a wonderful thing.

Reality
We arrived thinking that we would have a 

building in which to create Cobá’s first library. 

Reality set in when we heard that the building 

in which we were to house the books was a 

temporary location donated by a local group. 

The main principle that you learn on an ad­

venture like this is: Be Flexible. Near the end 

of our time in Cobá, we learned that the gov­

ernor of the state of Quintana Roo visited 

Cobá while we were away for the weekend 

and was so pleased with our work that he 

was having funds allocated to build a per­

manent building. Also, the local Villas

Cobá villagers painting the library.



698 / C&RL News ■ July/August 2001

Manual de la Operation de la B¡bl¡oteca Pública 
de Cobá

Cobá, Quintana Roo, M éxico
1 Ju n io  2000
Librarian: Gertrudis X o o c May

I. P urpose o f th e Biblioteca Pública de 
Cobá
T he Biblioteca Pública de Cobá is a gift from 
the M exican Studies Program o f Seminole 
Community College, Sanford, Florida, USA, 
( h ttp ://w w w .s e m in o le .c c .fl.u s ) fo r the 
people o f Cobá, Quintana Roo, México.

π. P atro n s/lib rary  users
A. Library cards

1. Number library cards sequentially.
2. Complete a card for e ach  com m u­

nity m em ber w ho requests a card.
B. Registration cards

1. Prepare a registration card when 
each library card is issued. Put the 
num ber o f the library card on  the 
registration card and file it in the 
green box.

III. Collection
A. Reference— books do not circulate.
B. Periodicals— periodicals do not cir­

culate.
C. General collection (remainder o f the 

collection). B ook s are arranged by catego­
ries and color cod ed  as identified on the 
master list. Categories are added, deleted, 
or changed as necessary.

IV. Lending books
All library materials excep t reference and 
periodicals can b e checked  out. Procedure:

A. The library patron presents the library
card to the librarian.

Arqueológicas hotel, w here w e spent three 
w eeks, had com mitted to supplying the new 
building with a much need ed air condition­
ing unit.

We didn't exp ect air conditioning, really 
w e didn’t, but w e w ere stunned by the ex ­
cessive heat and humidity, doubled by the 
generation o f the heat (and noise) from the 
amazing m echanical tortilla-maker adjacent 
to the library. But there is an up side to every­

 

B. Each b o o k  in the circulating collec­
tion has a b o o k  card in the pocket in the 
back o f the book.

C. T he patron signs the b ook card. The 
librarian stamps the b o o k  card and the date 
due slip with the date due stamp. Books 
may b e check ed  out for one week.

D. The librarian puts the b o o k  card in 
the green charging tray, with the cards ar­
ranged by date that the b o o k  is due.

E. If a b ook is overdue, the librarian con­
tacts the patron about returning the book.

F. W h en  th e patron returns th e b o o k , 
th e librarian rem ov es the b o o k  card from  
the charg in g tray, m arks o u t th e  date due 
and th e p a tro n ’s nam e, and  p la ces the 
card  in th e b o o k  p o c k e t in the b a c k  o f 
th e b o o k .

V. Processin g books
W hen a b o o k  is added to the collection:

A. Property stamp the b o o k  on the title 
pages and all edges.

B. Put b o o k  card, b ook pocket, and date 
due slip in the b ack o f the b ook, if it is for 
the circulating collection.

C. Repair the b o o k  as necessary.
D. Select the category for the book and affix 

a spine label. Color code using the master list.

VI. The future
As the collection expands, decisions may be 
made to classify the library materials accord­
ing to the Dewey Decimal System and/or to 
create a card catalog. Guidebooks and manu­
als have b een placed in the Biblioteca Pública 
de Cobá for possible future use in classifying 
the materials and instructions are available 
for preparing cards for a card catalog.

thing. It was great having a tortilla break mid­
morning with a six-inch stack of fresh tortillas for 
library workers— all for the equivalent o f $1.

T he initial challen g e was to build the 
shelves for the library. This was the main 
charge for my roommate Mary Arseneau, who 
is a carpenter for Habitat for Humanity, Inc. 
Mary and the Cobá m inister/carpenter trav­
eled to a nearby village to purchase the wood 
and the varnish for the shelves. We estimated

http://www.seminole.cc.fl.us


C&RL N ew s ■ Ju ly /A u g u st 2001 / 699

Cobá children began reading the books as 
soon as the boxes were opened.

five sections of shelving, consisting of five 

shelves each, able to hold approximately 625 

books (another error, as we ended up with

1,200 books). Fortunately, many of the books 

were small paperbacks and they easily fit on 

the shelves. Although I thought that the 

shelves were perfect, Mary was concerned 

that they were more narrow than shelves in 

U.S. libraries. But we had to go with the size 

of wood available at the price we could af­

ford. Another concern was that the books 

would slip and slide on the shelves without 

bookends. This turned out not to be 

a problem due to the natural rough­

ness of the wood. As you can see 

from the photo, the shelves worked 

beautifully.

We spent the first few days sort­

ing the books, all of which were in 

Spanish, by broad subjects. This was 

a monumental task, considering that 

at various times, depending on who 

was available to work, our language 

skills varied from totally fluent to 

barely able to read Spanish. We 

quickly learned to rely on one an­

other and on our Spanish-English dic­

tionaries.

