march06b.indd


Ann Wheeler 

Documents
and
diplomacy



If
you
love
Latin
America
and
foreign
travel,

have
great
networking
and
people
skills,
and

enjoy
a
bit
of
detective
work,
then
being
the

librarian
for
Latin
American
and
Iberian
studies

might
be
your
job
of
a
lifetime.
Eudora
Loh

serves
in
that
capacity
within
the
Young
Re­
search
Library
as
part
of
Collec­
tions,
Research
and
Instructional

Services
at
University
of
Califor­
nia­Los
Angeles
(UCLA).


Hemispheres and regions 
Loh’s
first
UCLA
job
description

had
 rather
 a
 broad
 scope.
 “I

began
 as
 the
 assistant
 foreign

documents
 librarian,
 and
 an­
other
librarian
and
I
divided
the

world.
 Since
 1994
 I
 have
 been

the
main
person
responsible
for

the
 selection
 and
 management

of
 Latin
 American
 and
 Iberian

materials,
 which
 encompasses

materials
about
those
regions
that

are
published
or
made
available
not
only
in

Spanish
and
Portuguese,
but
in
any
language.

Like
many
of
the
international
studies
areas,
I

work
with
vendors,
when
they’re
available,
in

the
countries
of
the
region.
The
Latin
American

Libreros
are
quite
an
active
group
thanks
to

the
active
solicitation
of
SALALM,
the
Seminar

on
the
Acquisition
of
Latin
American
Library

Materials.
 Book
 dealers
 are
 all
 unique
 and

interesting,
one
might
even
say
idiosyncratic,

and
 I
 enjoy
 making
 the
 most
 of
 those
 rela­
tionships.
That
is
not
to
say
that
acquisitions

in
the
Latin
American
area
are
easy.
It
is
still

very
challenging
and,
for
a
research
collection,

requires
acquisition
trips
to
the
region.”


Eudora Loh, UCLA librarian for 
Latin American and Iberian 
Studies. 

On the road 
Loh
went
on
to
describe
what
an
acquisitions

trip
is
like.
“I
am
usually
able
to
make
at
least

one
 trip
 a
 year,
 sometimes
 more
 than
 that,

during
which
I
visit
agencies
or
institutions
to

look
for
materials
that
are
not
readily
available


through
 our
 normal
 channels

to
augment
the
collection.
This

involves
 visiting
 government

agencies,
 nongovernmental

organizations
 like
 women’s

centers
 and
 activist
 groups,
 as

well
 as
 scholarly
 societies
 and

research
 centers
 that
 are
 not

easily
 covered
 by
 commercial

vendors.
 I
 also
 visit
 exchange

partners
in
order
to
consolidate

those
agreements.”


Sherlock Loh 
Loh
 explained
 the
 importance

of
what
she
terms
having
a
nose

for
 opportunities.
 “Often
 I
 will


make
an
acquisitions
trip
with
some
contacts

in
mind,
but
those
always
lead
to
additional

contacts
or
information
about
other
organiza­
tions
 that
 are
 publishing
 similar
 materials.

Following
those
leads
often
leads
to
some
re­
ally
successful
collecting.
For
example,
when

I
was
in
Central
America
several
years
ago,
I

was
reading
a
local
newspaper
over
breakfast

and
I
saw
an
article
about
an
event
that
was

taking
place
at
a
women’s
center.
So
I
made


Danianne Mizzy is assistant head of the Engineering 
Library at the University of Pennsylvania. Have an idea 
for a “Job of a Lifetime” story? E-mail: danianne@seas. 
upenn.edu. 

156C&RL News March 2006

http:upenn.edu


some
inquiries
and
telephone
calls
and
then

went
to
visit
the
center.
It
had
an
excellent,

well
organized
library.
I
was
able
to
acquire

the
 materials
 that
 the
 center
 published
 and

also
to
look
through
a
duplicate
collection
of

materials
of
things
that
they
had
gotten
by
their

exchanges
with
other
women’s
groups
in
Latin

America.
It
was
very
fun,
and
I
am
always
on

the
lookout
for
those
opportunities.”


