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By Melissa Solis (melissa.solis@sdcounty.ca.gov) | It starts with a border crossing. This year’s will be held on both sides of the border. Now in its sixth year, the free conference will gather librarians from the United States and Mexico on March 9^th at CETYS University in Baja California and March 10^th at the San Diego Central Library.

Conference Chair Ady Huertas understands the impact of the annual event. Huertas explains, “The Seguimos Creando Enlaces Conference is a true collaborative effort that creates links across libraries, countries and borders. Every year I have the pleasure of witnessing conference participants sharing best practices and resources to better meet the needs of their communities. Creando Enlaces creates new communities of practice—librarians who can call on one another for ideas and support.”

The theme of this year’s conference is Preserving Our Past While Welcoming the Future: Libraries as Preservation Centers and Information Hubs. Presentations at the two-day conference will focus on equity, inclusion, and community-based solutions in libraries. Speakers at the conference include academic librarians, public librarians, and community leaders.

Conference Highlights:

• Alina Rowe, Librarian at the Fallbrook Branch of the San Diego County Library, will highlight the Campesino Comps Project, which provides outreach library services and critical community resources to migrant workers and their families.

• Javier Garibay, Librarian-in-Residence at Loyola Marymount University, will share his experience developing a community-based archive for the Mixteco/Indígena Community Organizing Project (MICOP).

• Leslie McNabb of the City of San Diego will describe a mentorship program that pairs city employees with New Americans. McNabb will be joined by community leaders Ismahan Abdullahi (), Itzel Guillen (), and Luis Guerra (). Panelists will explore solutions and share the basic needs and concerns of immigrant and refugee communities in San Diego.

• Cesar Caballero, Dean and University Librarian (California State University, San Bernardino) will share best practices for collaborative, community-based oral history projects.

• Cesar Salvador Olguin-Camacho (National Autonomous University of Mexico) will highlight ways librarians are responding to the informational needs of the changing immigrant population in Mexico.

• Patrick Sullivan (Emeritus Librarian at San Diego State University) will discuss REFORMA’s in support of unaccompanied refugee youth from Central America. Sullivan will be joined by and .

Free registration for the Seguimos Creando Enlaces Conference is open through March 1^st at . We invite all in the library community to join us for this exciting exchange of ideas.

Seguimos Creando Enlaces is fully bilingual, with presentations in English and Spanish provided with simultaneous translation service. The conference is a joint effort of San Diego Public Library and Serra Cooperative Library System, in collaboration with LIBROS Reforma, San Diego State University, Friends of the Logan Heights Library and ABIBAC Asociación de Bibliotecarios de Baja California (Baja California Librarian Association). Funding is supported by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian.

(the San Diego Chapter of REFORMA) will host a conference after party and scholarship fundraiser on Friday, March 10^th from 5:00 to 8:00 pm. Admission is free. Food and refreshments will be served, and DJ Lazer Lizeth will provide the tunes. Online donations to the 2017 LIBROS Scholarship Fund will be accepted here:

For more information about the conference, please contact Ady Huertas at San Diego Public Library: ahuertas@sandiego.gov

Melissa Solis is a Librarian at the San Diego County Library.