LATINO INFORMATION SYSTEM

The information needs of a Latino Agenda within the University of California requires a statewide effort. The University of California has developed unique resources on the Latino experience. At present there is uneven development and lack of access to key resources. We therefore recommend a decentralized Latino Information System. Below we review major areas of activity and identify problems. Furthermore we provide specific recommendations which when taken together constitute a Latino Information System. The goals of the System would be to:

Increase Latino resources within the University of California

Provide direct support for Latino research efforts

Enhance Latino information access in public libraries

Collection Development.

Collection development efforts within UC libraries remain grossly inadequate since 1) alternative press publications have rarely been collected and/or catalogued; 2) some campuses do not have core collections of Latino material; and 3) there does not exist, to date, a cohesive statewide library collection policy for the UC system that would serve librarians hoping to secure materials by and about Latinos.

Historically, the University of California has given attention to pre-20th century sources through such collections as the Bancroft library. However, even as we approach the 199Os, contemporary collection of material on California's Latino population can be characterized as haphazard. Despite the lack of overall direction universitywide, the late 196Os saw the emergence of several important Chicano library collections. The most noteworthy Chicano collections within the state were developed at UC Berkeley and UCLA. Unfortunately, these two collections have been developed without the benefit of library-designated funds and therefore, are not represented in the local or universitywide on-line catalogs. The third major collection is at UC Santa Barbara. Smaller but still significant collections are at UC Davis and Riverside. The Berkeley, Los Angeles, and Santa Barbara collections have gone beyond the development of core collections to the building of research collections. The Chicano Studies Library at Berkeley has specialized in the collection of serial titles. UCLA's Chicano Studies Research Library has developed extensive dissertation and audiovisual collections. Santa Barbara's Coleccion Tloque Nahuaque has been a leader in the development of Chicano archival collections. At Davis, the Chicano library has specialized in photographic materials. At Riverside, there is a developing archive on the late Tomas Rivera. Surveys of these collection efforts in 1979, 1981 and 1984 continually confirm the strength of the specialized collections at Berkeley, Los Angeles and Santa Barbara.

Three things are required in order to bring parity and overall coordination to existing collection development efforts. First supplementary funding should be provided to the Chicano collections at Berkeley, Davis, Riverside, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles to strengthen their collections and provide access to their materials. An augmentation for the special collection efforts at Santa Barbara is recommended in order to assure that Latino archives are organized and catalogued in a manner which makes them widely available to the library community and researchers through their inclusion in a bibliographic database. Second, a review of existing policies and procedures to secure pertinent Latino materials should be carried out by a panel of Latino faculty and librarians who are experts in this area. Parenthetically, it must be stated that the ongoing efforts of the National Collection Inventory Project (an ongoing project which attempts to identify the research level of collections across the United States) have only peripherally addressed these questions. For example this effort did not include the Chicano libraries at Berkeley, Davis or UCLA. The various campus surveys could indicate holdings of specialized libraries. Chicano librarians are presently not represented on local or systemwide collection development committees. Third, a UC universitywide library materials acquisition policy should be developed which establishes core collections at each campus and coordination between the existing research collections. This can be carried out by an ad hoc task force of Latino faculty and librarians. This effort could be spearheaded by the Chicano Information Management Consortium of California (CIMCC), an established planning and coordinating organization among the UC Chicano collections. (See section below on Networking). This group would work with existing collection development committees.

While some duplication of monographic and serial items is desirable within the UC system, a database of holdings would encourage a uniform access system and provide the user with alternative sites for materials by and about Latinos and discourage the duplication of costly collections.