SAC Alumni Highlight: Ramiro Salazar

The old saying “life is what happens when you are busy making other plans” certainly applies to 圣安东尼奥学院 alum Ramiro Salazar. When it came time for him to go to college, his goal was to become a social worker. 而不是 SAC set a path that would eventually lead him to a career where he is now the director of the 圣安东尼奥 Public 图书馆 (SAPL).

萨拉查在德尔里奥长大. After high school, he enrolled at SAC with five friends. On campus, he took a work study job in the periodical section of the library, a position he enjoyed.

From SAC, he transferred to Texas A&I in Kingsville to pursue a degree in social work, and once again worked at the college library. Later, he accepted a full-time job at the Kingsville Public 图书馆.

When he received his bachelor’s degree, Salazar came to a crossroads. “The plan was to join some of my friends at the University of Michigan,萨拉查说, adding the university had a stellar reputation for its social work program. 而不是, he accepted a fellowship to Texas Women’s University to pursue a master’s in library science.

在完成硕士学位后, Salazar accepted a job as the director of the Eagle Pass Public 图书馆. From there he came back to 圣安东尼奥, where he was head of the Main 图书馆, the Hertzberg Circus Collection and Museum, 也是技术服务总监.

In 1991, in order to gain more administrative experience, he became the director of libraries in El Paso. He also served as director of libraries for Dallas and briefly served as the interim assistant city manager in Dallas before coming back to 圣安东尼奥 to be the SAPL director in 2005.

在他的新角色中, he worked ceaselessly with officials, SAPL板, and stakeholders to raise the profile of the library and to pursue its mission to create a community of readers and an informed public. 当他回来时, the library was not seen as an integral part in building a better community for 圣安东尼奥. 如今，这种看法正在改变.

在萨拉查, the SAPL has invested $91 million to add ten new libraries and renovate 13 existing branches. The Central 图书馆 downtown has also received substantial improvements including expanding its Texana collection and its genealogy program.

The library’s digital collection is now flourishing. It recently broke usage records with more than five million checkouts from the online collection. 除了, the library enhanced its free public wi-fi service and recently created a Latino Collection and Resource Center at the Central 图书馆 which includes 13,000 items for scholarship and research as well as a space for lectures, 研讨会, 学习的房间, 以及社区活动.

Salazar credits SAC for helping with his education. “For someone coming from a small town, I know that the decision to go to SAC, known for it’s more personal approach and quality educators, 非常有价值,他说.

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