Isabel Espinal has been a librarian since 1991 and is currently an Academic Engagement librarian for African Studies, Afro American Studies, Latin American, Caribbean & Latinx Studies, Native American & Indigenous Studies, Spanish & Portuguese, and Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass). She earned her MLIS from UC Berkeley and her PhD from UMass with a dissertation titled Kiskeyanas Valientes en Este Espacio: Dominican Women Writers and the Spaces of Contemporary American Literature. She has given presentations on racial equity in librarianship, library and information services to Latinx populations, information literacy, the climate crisis and libraries, Dominican women writers in the United States, Latinx literature, and Taíno survivance in the Caribbean diaspora, among other topics. Her publications include “El Incansable Juego -The Untiring Game: Dominican Women Writing and Translating Ourselves,” “Wanted: Latino Librarians,” and “What Do Latino Students Know Anyway about Information Literacy?” Other publications are listed in Zotero and Google Scholar.  

Dr. Espinal is a former president of REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking. This fall she is teaching an honors seminar at UMass titled “We are not extinct!” Taíno Culture and Survivance in the Past, Present and Future.