It’s the perfect blendship 
Loh
has
a
very
holistic
approach
to
the
role

of
the
bibliographer.
“I
think
seeing
the
big

picture
and
how
it
all
relates
to
the
library’s

efforts
 is
 very
 important,
 but
 particularly
 so

in
a
research
library
given
the
degree
of
spe­
cialization.
 Working
 with
 all
 the
 functional

areas
in
the
library
sys­

mature
program
now,
there
has
been
an
effort

to
 extend
 principles
 of
 improving
 informa­
tion
competencies
to
graduate
students
in
all

fields.
In
the
past
I
worked
with
new
graduate

students
 in
 the
 Latin
 American
 program
 and

the
Spanish
and
Portuguese
department,
giving

one
 shot
 sessions
 about
 important
 resources.

This
year,
through
a
strategy
developed
by
the

Information
 Literacy
 Functional
 Area
 Team,
 I

spoke
in
much
more
depth
to
the
faculty
about

the
goals
of
information
proficiency
for
lifelong

learners
and
talked
to
them
about
the
kinds

of
changes
that
could
be
made
in
the
actual

course
syllabus
and
in
assignments
to
impart

these
skills.
The
professors
embraced
the
sug­
gestions
and
integrated
my
sessions
into
their

course
 schedules,
 and
 I
 helped
 to
 develop


the
syllabus
with
them.

They
 were
 very
 opentem
 makes
 me
 more
 TLibrarian for Latin American 

effective
 in
 what
 I
 do.
 to
the
idea
of
changingand Iberian Studies t

Even
 though
 I’m
 not
 their
 assignments
 in
 at


Where: Young
Research
Library
working
 in
 the
 digital
 way
that
would
impartw

University
of
California­Los
Angeles


library
 area
 or
 in
 cata­ information
 literacy
i

For more information, visit: sloging
on
a
daily
basis,
 skills.
 It
 was
 really
 a
www2.library.ucla.edu/
I
work
closely
with
staff


in
both
of
those
areas
in


order
to
make
the
collection
more
accessible.

ibl

In
 our
 liaison
 responsibilities
 to
 academic

departments,
 we
 have
 always
 had
 respon­
sibilities
 for
 dealing
 directly
 with
 students,

primarily
graduate
students,
and
with
faculty.

About
 two
 years
 ago
 though,
 the
 collection

management
 department
 and
 the
 reference

and
 information
 services
 part
 of
 the
 library

merged
together
to
form
the
Collections,
Re­
search,
and
Instructional
Services
within
the

Young
Research
Library
to
offer
services
like

those
 of
 a
 specialized
 library
 to
 the
 faculty

and
graduate
students
in
the
humanities
and

social
sciences.“


Taking point on information literacy 
I
asked
Loh
if
this
had
meant
a
big
shift
in
her

responsibilities,
but
she
explained,
“There
has

simply
been
more
emphasis
on
participating
in

the
information
literacy
efforts
and
in
sharing

general
reference
responsibilities.
Information

literacy
 at
 UCLA
 had
 been
 geared
 primarily

towards
the
undergraduates,
but
because
it’s
a


great
 challenge
 and
 ag

great
result.”g


Legacies 
Loh
has
been
a
key
figure
in
many
extraordi­
nary
projects
and
initiatives,
among
them
the

Association
 of
 American
 Universities/Associa­
tion
of
Research
Libraries
Global
Resources
Net­
work,
the
Latin
Americanist
Research
Resources

Project,
 Latin
 American
 Periodicals
 Tables
 of

Contents,
and
the
Latin
American
Open
Archives

Portal.
These
projects
have
served
as
models
of

successful
area
studies
programs
and
of
global

coordination
and
cooperation.


But
when
I
asked
Loh
what
accomplishment

she
is
most
proud
of,
she
replied,
“Although
I

am
proud
of
these
projects,
I
still
feel
that
build­
ing
a
collection
at
UCLA
that
is
here
for
future

generations
of
scholars
is
the
most
important

contribution
I
can
make.
I
know
the
care
and

effort
and
brilliance
of
my
predecessors,
and
I

hear
every
single
day
about
how great
the
collec­
tion
is
and
how
researchers
from
around
the
world

find
materials
here
that
are
nowhere
else.
I
think

that
is
a
legacy.”
I
couldn’t
agree
more.


March 2006  157 C&RL News 

http:www2.library.ucla.edu