Library director’s retirement is bittersweet

When Ramiro Salazar first landed at San Antonio College, he linked up with a group of other Del Rioans who roomed together to get by.

He needed a job, too, and a work study assignment landed him in the periodicals section of the college library.

It led to a half-century of library posts.

He recalls the names of the librarians he worked for, reciting them one after another. He remembers a few of their smallest kindnesses.

On Friday, he retired as the city of San Antonio’s library director.

It was bittersweet. One library employee told him how sad his office looked with all his years of memorabilia gone.

He talked with employees in the hallways of the Central Library, on elevators and in the beautiful Latino Collection and Resource Center he helped will into existence.

At one farewell, library employees received index cards. Each one came back with a message, often referring to “the little things” they’d remember about him.

They matter as much as the work he helped marshal, including budgets, branches, renovations, growth and strategic planning, and defending what’s most important about libraries: Their critical role in democracy.

“It’s been an emotional roller coaster once I announced (my retirement),” Salazar said, invariably supercharged by his 70th birthday last weekend.

So, he’s not only looking back with nostalgia and clearer vision but looking ahead to what’s next.

That will include volunteer work; maybe a podcast about men his age and the trouble they have expressing themselves (I’d listen to that); even a potential stint with the Peace Corps.

He spent 19 years leading the city’s public library system, facing every budgetary, political and social issue imaginable, including struggles with Bexar County over its fair share of library funding.

But Salazar adds he has no unfinished business.

What does he view as accomplished? The city eliminated overdue fines, removing another barrier to access for low-income families. Libraries created more welcoming, inclusive spaces.

New branches went up, older branches got facelifts.

When an ambitious plan for the Latino Collection and Resource Center didn’t happen, he pushed for a more modest approach.

The library board recently approved the library’s strategic plan, which includes a community needs assessment that started PRE-COVID.

Librarians block-walked on the West and Southwest sides to collect data on how people use their neighborhood library. Sometimes, they found residents didn’t use them for a host of reasons, including not feeling safe in their own neighborhoods.

One issue still gnaws at him: Bexar County’s funding, or limited funding, of city libraries their residents use.

He’s critical of the county for instead creating a digital library, Bibliotech. Salazar points out that the city has its own digital library that is larger by “many times over” and that Bibliotech is more of “a computer lab.”

He says the county’s approach is not good public policy and leads to a duplication of services.

Salazar was ready for retirement.

He’ll take some time off and go to Del Rio, where he may do some fishing and visit his late mother’s home, a place he says he goes “to get grounded.”

He recalled his humble beginnings, the hand-me-downs, how his father fixed their shoes. They were hand-medowns, too.

It all made him more resourceful, an approach to life that came in handy. “You find ways to make things happen,” he said.

You can tell Salazar is proud of those beginnings — his beloved mom as homemaker and disciplinarian; his father, a WWII staff sergeant, bombardier and navigator, who served as a trustee for the segregated San Felipe schools in Del Rio.

He makes a point of adding that he was an average student in high school and didn’t do well in college, at least not at first, but later made the dean’s list.

His mother’s wish that one of her children earn a college degree was a driving force. He earned several academic degrees.

He recalled Friday that friends from Del Rio would tease him for taking library jobs. He can laugh about that now.

In retirement, Salazar will remain in the library realm. He’ll serve out terms on two boards, one national, one international. He’ll continue to advocate for access and inclusiveness.

He doesn’t think libraries will go all digital.

“People still want the physical book. They also want to go to libraries for experiences,” noting some libraries are using robots to help people find what they want.

Salazar is happy that he might have helped with one finding in a citywide customer satisfaction survey. “The library was tied (at the top) with the fire department,” he said.

But he may be proudest about how the city of San Antonio stood up to state and school district lawmakers and others who’ve sought to ban books and thwart library access for political reasons.

In his interactions with library leaders internationally, they talk about the same concerns: That libraries remain as a tool of democracy.

You may not see that when you go inside a library, but that’s exactly what’s going on.