Bibliopolítica: A Digital History of the Chicano Studies Library

Bibliopolítica: A Digital History of the Chicano Studies Library

At the intersection of Chicana/o/x Studies, Digital Humanities and Library History, Bibliopolítica: A Digital History of the Chicano Studies Library chronicles the history of one of the first Chicana/o/x collections, the Chicano Studies Library at the University of California, Berkeley.

Bibliopolítica shares the stories of trailblazing library workers, students and community members who worked to preserve and make Chicana/o/x resources available. Featuring photographs, ephemera, archival documents, and oral histories, Bibliopolítica offers an original digital collection of primary sources and is the first audiovisual history of this special place that helped redefine what libraries could be.

Bibliopolítica takes its name from a book of the same title that Richard Chabrán and librarian colleague Francisco García-Ayvens published in 1984, BiblioPolítica: Chicano Perspectives on Library Service in the United States. In 2024, it remains one of the few titles dedicated to the discussion of Chicana/o/x librarianship. Bibliopolítica: a Digital History of the Chicano Studies Library adds to this important conversation, but it is only the beginning of a much needed longer and more detailed history of the Chicano Studies Library and the contributions of Chicana/o/x library workers.

You can explore the digital exhibit, listen to recorded oral histories, browse digitized archival items, or explore on your own path.

Co-curated by Amanda Belantara – Assistant Curator at New York University Libraries, Lillian Castillo-Speed – former Chicano Studies Library Coordinator, now Head Librarian of the Ethnic Studies Library at UC Berkeley, and Richard Chabrán – former Chicano Studies Library Coordinator, Team Leader Latino Digital Archive Group.

Digitization of archival items by Chrissy Huhn and UC Berkeley Library IT and Oral history recordings at Berkeley by Pablo Gonzalez and Angelica Garcia. See additional credits.

 


Online exhibit: First 50+ years of the Campus & City

Take a look at the virtual exhibit from the Earth Sciences & Map Library, titled “First 50+ years of the Campus & City: Explore Cal and the City of Berkeley with Oski from 1860-1920!” The exhibit pulls together a range of multi-media materials, including photographs, video, maps (of course!), and even an interactive game, for a light-hearted exploration of the early years of the campus and city.  This blog post explains how the exhibit was created using Esri’s StoryMaps platform.


Visual Index

The Languages of Berkeley: An Online Exhibition

A a pe gbon ni, a ki i pe go.
We put heads together to be wiser, not to be more foolish.

– Yoruba proverb

This visual index is the final post of a spectacular journey that completes The Languages of Berkeley: An Online Exhibition. Since February 2019, we have published one essay per week, showcasing an array of digitized works in the original language. The contributions of so many of you inside and outside of the UC Berkeley Library have been essential to its success. Now that the project is done for now, may it live on in the cloud, continuing to welcome and inspire readers at Berkeley and beyond.

Thanks for visiting.

Claude Potts
Librarian for Romance Language Collections
September 21, 2020

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The Languages of Berkeley is a dynamic online sequential exhibition celebrating the diversity of languages that have advanced research, teaching and learning at the University of California, Berkeley. It is made possible with support from the UC Berkeley Library and is co-sponsored by the Berkeley Language Center (BLC).

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