About the Library

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Dedicated in 1979 by the Puerto Rican national poet and revolutionary leader Juan Antonio Corretjer, the Andrés Figueroa Cordero Library has become a source for many Chicago-area students researching the Puerto Rican reality.

The Library, which houses nearly 10,000 volumes of books and documents, is divided into three sections:
• The Joan Nicklin Third World Collection — a special collection comprised of books on African American; Latin American, Women’s and Puerto Rican history and culture.
• The Sala Albizu-Corretjer, a permanent display of rare historical objects, newspapers, photos, and books of the Puerto Rican experience with a focus on the Puerto Rican independence movement from the Grito de Lares to the present.
• El Rinconcito del Niño – a children’s section of bilingual books for youngsters from newborns to 7-year-olds and serves as a space for reading and storytelling.

The Library is at the epicenter of all the information technology involving the PRCC’s direct and affiliate programs, as well as it’s community informatics partnership with the Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS) of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. These projects range from: building a digital card catalog for the Library, including its special and rare publications; planning for a digital archive documenting the PRCC’s work over the past 35 years; and the Library’s evolution into a full-fledged information, media and technology center during the next five years. The Library moved to its new home at 2700 W. Haddon, in the winter of 2008.