Get on the Bus: Texas Librarians Go to Monterrey
Nancy Cunningham

Todos Bibliotecarios! Once again Texas librarians journeyed to Mexico this fall for the Monterrey International Book Fair. This time the Texas-Mexico Relations (TMR) Committee teamed with Virginia Haynie Gause, District IV chair-elect, to organize the largest librarian excursion to Mexico in TLA history! That weekend the Gran Hotel Ancira lodged 55 visiting Texans and one Arizonan for the book fair activities. There were 21 District IV participants and 36 from San Antonio. One San Antonio librarian said it was like a mini-version of the TLA conference, only in Mexico, with everyone speaking Spanish with a Texas drawl!

The excursion took place from October 11 through 14. San Antonio participants left for Monte-rrey by bus from St. Mary’s University early Saturday morning. District IV participants left McAllen the night before on the Nordeste bus after their regional meeting. The greatest participation came from San Antonio Public Library, which sent 13 librarians (see sidebar for the participant list). Participants came from as far away as Tucson, Arizona, and included librarians from Dallas Public Library, UT-San Antonio, George Memorial Library in Fort Bend County, Houston Public Library, UT-Brownsville, UT-Pan American, and Alice ISD, to name only a few of the many libraries represented. Participating librarians included catalogers, reference librarians, branch managers, school librarians, ILL librarians, and children’s librarians. Many other active supporters of libraries also joined the group, including Mr. and Mrs. Morgan and David Riggs of the Dilley Public Library Board of Trustees.

Book fair organizer provides a bus

Organizing a trip of this size is difficult under any circumstances, but especially if you have to coordinate a car caravan from San Antonio to Monterrey. The excursion from San Antonio was made possible by the gift of a tour bus by the fair organizer, Armando Ruiz-Reyna, and his institution, the Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM). The renting of a tour bus made the trip both fun and easy. Our driver, J. B. Delgado, guided us smoothly across the border with a only a short wait in customs. J. B. explained that we were Texas librarians on a mission to buy books. With a nod and wave from Mexican immigration officers we were on our way.

A red carpet welcome for Texas librarians

Participants lodged at the old colonial hotel, the Gran Hotel Ancira. Although part of the Radisson chain of hotels, the Ancira is still family owned and operated and retains much of the charm of colonial Northern Mexico. Sitting in the lobby, one can easily imagine the supposed story that Pancho Villa, during the revolution, corralled his horse into the main foyer of the lobby and drove it up the huge, circular staircase to show that even he could enter such an exclusive hotel!

Shortly after arrival Saturday afternoon, we gathered for the tour and cocktail party that evening at the Mexican History Museum (Museo de Historia Mexicana). Blanca Laura Muñoz, museum librarian, organized a guided tour followed by an elegant wine-and-cheese reception.

In the museum’s cafe, we met up with District IV participants and several other Mexican librarians. The District IV group had already visited several local libraries and museums. At the reception, each participant received a special fair entrance badge and pen, a museum poster and book filled with colored photographs of Mexican art. After a round of gracious introductions and thanks to the Mexican librarians for their warm hospitality, we heard the distinct sound of a trumpet announcing the arrival of a mariachi band! Within seconds, 12 musicians filled the cafe with traditional songs of Northern Mexico. Many in the group, including Guadalupe Negrete-Rincon of the San Antonio Public Library and Lilia Cruz of Palo Alto College, knew the words to most of the songs and enthusiastically sang along.

Cloudy skies on Sunday caused the cancellation of a planned trip to the country, but other options were available, including touring the city, its museums and shops as well as the bookfair at CINTERMEX. Sunday was family day at the bookfair, and many of the children’s librarians took advantage of such activities as storytelling and theater.

Visits to Monterrey libraries

Monday was our last day in Monterrey, and it was filled with visits to local libraries. We began with a visit to the Biblioteca Central del Estado (Central Library of the State). Although the name implies a state library this is really the public library for the city of Monterrey. We were greeted by the assistant to the director of the library who gave a wonderful introduction to the library’s mural and bit of history of the north of Mexico. The librarian seemed most proud of the Braille library for the blind, a small room containing print collections of works in Braille. The library receives donations from all over Mexico and from the Library of Congress. The librarian who is in charge of the collection, is also visually impaired and gives direct service to blind patrons who come in from all over the state.

Jennifer Till of the San Antonio Public Library commented that "this was one of the most important tours we could have. It reinforces to those of us on the U.S. side of the river that our tradition of free and open public libraries, with very high levels of services and collections, is truly special and unique."

For many of the San Antonio Public Library librarians, the most impressive tour was that of Ricardo Legoretta’s second library, the Biblioteca Central Magna. This library was designed by the same architect as San Antonio’s famous "enchilada red" Central Library but is more than double the size of the Central Library. Originally conceived as a presidential library for Mexico’s ex-president Salinas de Gotari, it was later turned over to the state university system as their main library. The library is circular rather than rectangular and has many smaller reading areas and multi-purpose rooms. It houses a computer lab that is open to the public for a small fee. Patrons can use the Web, print graphics or text, and create documents. There is also a training room available for Internet and software instruction.

The library’s mission seems to be multi-purpose: both a university library and community information center. Last summer, librarians organized a three-week summer program at the library for small children, including those from families with limited incomes.

