Information School guest faculty member Conrrado Saldivar, MLIS ’21, is passionate about information access. For years, he has pushed back against censorship and adverse legislation targeting library collections. That work has gotten him noticed and now named among in the “Innovators” category.
Saldivar teaches LIS 522: Collection Development, preparing his students to effectively manage censorship in libraries. The course explores intellectual freedom and censorship, educating students about literary restrictions happening right now.
As an iSchool student, Saldivar took a course on public library advocacy that inspired his work. He noted that when censorship issues arise, it is not just the librarians that are affected. It affects the parents who bring their children to storytime. It affects students who utilize the library’s services for their academics. It affects researchers and professors. It affects all library-goers.
This is why Saldivar makes an effort to ensure that all communities are accurately reflected on the library shelves. “The community is so strong in libraries,” Saldivar said. “It all comes back to the community and meeting their needs.”
Library Journal dubbed Saldivar an “.” “Receiving the award shows that others are noticing all of the hard work put into advocating for libraries and for library collections,” said Saldivar. He noted that even though he is the one being recognized, it is the culmination of five years of collaboration with peers, colleagues and legislators.
However, he acknowledged there is still a need to resist censorship. “It’s unfortunate they had to award an intellectual freedom award. It’s unfortunate that we are still having to do this work,” Saldivar said.
Saldivar's passion for librarianship arose in 2015 as he worked the reference desk for a library in Wyoming. “Almost immediately, I realized that libraries were going to be the profession for me,” he said.
During his time in the Master of Library and Information Science program, he received a Husky 100 recognition and was a recipient of the Dean's Fellowship. Saldivar resides in Wyoming, working as a Tech Services Manager at Natrona County Library in the city of Casper and teaching LIS 522 online during spring quarter. In his free time, he plays alto saxophone in a community band and enjoys playing softball with friends and family.
“The community component throughout the past 11 years has really been the driving force for why I decided to get my MLIS, work in libraries, and teach a course at the iSchool,” Saldivar said. “Embedding community in everything libraries do is a core component of what keeps me in libraries.”