CURRENT POSITION Supervising Librarian of Youth and Family Services, San Diego Public Library DEGREE MLIS, San José State University School of Information, 2013 FAST FACT Since 2017, she has been a proud member of LezBHonest, the first Queer dragon boat racing team in San Diego. FOLLOW Instagram @bibliotecariaady; bit.ly/Books4GoodTrouble; bit.ly/REFORMAproject Photo by Jennifer Lim

Speaking Up!

Ady Huertas grew up in the library, first while learning English as a preteen and then at 16 serving as library aide at the San Diego Public Library. She celebrates 25 years with the system this year. 

Huertas uses her skills and fluency in both Spanish and English to connect with community groups throughout the city. She participates in Spanish-language radio shows, translates for the library, and works with REFORMA’s (The National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking) Children in Crisis (CIC) Project, supporting unaccompanied minors at the San Diego Convention Center by securing and delivering book donations to create a mini-library. 

She co-created Creando Enlaces, a binational conference to support libraries and librarians on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border serving Spanish-speaking and Latinx communities. Huertas conceptualized, wrote, and implemented an Institute of Museum and Library Services grant to create Books for Good Trouble: Social Justice Dialogues, which highlights Black, Indigenous, and people of color authors and conversations regarding social justice issues impacting the San Diego community, partnering with local schools and several equity, diversity, and inclusion-focused community groups to ensure a broad reach. Many teens who participated in her counsels and programs are now working at the library. 

“A big part of me has always been involved in activism based on my lived experience as an ESL student who grew up in Tijuana, Baja California, and spoke only Spanish until I was a preteen,” Huertas says. “At the core, my motivation is connecting with our communities and overcoming the barriers that I experienced myself, to keep the needs of our most marginalized at the forefront.”