1. INTERVIEW
JANA KRENTZCurator for Latin American and Iberian Collections at Yale University
Interview by Henry Jacob, '21
Transcribed by Mathis
Bitton and Daniel Ma
July 12, 2020
How did you transition to remote learning and teaching
in March? Some of my colleagues had to teach in an online
environment without prior experience. But it was pretty
easy for me because I already had some experience teaching
digital primary sources online. Also, I'd met early in the
semester with most of the students who were required to
consult with me.
The Latin American Librarians Association (SALALM)
has regional consortiums. Our Northeast division is called
LANE. We got together right away and discussed some
common issues. At the same time, we started to compile a
list of all of the Open Access primary source websites on
Latin America. Now we have over 600.
We also hosted weekly online mock classes at LANE. It
started with someone who was going to be teaching a class
via Zoom a couple of weeks in the future, and she wanted
our feedback. Because it worked so well, we decided to set
up the mock online classes and took what we learned to the
wider library community via webinars.
You mentioned that you've been getting busier. I know
as well that you've been getting more emails from people
outsideofNewHaven.Yalelibrarianscreatealotofresearch
guides. Some students and also non-Yale patrons find me
through those guides. They Google something and one of
the library research guides comes up. In some of the cases,
the students wanted basic things like a reading list for some
topic that interests them. That’s not really my job. My area of
expertise is the 19th century Spanish and Portuguese novel.
I usually get a lot of queries from alumni, but not during
COVID. For questions from professors, many were
interested in online primary sources. It was just a matter of
actually using the list that we compiled in LANE to help
them find the digital resources that the can use right now.
A lot of the queries have been about archives in Spain. How
can I get to the Archivos de Indias? Are they open? Who can
I contact to get materials?
You mentioned that the tagging has been both difficult
to do but also useful. Being forced now to really work
remotely all the time online, are there new types of skills
or perspectives you gained during the past months? The
tagging you mentioned has to do with coming up with
keywords to describe open access primary sources websites
for the LANE project. We in LANE had to come up with a
shared or common vocabulary for the project so we were all
using the same keywords.
oday we are honored to be speaking with Jana Krentz,
Curator of the Latin American and Iberian collections at
Yale University. Thank you so much for joining us, Jana.
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1YALE HISTORICAL REVIEW
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2. It's a lot easier to do a consultation than I thought
was possible. I worried about this because I value my
personal connection to my students. But that hasn't
been lost in the conversations that I've had on Zoom,
and that's been really gratifying. I continue to talk to
students like you through Zoom, just to chat and see
how things are going. I think I will have even more
insights once the fall session begins and I start to teach
online.
The library also has set up a new consultation service
for faculty and graduate students. Many grad students
and faculty were confused about which librarian or
archivist they should consult in order to find primary
sources. The librarians or subject specials in Sterling
or Marx pair up with an archivist in one of the special
collections libraries for these sessions. At first, I didn’t
know how it was going to work with another librarian
there – if we really could collaborate But we actually
complement each other very well. The service seems to
be very popular!
I’m glad to hear that. You have used the phrase
personal connection a few times. How will you
maintain these lasting bonds and create new ones
with your students in the fall? It’s going to be tough.
Time differences will always be tricky. We had our Latin
American librarians’ conference online in California. It
was difficult; we on the East coast didn’t get lunch until
3 o’clock. Scheduling meetings has been really stressful.
The time difference has been difficult for students
consulting me from Europe.
I also worry about teaching from my computer. I make
connections in the classroom with body movement,
with eye contact, and with the humor that I bring to the
room. I worry that I will lose these moments. People
learn differently, so I don’t want the teaching online to be
like electronic page-turning — it needs to be interactive.
I don’t have a white board or anything to use for some
of the interactive activities I like to do in the classroom.
I feel bad for the first-years. They will not get the type of
Yale experience that the rest of you have enjoyed. That's
one of the wonderful things about being at Yale—all of
these workshops and all the extracurriculars you can do
and all the opportunities in the residential colleges—
and I don't know how they're going to pull that off this
year. But I also trust the creativity one finds here at Yale
to solve these problems.
It is also really important to get the students into the
library for the first time. Way too many senior thesis
students come to me their senior year and say, “I’ve never
been in the library. I’ve never done any research.” And
it’s really important, especially in some of the first-year
seminars, that we actually get students into the library.
Many students have come from high schools with very
poorlibraries,andtheyjustdon’tknowsomeofthebasics
Well, it’s not just them—it’s even some kids who have had
great high school libraries available to them They don’t
know how to look for a book. The stacks can be really
intimidating. Jeez, I find them intimidating sometimes.