As we sorted books day after day, it be­

came obvious that in three weeks we would 

be unable to create the planned-for card cata­

log, nor would it be necessary in this village 

setting. Instead, we created broad subject 

categories, such as Historia, Política, and 

Literatura, and color-coded the subject signs 

on the shelves to correspond with the label

on each book. Purple for Historia, green for 

Política, red for Literatura, etc. We made the 

children’s books a color easy to spot, bright 

yellow, and placed them on a bottom shelf. 

Each book was labeled with its subject and, as 

a simple method for arranging the books within 

the categories, the first letter of the author’s 

last name, or lacking an author, the first letter 

of the title. This simple method worked well 

and the color coding made it easy to keep the 

books in the proper categories.

The people
By far the greatest joy in the field work of the 

Mexican Studies Program was the people of 

Mexico. We worked side-by-side with the 

Mexicans, rather like a mini-version of the 

Peace Corps. The happy result of this method 

of carrying out our work meant that the 

people of the village thought of the library 

as their library from the beginning. Children 

were in the library reading their books from 

the moment we unpacked them. Miracu­

lously, they had already been taught to handle 

books with care and respect. Over and over 

we were impressed with the quiet strength 

and intelligence of the Mayans. We laughed 

together when it was discovered that few in 

our group were fluent in Spanish and that none 

of us spoke their native Mayan language.

Future Cobá librarian Gertrudis May with author Laurie 
Linsley in the new library.

W eekends
Our leader wisely knew from previous ex­

perience with student groups that working 

8 to 10 hours daily in the more than 100-de- 

gree heat takes its toll and that we would need 

weekends away from Cobá to relax and reju­

venate. We were willing to work hard and play 

hard. Weekends were spent visiting Mérida,



700 / C&RL N ew s ■ Ju ly /A u g u st 2001

the capital of the state of Yucatán; ruins of 

Chichén Itzá, Cobá, and Tulúm; seaside re­

sorts; water activities, like floating downstream 

in a river and swimming in cenotes, the 

Yucatán version of sinkholes; and university 

libraries in the Yucatán peninsula.

Success
There were some materials and supplies that 

we hauled all the way to Mexico and never 

used. These included a six-drawer card cata­

log, cards for the catalog, and Dewey Decimal 

schedules in English and Spanish. At first I felt 

guilty. In retrospect, I see that this was a good 

decision, and part of our capability of being 

flexible and working within the constraints of 

time and money and the present situation. A 

first-time village library with a full-blown card 

catalog and the responsibility of keeping it up 

when the local librarian added new materials 

would probably have been overwhelming. But 

now they have the card catalog and on our 

next visit, if we are able to expand the library, 

we may implement some of these library tools.

We finished putting together the library a 

day ahead of schedule. This left time for an­

other swim and a few hours to do last minute 

clean up and, most importantly, to train the 

new Cobá librarian, Gertrudis Xooc May, who 

conveniently lived behind the library. Gertru- 

dis had worked with us every day to create 

this new and wonderful community library in 

Cobá. She had also taken English classes daily 

from our students who taught the classes. I 

spent the last few hours in Cobá writing a 

manual of operation and training Gertrudis for 

her new role. Our most fluent student, 

Stephanie Litka, translated the manual into 

Spanish for Gertrudis to keep in the library.

Conclusion
My advice to you if you have a similar oppor­

tunity: Grab it, you won’t be sorry. And don’t 

worry about details. Do your best and depend 

on those around you.

And did I increase my Spanish language 

skills, which was my original goal? /Si, hablo 

español mucho mas! ■

( “Disappearing Reference… ” cont. from  page 

694)

2. Librarians must work with faculty to dem­

onstrate the need for such a program. Again, 

the general outreach informs this process; fac­

ulty should be making the connection between 

the proliferation of resources and the ability 

of their students to maneuver in such an envi­

ronment. The librarians should be able to dis­

cuss students’ work with faculty in detail. This 

also means putting the program in the context 

of faculty and curriculum goals.

3. Librarians must assess the culture of their 

academic environment. What are student and 

faculty expectations? Is the campus aware of 

the library resources and services already pro­

vided?

4. The appointments program needs to be 

promoted, to both students and faculty; it’s not 

enough to reach the motivated students. Such 

a program is critical to the academic success 

of all students.

Conclusion
There is a traditional image of Williams Col­

lege that suggests the model for teaching and 

education on campus; it is called the Log. It’s 

an image of the teacher on one end of a log in

dialogue with a student on the other end. This 

rustic image handed down from more than a 

century ago still resonates in this technologi­

cal age. The proliferation of technology and 

information resources gives even the smallest 

academic library the power of a large univer­

sity. At the same time, there are unique op­

portunities to develop new ways to reach each 

student individually. The reference desk may 

be disappearing, but the need for research 

support has never been more critical.

Notes
1. Douglas Herman, “But does it work? 

Evaluating the Brandeis reference model,’’ 

Reference Services Review 22 (winter 1994):17- 

28.

2. Anne Lipow, ‘“In your face’ reference 

service,” Library Journal 124 (August 1999): 

50-2; Anne Lipow and Gail Schlachter, “Think­

ing out loud: Who will give reference service 

in the digital environment?” Refereìice & User 

Services Quarterly 37 (winter 1997): 125-35.

3. Bonnie A. Nardi, “Keynote address in 

the Great Hall of the Library of Congress: In­

formation ecologies,” Reference Service in  a 

D igital Age. Available online at http://lcweb. 

loc.gov/rr/digiref/nardi.html. ■

http://lcweb