Mamdani appoints Black lesbian librarian as New York City chief records keeper
Zohran Mamdani has appointed Shawn(ta) Smith-Cruz (Getty Images)
New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani has appointed Black lesbian librarian Shawn(ta) Smith-Cruz as chief keeper of the city’s records.
Smith-Cruz took up the post of Commissioner of the Department of Records and Information Services (DORIS) on 22 April, alongside two other appointees: Paul Ochoa as Commissioner of the Department of Design and Construction and Annie Levers as Director of the Mayor’s Office of Operations.
“These are leaders who believe government must deliver in service of the public good,” Mamdani said of the appointments.
“They understand how to pull the levers of government to deliver for New Yorkers and reflect the histories and aspirations of our neighbourhoods in the city we are building together. I am proud to welcome their expertise and dedication to this administration as we get to work delivering a new era for New York City.”
Who is Shawn(ta) Smith-Cruz?
Smith-Cruz is a librarian and archivist with almost 20 years of experience in the field, most recently serving as Dean of the Barband College Library. She currently sits on the board of the Metropolitan New York Library Council.
She holds a master’s degree in library science with a concentration in archives, another master’s degree in fine arts with a focus on fiction, and bachelor’s degree from the CUNY Baccalaureate Program.
Project highlights throughout Smith-Cruz’s career so far include expanding access to information for incarcerated people, curating award-winning exhibitions on groups like the Salsa Soul Sisters, New York City’s first lesbians of colour organisation, and co-founding women’s advocacy nonprofit Sister Outsider when she was just 17 years old.
Smith-Cruz called her new appointment to DORIS “an absolute honour” and that Mamdani’s administration “feels to be a moment in NYC political history of great importance and collective endeavour”.
“Providing access to government records, documents and data is our municipal responsibility. Embracing and preserving a comprehensive imprint of NYC histories, as representative of our many communities, is the mission of DORIS that I aim to uphold,” she continued.
“I am excited to explore processes of appraisal for which sufficient value can be named to ensure the inclusion, access and celebration of our historical memory.”
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