The Library

A Reference Collection on Dominican Studies

If you would like to schedule an appointment to use the Library please contact Assistant Librarian Nelson Santana at nsantana@ccny.cuny.edu

Mission

The Library of the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute is a unique reference collection whose mission is to identify, acquire, organize, preserve and make available bibliographical sources documenting the Dominican experience in the United States.

Size of Collection

As of 2006, the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute Library has approximately 3,700 books, book chapters, conference proceedings, monographs, reports, and manuscripts; 135 audiovisual resources; 219 Ph.D. Dissertations and Master’s Theses; 4,913 newspaper articles; and 8,020 journal articles. In addition, the Library has approximately 40 linear feet of unprocessed materials (magazine articles, newspapers clippings, manuscripts, and books).

History

The Library was started with collections donated by the members of the Council of Dominican Educators. It opened officially in April 1994 with an outreach and request for donations from the academic community, community organizations, and individuals whose writings, research, or public activism dealt, directly or indirectly, with Dominicans in the United States.

Donations of bibliographical sources, including books, articles, chapters, newspaper clippings, master and doctoral dissertations, documentaries, audio-cassettes, conference papers, and other media, have steadily increased. The regular donations combined with a budget allocation from the CUNY DSI's annual operating budget has enabled the Library to grow systematically, becoming the largest specialized collection on Dominicans in the United States. The Library is widely consulted by local, national, and international researchers, writers, journalists, artists, students, teachers, community based organizations and government agencies interested in Dominican issues in the United States.

Donate to the Library

We continue to welcome donations. Please check your shelves for books, journal articles, visual and auditory media, and other information resources dealing with Dominicans in the United States. Gifts in kind are accepted with the understanding that if we cannot retain the items, we may opt to sell them and use the proceeds to obtain library materials we deem necessary. The Library also accepts monetary donations to purchase library materials or to improve the Library property.

Please contact Librarian Sarah Aponte at aponte@ccny.cuny.edu with your ideas and suggestions on giving opportunities.