Diana Delgado has been a mainstay at the Samuel J. Wood Library for almost two decades. During her time at WCM, she’s learned how everything at the library works from the ground up, and leads a team of talented staff to provide support for WCM patrons looking for assistance with everything from research to notarizations. Here’s a look at how Diana has influenced library services at the college.
Hey, Diana! Thanks for joining me today. Can you tell me a little about your role at the Library?
My current role is Associate Director for Information, Education & Clinical Services. I help coordinate both short-term and long-term direction of the Library, and participate in decision-making related to strategic planning, the library’s physical space, staffing needs, assessment, and overall efficiency. This includes responsibility for day-to-day operations, management of circulation, reference, education, clinical services, scholarly communication and patient care services, too. I’m part of a fantastic team that provides a lot of services and programs that you might not readily think of when you think of the library.
So, a little bit of everything then?
Essentially!
How long have you been with the Library?
I've been with the Library about 18 years; in October, it'll be 19 years. I started as an Information Services Librarian and Webmaster.
Wow, that’s quite a progression of your duties from the very beginning to now! It seems like you learned everything about the library in that time.
[laughs] Yeah, I've always worked in libraries. For my first gig in high school, I was a shelving page of a public library in my neighborhood, and then I worked in libraries since my teenage years. Most of my background is from Memorial Sloan Kettering in librarianship, on top of a variety of different libraries and roles.
How has the pandemic impacted library services? How have you been adjusting with this major change in how we do things?
Admittedly, it's been very difficult. There was a lot of responsibility that I needed to take on to open the library safely, so I worked with leadership and library management to develop a proposal to implement things like social distancing, mask wearing, cleaning schedules for areas with high touchpoints, staggering staff, checking our air circulation. We have a shared space with a lot of visitors from the public, so we had to think through a lot to ensure that everybody would be safe. Many people don’t realize that we have patrons who don't work for the institution, but they have access to the library, so there was a push to make sure everyone completed COVID attestations and that they understood our policies and procedures.
Adjusting at home has been a lot more difficult in some ways because I do have two children and they’re fully remote. We live in an apartment in Brooklyn, which is not very conducive to having three of us at any given time working remotely. So, there’s one in a bedroom online in school, the other is in the living room, which means I'm in the kitchen! And my husband works nights, so he's trying to sleep during the day while we’re all online. Managing what the kids are supposed to be doing while I’m the middle of meetings has been a challenge.
Diana's sons.
It definitely sounds like another job!
Yeah, it’s definitely another job on top of what I’m already doing!
What are some projects or initiatives you’ve been working on that you think have been beneficial for the WCM community?
I really feel like the project that has had the most impact is our Systematic Review service. Systematic Reviews are a type of study that supports evidence-based practice where you collate all the best available evidence out there in the literature, and you combine it in such a way – whether it's quantitatively, like a meta-analysis, or qualitatively – to hopefully come up with a conclusion. This can be a conclusion about treatment, or about how to diagnose something, and these reviews are supposed to be very specific clinical questions that you are able to find an answer to.
Some of our Library staff who are ready to help support your research and more!
Since we formally introduced the program in 2011, it’s grown a great deal. We assist with meta-analysis, systematic reviews, scoping reviews, consensus reports, guidelines. We basically serve as methodologists on evidence synthesis, and we help research teams develop very rigorous studies to ensure that they're doing everything they’re supposed to be doing throughout this process, like limiting bias and producing high-quality evidence. We have a team of about eight librarians who have all been specially trained to support this type of data synthesis, and I'm really proud of that because we get co-authorship on these papers, which helps with our own professional and scholarly development. We have a lot of repeat customers, and teams that tell other researchers and clinicians about us, which has been great for getting the word out there.
Outside of that, we have a grant editing team that’s doing fantastic work as well, and even a notary service. I can say that I'm very proud that we have a multi-talented staff that we’ve trained in order to be able to provide these services. We’ve been good at identifying the interests and expertise of our staff and building off of that.
What would you say is your favorite part of your job?
I have to say my favorite part of my job is working with people. If there's anything that I can do to make someone's job or life easier, I do get great joy from that. But I do get a lot of joy and fulfillment from being part of a team and working at an institution that has such an important impactful mission. We're helping with patient care or helping with education, we're helping with research or helping within the community. It’s incredibly rewarding being part of something like that.
I also like being surrounded by such intelligent people, not just within the library but beyond. I mean, we're surrounded by geniuses and it’s thrilling to be a part of something like that.
What do you like to do outside of work? Well, at least pre-pandemic!
I used to really be into making candles, soaps, and body scrubs, but I haven't had the energy or the space really since COVID hit. It's hard in an apartment with a family of four on top of each other to carve out space for supplies and a workspace.
I'd say right now I’m into having houseplants.
I’ve been trying to get into that! I feel like I kill anything I bring into my house that’s green!
I'm trying! I mean, I have murdered my fair share of plants. [laughs] Start with a snake plant or a ZZ plant. I won't say they're indestructible because I haven't killed the ZZ plant yet, but I have killed a snake plant. People have a tendency to overwater, so I suggest an easy plant. I have about 30-plus houseplants now.
Some of Diana's favorite plants: (Back row L-R) Futura Superba Snake Plant and Stromanthe Triostar. (Front row L-R) White Jewel Dracaena, Calathea Rattlesnake and Marisela Prayer Plant
Who are some women that you admire?
Maya Angelou. She was incredibly talented and multifaceted. She did it all: novelist, poet, composer, dancer, singer, civil rights activist. She had such a rich life; she knew Malcolm X, James Baldwin… I mean, she's pretty much the bomb!
A little bit closer to home, I greatly admire my aunt. My aunt is one of eleven children; she and my mom were the only two girls. They grew up in the Bronx and were pretty poor. She's always been highly motivated and was able to accomplish a great deal professionally. She currently ranks as a captain in the United States Public Health Service, and an environmental health officer in the FDA. I really look up to her and appreciate all her guidance, particularly when I was in college and graduate school because not a lot of people in my family went to college. And when I was pursuing a career, there wasn't really anybody that I could talk to about things like interviewing or how to handle certain issues that are happening at work. So she continues to be a major influence in my life.
She sounds amazing!
She is, but people are intimidated by her. Not me! Well, sometimes… [laughs]. While she tells it like it is and is all business, she has a big heart. But, you know, she means well.
Interested in learning more about our Library services? Visit library.weill.cornell.edu for more information on how Diana and the rest of our Library staff can help!