As we found in our three previous visits to Mexico, at all stops we were greeted warmly and graciously by our librarian hosts. At the state university library known as the Capilla Alfonsina we were greeted by the director, Jorge Pedraza Salinas, who gave us a wonderful introduction to the library and a tour of the Alfonso Reyes collection. He showed many of the librarians original works of Alfonso Reyes, the Mexican philosopher and writer from the state of Nuevo León.

International Book Fair at CINTERMEX

The highlight of the trip was, of course, the International Book Fair, which opened on Saturday and remained open throughout the week. Sunday was the busiest day of the fair with performances, storytellers (cuenta-cuentos), book vendors of every type, and presentations by national and international authors. The book fair is set up to sell books to the public, much like a giant book sale. Materials included chil-dren’s books, research documents, government documents, cookbooks, Danielle Steele novels in translation, self-help books, CD-ROM and online products for academic libraries, business books, and legal works. Over 450 vendors had stalls at the fair, a tremendous number given that the fair is only seven years old. Many exhibitors learned about the Texas Library Association conference from the Texas librarians. Cindy Boyle, TLA exhibits manager, recruited a number of publishers from Spain and Latin America to exhibit at the 1998 TLA annual conference in San Antonio.

’Til we meet again . . . in San Antonio!

One of Mexico’s largest publishing houses, Fondo de Cultura Económica, sponsored a wonderful goodbye reception on our last night in Monterrey. There, I introduced our friend Armando Ruiz-Reyna, the fair organizer, as well as Carol Erickson, international director of the American Library Association. Again, librarians got a chance to meet with vendors and other Mexican librarians.

Tuesday was our departure date from Monterrey and I heard many say, "It’s too soon—I don’t want to go back yet!" Monterrey, despite its industrial image, proved to be an inviting city with gracious librarians willing to extend a welcome to Texas librarians. Next year, we will extend our Texas hospitality to our Mexican librarian friends at our conference in San Antonio as TMR invites many Mexican librarians, library students, and vendors to the 1998 TLA annual conference.

Bridges of communication and understanding are built slowly over time. Trips like this help librarians on both sides of the border form long-lasting bonds and learn about libraries and collections outside their own. Jennifer Till from San Antonio Public remarked that "too often librarians can get caught up in their own small niche of the profession and lose their perspective. More than anything else this trip was an opportunity to refresh and expand that perspective. Trips like this help me keep my ideas open about the world-wide community of libraries and librarians."

Two more Texan Librarians Selected for Stays at Mexican Libraries

Texas-Mexico Relations (TMR) Committee would like to congratulate Lisa Katzenstein of Fort Worth Public Library and Danelle Crowley of San Antonio Public Library on being accepted in TMR’s Librarian Exchange Program between Texas and Mexico. Lisa is a Librarian II and is responsible for Spanish translation at the Fort Worth Public Library. Her goal is to understand more about Mexican libraries and their collections as well as learn some library "lingo" in Spanish. Danelle is the Spanish language cataloger at SAPL and her goal is to learn about everything that might contribute to Spanish-speaking users’ access to library materials. Specifically, she is interested in learning Spanish language subject headings, library vocabulary in Spanish, and also more about Mexican collections and resources. Both librarians were selected among a group of very highly qualified applicants. TMR looks forward to working with both Lisa and Danelle to develop their individual visits to Mexican libraries.

Who was on the bus?

The following librarians participated in the Monterrey Book Fair:

J’Ann Alvarado, Dallas Public Library
John Barnett, UTSA
Deborah Benedict, Med High School
Beth Bermel, San Antonio Public Library
Pam Billings, Riverside Park Elementary School Library
Cindy Boyle, Texas Library Association
Gina Brudi, San Antonio Public Library
Len Cazares, Laredo Community College
Danelle Crowley, San Antonio Public Library
Lilia Cruz, Palo Alto College
Nancy Cunningham, St. Mary’s University
Cindy de Leon, San Antonio Public Library
Carla Ellard, UT-Pan American
Toni Ellard, library supporter
Doug Ferrier, UT Brownsville
Marie Ferrier, library supporter
Consuelo Forray, George Memorial Library, Fort Bend Co.
Jorge A. Garcia, Porter High School
Mary Jean Garcia, Oliveira Middle School
Arcelia Garza, Lyford High School
George Gause, UT-Pan American
Virginia Haynie Gause, UT-Pan American
Donna Goda, Texas A&M International (Laredo)
Adam Gonzales, San Antonio Public Library
Laurie Gruenbeck, San Antonio Public Library
Lucille Hansen, Med High School
Sonia Isaac, San Antonio Public Library
Michelle Jeske, San Antonio Public Library
Connie Kallenberg, Dallas Public Library
Rosita Lopez, Alice ISD
Laura Lucio, Texas A&M-Kingsville
Jerry Madrigal, San Antonio Public Library
Nelda Martinez, San Diego ISD
Dagma Martin, library supporter
Dr. Jose Martín, library supporter
Christine McNew, George Memorial Library, Fort Bend Co.
Mr. & Mrs. Morgan, Dilley Public Library
Guadalupe Negrete-Rincon, San Antonio Public Library
Christie Padalecki, Burbank High School Library
Angel Posadas, San Antonio Public Library
David Riggs, Dilley Public Library
Irma Sanchez, Palo Alto College
Victor Schill, Harris County Public Library
Maricela Shayegan, UT-Pan American
Lucia Silva, San Antonio Public Library
Jennifer Till, San Antonio Public Library
Jesse Tórrez, library supporter
Lily Tórrez, UT-Pan American