Director of AAACNA and Librarian Kathryn Blackmer Reyes Retires After 19 Years

After working for 19 years as a librarian and director of the Africana, Asian American, Chicano, and Native American (AAACNA) Studies Center, Kathryn Blackmer Reyes, '96 MLIS, is retiring.

During her time heading up AAACNA, Blackmer Reyes has played a significant role in shaping the center into what it is today. Spanning 6,000 square feet on the fifth floor of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library, the center is a vibrant and welcoming space, full of thoughtfully curated collections of cultural books and resources.

Over nearly two decades, Blackmer Reyes has worked tirelessly to evolve the space, building partnerships, securing grants, preserving community history and expanding collections.

The purpose of the center is to give students from underrepresented groups a supportive academic environment to engage in research and access resources, and to feel a sense of pride in their respective cultures and appreciation for other cultures. When Blackmer Reyes first started working at SJSU in 2007, the AAACNA Studies Center was known as the Cultural Heritage Center.

"The center gives students representation. And that's the kind of work that I've always wanted to engage in," says Blackmer Reyes.

AAACNA's roots stretch back to SJSU's Chicano Library Resource Center, which was officially dedicated in 1982, a few years after students advocated to have the space on campus.

Jeff Paul, '76 MLIS, '78 MA Education, was its first director, back when it was just a tiny collection at the old Wahlquist Library Central. In 1990, the Africana Resource Center was established at the library, and there was soon talk of starting an Asian American Resource Center as well.

In 2000, the Chicano and Africana resource centers joined the new Asian American Resource Center in modular buildings at Ninth and San Fernando streets. Together, they became the Multicultural Center. When the collections moved to the King Library in 2003, it was renamed to the Cultural Heritage Center. After Blackmer Reyes arrived in 2007, she helped to establish the Native American collection; and in 2018, it officially became the Africana, Asian American, Chicano, and Native American (AAACNA) Studies Center.

"AAACNA is a showcase and Kathy has a lot to do with that," says Paul, who knew Blackmer Reyes back when they were students pursuing their master's in library science. "She is an amazing human being and her stamina blows me away. She's pretty humble and doesn't seek recognition. She's tireless."

Building a career

Born and raised in San Francisco, Blackmer Reyes often felt like she didn't fit in anywhere. When she arrived at UC Davis, she wasn't quite sure what she wanted to do - or if higher education was really the path for her. Luckily, her older sister had a suggestion for her: pursue a degree in Chicano Studies.

Despite growing up in a biracial home, and spending summers in Mexico to visit her mom's side of the family, it was a path that Blackmer Reyes had never considered. She decided to give it a shot and went on to study Chicano Studies and sociology.

As an undergraduate, Blackmer Reyes had the opportunity to study with Professor Adaljiza Sosa Riddell, who was the founder of an organization of Chicanas in academia, known as Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social (MALCS) . Blackmer Reyes became part of a community of Chicana scholars who were navigating academia and their place within it.

"Through them, I got to see something that inspired me. And I was surrounded by a group of women I could look up to. Until then, I didn't know where I fit," says Blackmer Reyes. "But that was when education started to click for me."

After graduating from UC Davis, Blackmer Reyes pursued her master's degree at SJSU.

"The master's in library science really gave me the ability to do everything I thought I was good at," says Blackmer Reyes. "I loved research."

Throughout her career, Blackmer Reyes' work has centered on Chicano Studies and ethnic studies. Before she came to work at SJSU, Blackmer Reyes worked as a librarian at UC Santa Cruz for five years, followed by six years as an ethnic studies librarian at Sacramento State.

Always evolving

While serving as AAACNA's director, Blackmer Reyes has dedicated her time and energy to advancing the center's mission. She has secured grants for the center and has played a fundamental role in supporting the creation of three endowments.

"We needed to demonstrate to the dean that people were invested in the center," she says. "So the advisory board decided to get it started. Every board member was required to raise money and also donate money. We got to $25,000 in two years, all generated by the advisory board. Now the endowment is $200,000. Having this places us on the map."

Blackmer Reyes feels that without her advisory board, she wouldn't have had the same opportunities to collaborate and bring more people to exhibits and events happening at the center.

"In my career, it has really been about collaborations with the community and campus," she says.

Over the years, Blackmer Reyes has led the planning of a multitude of events and exhibits focused on race, ethnicity and culture, including the beloved Día de los Muertos altar exhibit , with the San José Multicultural Artists Guild as the primary sponsor of the event.

She has also consistently sought out ways of making the space more accessible to students. Years ago, she saw that there were only wall outlets, and so she had outlets added to the tables to make the space more functional. Cabinets were moved to create more space for students, and the bookshelves were shortened to make accessing items easier.

Blackmer Reyes has also been working to create a digital archive of various materials from the center.

"Some of Kathy's biggest accomplishments are her work securing grants to digitize materials, and also her success in preserving the history of [prominent playwright and Spartan alumnus] Luis Valdez and the Castellano family ," says Paul.

She is also developing special collections from 20 to 25 boxes of documents, booklets and other historic materials related to milestones including the founding of Asian American Studies, Chicano commencement and Black Grad. Karl Grunwald, '27 MARA (records and archives), a university archivist student assistant, has been working to help with that effort.

"Having worked with Kathy as I have gone through AAACNA's physical materials, I can see that she has a deep connection to her work," says Grunwald. "She is very passionate about the history of AAACNA and a strong advocate for its continued success. She has been very collaborative and open with her time, always willing to stop and answer questions that popped up for me along the way."

In 2023, Blackmer Reyes received the "I Love My Librarian" award from the American Library Association. She also recently received REFORMA's 2025-2026 National Elizabeth Martinez Lifetime Achievement Award , which recognizes individuals who have achieved excellence in librarianship, as well as in serving Spanish-speaking communities.

Blackmer Reyes' last day at SJSU will be August 28. Reflecting on her career, Blackmer Reyes speaks with reverence about the mentorship she has received from a group of Chicano librarians over the years. That mentorship was instrumental in shaping the kind of librarian, leader and student advocate she has become. As she prepares to retire, Blackmer Reyes takes pride in the strong ethnic studies collection that AAACNA has become known for.

"The curated collection of scholarship in this space really speaks to the history of all these race and ethnic groups," she says. "And I would say we probably have one of the best race and ethnic studies collections of any CSU library."