University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries Magazine 2018 Fall Libraries Magazine | Page 28

Spotlight on a Friend
By Rich Leffler
Oscar Mireles
O
scar Mireles, the current board secretary,
has been Executive Director for Omega
School for more than 22 years. In 2016,
Oscar Mireles was recognized by In Business
Magazine as one of the “15 Most Influential
People in Dane County,” selected to the “M”
List by Madison Magazine, and acknowledged
by Madison365.com as one of “the 48 most
powerful Latinos in Wisconsin.” He is the
chair of the Latino Consortium for Action
(LCA), a coalition of Latino organizations and
associations in Dane County. He serves on
the board of directors of One City Learning
Center, Madison Museum of Contemporary
Arts (MMOCA), UW–Madison Friends of the
Libraries, and Boys and Girls Club of Dane
County. He is also the Poet Laureate for the
City of Madison (2016–18).
How did you first get involved with the
Friends of the UW–Madison Libraries?
Well, for anyone who has had any dealings
with former UW–Madison Dean of Students
Mary Rouse, who is the ultimate university
and community connector, there is only
one acceptable answer when she asks you if
you are interested in serving on a board or
committee. The answer is always yes, because
it is so hard to say no to her. Mary felt I would
be able to contribute to the board of directors,
but also felt I would be able to make different
connections and learn from this new
experience. She was right on both counts.
I must admit that I did not know anything
about the Friends of UW–Madison Libraries
before that first board meeting. Fortunately,
it has been a wonderful journey ever since.
After the meeting, they gave me a history
book on the Friends, and I was fascinated by
how integral the Friends were in the growth
of the University of Wisconsin library system
over the years, which is one of the largest
28 | LIBRARIES Fall 2018
collections in North
America.
One of your roles
in the Madison
community is being
the Poet Laureate of
Madison. How does
that fit into your
volunteer work at the
Friends?
I think my role as Poet Laureate meshes
perfectly with my role as a Friends member
and the board of directors of the Friends.
Friends provides an opportunity to bring
in talented authors on timely subjects as
part of the annual speakers series. While
poetry isn’t the featured focus of many of the
speakers, I have found the speaker series very
compelling, including the recent talk about a
philosophy book made into a graphic novel by
a father and son duo.
Friends’ support of guest writers in
collaboration with the Wisconsin Book
Festival fits into the narrative of working
locally with community connections and
resources. Greg Mickells, Madison Public
Library Director, and Conor Moran, Book
Festival Coordinator, have done wonders
bringing in world-class writers and speakers.
The Friends’ support is integral to their
success.
What is the most interesting thing you
have learned since joining Friends?
Reading the UW–Madison Libraries
Magazine gave me a better sense of the long-
term impact the Friends organization has had
on campus, nationally, and internationally.
Each year noted scholars come to Madison to
see firsthand and up close the manuscripts,
papers, and memorabilia. The range of topics
covered runs the gamut from medieval
history to current cultural events. The
support of scholars coming to Madison to
conduct research broadens the reach of the
campus and provides a valuable experience
for American and international guests.
The Friends semi-annual book sale raises
funds every year. Have you had a chance to
participate in this event?
This past spring was the first time I had a
chance to participate in volunteering for the
book sale. I came in early Saturday morning
and saw up close the enthusiasm of the crowd
searching for prized books or those no longer
in circulation.
I had a chance to work alongside Jim
Dast who has toiled tirelessly for decades
to organize the four-day affair and has
an amazing system of coordinating book
donations, volunteers, and the general public
to raise important money for the Friends. I
witnessed the countless months it takes to
pull the whole event together. It is incredible
to realize Jim has helped raise almost $1
million over these past 25 years. I had so
much fun, I have penciled in the next few
book sales to not miss the action. Next year I
plan on wearing my Spelling Bee Costume to
help spur book sales.
The library is one of the largest
repositories on a wide range of subjects. Have
any of these collections sparked interest in
looking a little closer to see what the library
has?
I was at the Madison Public Library
downtown location, and saw an interesting
exhibit on cartoneras as I was heading to a
community meeting. The cartonera exhibit
featured community and self-published
books that actually used recycled cardboard
as their covers and included reprintings of
some of the classic Latino literature as well as
poetry and essays on the state of the various
countries of Latin America. I had a chance
to connect with Paloma Celis-Carbajal, the
librarian involved in starting this project.
The cartonera publishing phenomenon
began in Buenos Aires in 2003 and was
spearheaded by writers and artists interested
in reconfiguring the conditions in which
literary art is produced and consumed. They
came up with a progressive new publishing
model that challenges and contests the neo-
liberal political and economic hegemony.
The initial group, called Eloísa Cartonera,
has not only changed the publishing scene
in Argentina but also the scene across Latin
America by functioning as a model and an
inspiration for the development of over
ninety cartonera publishing projects in Latin
America, Europe, and Africa.
With a growing collection of over 1,000
volumes representing more than 55 different
cartonera publishers, UW–Madison’s Ibero-
American collection holds one of the
largest and most comprehensive c artonera
collections in the U.S. This collection is a
work in progress, and new titles and resources
are added periodically.
I did not realize that the UW–Madison
Friends of the Libraries had supported the
publication Akademia Cartonera: A Primer of
Latin American Cartonera Publishers, which
was one of the first scholarly books to discuss
this cultural phenomenon.
Final thoughts?
I must admit my initial experiences as a
youth with libraries were not always positive.
Being told to keep quiet as a younger person
was a challenge. Library fines and our public
library being pretty far away from my home
made it seem less friendly and accessible.
What my experience with Friends has
shown me is that my fellow Friends board
members have a love of the library, and
their support of literacy efforts and making
the library a space for personal growth and
change is heartwarming. I hope to reach
out to others who may have shared my past
experiences and let them know this is a new
day in the library in the 21st century.
University of Wisconsin–Madison | 29