Craig
Cruz is originally from Honolulu but has spent most of his life in California,
growing up near Ontario. He attended university in Irvine
where he received his bachelor's in (yes) English. After school, he moved to
San Francisco and has lived there ever since. In 2006, he graduated from the
School of Library and Information Sciences at San Jose State University.
He
and his partner Richard just celebrated 17 years together. His partner
works as a computer researcher at a tech company in Silicon Valley and
they share a house in San Francisco's St. Mary's Park neighborhood.
Unfortunately, they don't have pets because Craig is very allergic to cats,
dogs, and birds, but he’s been racking his brain (scheming) on how to share a
living space with a cat.
He
is currently Library Manager at Krames, a patient education publisher.
The library supports the writers, artists, and designers who
produce the content for their products, so the collection contains everything
from clinical journals and textbooks to diet books and consumer health
("Popular Works"). Craig is responsible for collection development,
serials management, maintaining the Web site and OPAC, and research.
He likes that his job requires a little bit of everything. He’s never
bored as a typical week will include cataloging, ordering, answering
reference questions, communications with vendors, and updating the Web
site.
What
was your first library job? How has the profession changed since
you started your career?
My
very first library job was as an undergrad at UC Irvine. My tasks included
the usual student worker duties like shelving, shelf reading, answering
the phones for the reference department librarians, and filing.
Oh, and filing pocket parts! How I hated those. But I really enjoyed
that job, and the librarians took notice. When an Information Desk
position opened, they offered to train me for it. For the first time, I
helped patrons directly, assisting them in using the online catalog (this
was in 1991) and answered simple reference questions, directing patrons
with more complicated needs on to the reference department.
In
some ways, I don't think that the profession has changed since I started
my career. My career properly started only in 2002. Colleagues talk about
deeper specialization, and I've seen some of that. More recently, though,
I've seen librarians needing to juggle more than before with the
incredible number of layoffs due to the recession. I know several librarians
that have had to take on tasks that had been done by entry-level staff,
staff that have been laid-off. So now they juggle cataloging with database
license negotiation. Is that terribly new? Maybe not, but as someone who's
recently had to start working with vendors, I can tell you that it is a
new challenge to me.
How
long have you been a member of SLA? How long have you been a member of the
GLBT issues Caucus? What ways have you been
involved in SLA and the caucus?
I've
been an SLA member for 6 years, and joined the GLBTIC right away. At the
local chapter level, in the past year, I've helped to plan a couple of
meetings, finding venues for events and working with restaurant
event planners. I also functioned as "deputy" to the local Hospitality
chair, which basically meant that I checked people in at meetings,
handed out name tags, and set up chairs. Grunt work, but oh so necessary
for successful events. I haven't been very active yet in GLBTIC because of
volunteer work with another local library organization,
but my work there is winding down. My plan is to become more active after
a little downtime.
What
has SLA meant to you/how has it helped in your career?
I
love being a part of SLA and find it to be the most supportive and useful
association of the 5 library associations of which I'm a member.
The classes at conference -- both the pre-conference workshops and the
free presentations -- are the most consistently interesting and applicable
to what I do. The people I've met have been genuinely helpful in finding
ways for me to participate in the organization, and have also been
available -- and more importantly, willing -- to mentor me when I needed
assistance.
What
do you consider the biggest issues facing librarians/libraries today, and if
applicable, their impact on GLBT communities?
What
a huge question. I can't think of any way to answer this question without
venturing into controversy. But as anyone who knows me will tell you, I
often don't let that stop me from weighing in on a topic. Among the major
issues facing librarians today are copyright and the redefinition of
“library” and “librarian.” I know these issues are not new, by any means,
but they remain important developments. A decision on the Google
settlement will be due this autumn, which could ensure a more heated
contest over “fair use” and access for quite some time. The idea that
fair-use access can be denied by a single commercial entity is scary. I
don’t know which way this will go, but I do foresee a continued fight by
librarians and rights-holders if the Google settlement is approved.
As
for the definitions of libraries and librarians, maybe special library
practitioners have been dealing with the increasing fluidity of
these words longer than our academic and public library colleagues, but I
still see resistance to change. A place where information and knowledge is
stored in books and printed materials might obviously be called a library.
For us, a library can encompass so much more. But what about our
“stakeholders,” what do they imagine when they hear about their libraries?
And is the image conjured by that word something that they want to continue
funding? Surveys show that no, many of them don’t want to continue funding
their libraries. But they do see the need for a research department, an
information center, a resource center, etc., and they’re willing to put
their money into supplying that need. For me, the solution seems to be,
“Well, let’s make sure our title matches what the funders see as
fulfilling their needs.” We're already providing the services they need.
Why not sync our terminology? Look, I didn’t grow up dreaming of being
an information professional or a resource manager. I wanted to be a librarian.
But I’m willing to accept that as libraries’ functions have evolved – as
they have encompassed more – so too might my title have to evolve.
What
do you consider the biggest issues facing the GLBT community today
(challenges and/or victories)?
Ah,
more landmines. Well, no one ever said life would be easy. At least,
I never received that message. I think the biggest challenge for
the GLBT community right now is equality: equality in marriage, in salaries,
in acceptance from without and from within our community. Right now, maybe
the most public of these challenges is over same-sex marriage. I know a
lot of couples here in California married their life partners during the
short window of time when it was legal to do so, after wanting to do for
decades. Some couples I know didn’t marry because they have sought to
conduct their lives outside of the hetero-paradigms. I think we need to respect
both points of view, and the viewpoints in-between. I guess, in terms of
equality, my over-riding concern would be self-determination.
Any
other interesting facts you’d like to share about yourself?
An
easy one. I’ve become more and more interested in classical music, including
opera and modern concert music, over the last few years. I recently
started learning to play the violin, too, although I’m mostly a fan. Of
course, as a librarian (yes! My own internal reference uses this term),
I’m digging I’m always willing to giving new operas a chance – even Philip
Glass – no matter the period or the language, and I’m always looking for
people to accompany me to the opera house. If you’re visiting my town and
want to hit up an opera, let me know. If I’m visiting your town, one of
the first things I’ll do is see if any opera or classical music concert
will beperformed during my time there.
