The Librarian of Congress and Carlos Ortega Bayon, director of the Biblioteca Nacional of Spain, on March 15 signed an agreement to exchange LC MARC records for the Biblioteca Nacional records bearing International Standard Bibliographic Description information.
The agreement was worked out with LC's Network Development Office, the Exchange and Gift Division and the Cataloging Distribution Service. The Librarian hosted a luncheon for Mr. Ortega Bayon; Carmen Caro, international relations officer of the Biblioteca Nacional; Ambassador Jaime de Ojeda; and Alvaro Sebastian de Erice, minister of culture of the Spanish Embassy.
The Spanish national librarian, who was appointed to his position in September 1994, was shown treasures from the Rare Book and Special Collections Division and received briefings in the Network Development and MARC Standards Office, Cataloging Distribution Service, Paper Conservation Section, and Hispanic, Music, Manuscript and Exchange and Gift divisions.
Mr. Ortega Bayon, who is also a poet, was especially interested in the Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, W.H. Auden and Archibald MacLeish manuscripts he was shown.
Scholars Discuss Legacy of Peruvian Socialist
Seminal Peruvian philosopher, writer, journalist and founder of the Peruvian Socialist Party, Jose Carlos Mariategui (1894-1994), was "one of the most thoughtful and incisive political analysts of his era," according to Ambassador Ricardo V. Luna.
Mr. Luna delivered his comments during a symposium sponsored by the Embassy of Peru and the Hispanic Division of the Library of Congress. The panel of scholars celebrated the 100th birthday of Mariategui on Dec. 16, 1994. Panelists Jose Miguel Oviedo, professor of literature at the University of Pennsylvania; Eugenio Chang Rodriguez, professor of Latin American Studies at Queens College; and Harry Vanden, director of Caribbean and Latin American studies at the University of South Florida, discussed Mariategui's political and literary legacy.
Ambassador Luna introduced the panel and Georgette Dorn, chief of the Hispanic Division, offered commentaries and moderated the lively discussion that followed. Scholars from as far as New York City, Princeton, N.J., and Charlottesville, Va., attended.
LC Hosts Presentation of Anuario Hispano
The newly refurbished Northwest Curtain of the Great Hall provided the setting on Feb. 23, when Dr. Billington and Rep. Esteban Torres (D-Calif.) hosted the presentation of the ninth edition of Anuario Hispano/Hispanic Yearbook. The Yearbook book includes information of interest to Hispanics throughout the United States.
The Librarian welcomed the audience of more than 400, which included Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), Resident Commissioner Carlos Romero-Barcelo (New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico), congressional staffers, members of the diplomatic corps, academics, students, congressional staffers and Hispanic community representatives.
Rep. Torres congratulated Anuario Editor Angela Zavala, for producing the enlarged ninth edition, which "reflects the growth, diversity and importance of the Hispanic community."
Energy Department Assistant Secretary Thomas Grumbly, whose agency produced a directory of scholarships targeted to minorities (on diskette and enclosed in the 1995 Anuario ), said that "listing more than 800 scholarships for minorities in a database offers added opportunities in this rapidly changing age of automation."
Hispanic Division Chief Georgette Dorn introduced Al Quintana, public relations director for the Hispanic market for the American Telephone and Telegraph Co., who announced that "AT&T will sponsor not one, but two Hispanic Fellowships in 1995."
He then introduced the Library's 1994 AT&T Fellow Carmen Enciso, who during her fellowship in the Hispanic Division -- extended into 1995 -- compiled a directory of Hispanic Members of Congress 1820-1995 (now in press).
Dr. Dorn then introduced Ms. Zavala, a successful Washington businesswoman who described her research in the Library's rich collections in compiling the Anuario. The new edition will be distributed free to libraries, colleges, universities, embassies and community organizations.
The celebration ended with a reception featuring a hands-on demonstration of the Anuario Hispano/Hispanic Yearbook minority scholarship database diskette, courtesy of the Energy Department.
