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The Graduate School of Library and Information Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has taken a role in helping to develop the Andres Cordero Figuroa Library collections.  Dr. Ann Bishop, pictured in the slideshow above, has hosted classes on-site in the past, engaging GSLIS students in cataloging and organization of items and artifacts.  In addition, Community Informatics students have utilized their library and information library skills to conduct needs assessments and research for the Paseo Boricua community.  The curriculum for the Pedro Albizu High School is also developed with help from GSLIS students to keep up with Illinois information literacy and technology learning standards.   Currently, graduate research assistants are working at the library as community librarians and youth informatics ambassadors. For more information on the Community Informatics Initiative at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaigin, click here.

Daylily Alvarez, current graduate RA, says:

Aside from hosting library science grad students and classes, what makes the AFC Library  unique is it’s function as a community space. The library’s special collections speak for themselves as representative of the historical memory of Humboldt Park: The Joan Third World Collection on Latino, Asian and African-American history, The Sala-Albzu Corretjer artifact connections, and El Rinconcito del Nino collection of bilingual children’s books.  Decorated with Puerto Rican art and artifacts, equipped with iMacs and classrooms, and housing an infant care center, the Andres Cordero Library hones it’s place in the community as learning sanctuary.  The library is utilized by the Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School students and teachers, after school community programs such as the Barrio, Arts, Culture and Communications Academy, community outreach initiatives such as East Meets West, and the Centro Infatil Consuelo Lee Corretjer infant day care center.