When I was a freshman at the University of Wisconsin-
MadisonIvisitedthelibraryforthefirsttime.Thatlibrary
is probably larger in terms of square feet than Sterling,
so the stacks were huge. I had a hard time, I remember,
finding my way out. When I went back the second time,
they were doing some type of reconstruction. I could not
find my way into the stacks, and then I could not find my
way out. I was starting to panic actually.
Jana Krentz studies Latin American and
Iberian literature at Yale University. She
curates Yale's collections in her fields
and compiles research guides for use by
students, alumni, and faculty.
Photo courtesy of Yale University.
“I make connections
in the classroom with
body movement, with
eye contact, and with
the humor . . . I worry
that I will lose these
moments.”
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3. 3YALE HISTORICAL REVIEW

4. There’s no escape from the library. I will never forget my
first time in the stacks. I spent hours sifting through the
shelves and then forgot how to find the exit. It’s important
to have those experiences. That’s why we open the library
for first-year students. Even in beginning Spanish classes,
students go in to look at our Rare Book material and learn
how to interpret primary sources. Now they’re not getting
that. The reading room in the Beinecke will be open in some
form, but we don’t know when or what it will look like.
On the topic of extending Yale’s resources, I know that
you have faced difficulties acquiring new materials
this summer. What obstacles do your vendors in Latin
America face during this crisis? Generally speaking, it’s
very hard to get a hold of books to buy in Latin America.
The print runs are very small and of a short duration. In
addition, the vendors are little mom and pop businesses.
Libraries need vendors in-country to buy for them.
Many universities are saying, “Okay, well, we’re not buying
hardcopies at all. We’re only buying e-books.” This is a big
problem. Many parts of the world do not publish or publish
little in e-book form. We started to brainstorm about ways
we could help our vendors because we were worried about
them staying in business. We drafted a statement that
describes why we should continue buying print both for
the sake of our vendors, but also so that we do not have
gaps in the scholarship and literature from those regions
of the world. We took this to SALALM, and we drafted a
statement there of support for continued print purchases
that has been so well received nationally that all of the areas
studies librarians’ groups—the Middle Eastern group, the
Slavic librarians’ group, everybody—are drafting statements
of support for the statement SALALM put out.
Also, since it’s impossible for anybody to buy everything
from Latin America we have distributed resource projects
in which one university buys publications from a particular
country or a particular subject—for example, religion in
the Southern Cone—and the university research library
who committed to that area will buy books in depth or at a
high level. The rest of the university libraries will buy core
materials if they wish. And another research library will
buy everything published in Costa Rica. Yale buys imprints
from Puerto Rico—yes, we consider that a different country,
believe it or not—Nicaragua, and Guatemala. These
collaborative collection development programs have been
going on for more than 20 years in some cases. Now all
of these collaborative programs around the country are in
jeopardybecausesomeuniversitylibrariesareimplementing
ebook only policies. Thankfully Yale is not one of them.
We librarians have to ensure that we have at least one copy
of a book in the United States. Actually we say that five
copies are necessary in the US to ensure that that particular
title will survive in the future but these programs are a start.
At least you still have plenty of books on your own
bookshelf. What have you been reading? [Laughs] I don’t
know if there’s anything I can recommend for anybody else
because most of what I read is in Portuguese and Spanish.
But I actually find it quite comforting to read things I’ve
already read. I’m actually going through reading a bunch
of the 19th-century novels that I’ve worked on. In Spain,
Perez Galdós, Emilia Pardo Bazán (she’s one I wrote my
dissertation on actually). In Brazil, Machado de Assis—I
love Machado de Assis. There’s Carlos Ruiz Zafón in Spain.
HewritesverymuchintheveinofGaldós.There’ssomething
about that prose that just makes me happy.
I too find comfort in returning to items that hold a
nostalgic appeal. Yes, I agree. I will admit something.
When I was a child, I used to read Trixie Belden books,
kind of like Nancy Drew detective novels. I still have those
Trixie Belden books. I couldn’t bear to part with them. I got
those out early in the summer to reread them. I always have
memories of reading those in the summer, so I actually went
back to them. Actually there is some scholarly research that
has been written about Trixie Beldene [laughs].
If not, you have already taken the first step to fill that gap
in the literature! [Laughs.] I will look into that. For now,
I think the most important thing to remember is that the
librariansatYalearehereforyou.We’rehereforthestudents.
We’re here for the faculty. We’re very approachable. We’re
amazing! We can help find amazing things!
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“We should continue
buying print . . . so that
we do not have gaps
in the scholarship and
literature.”