Shawnta Smith-Cruz

Shawn(ta) Smith-Cruz is a volunteer archivist at the Lesbian Herstory Archives, and an Assistant Curator, and Associate Dean for Teaching, Learning, and Engagement at New York University Division of Libraries. Shawn is a recipient of the 2020 WGSS Award for Significant Achievement in Women’s & Gender Studies in Librarianship sponsored by Duke University Press, administered by the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), for her work archiving the Salsa Soul Sisters, the first lesbian of color organization in the country. Shawn’s research interests include Critical Race Theory and its intersections with queer narrative formation, indigenous epistemologies, ancestral connection, and black lesbians’ herstories and spaces.

MLS, Queens College
MFA Fiction, Queens College
BS Queer Women’s Studies, CUNY Baccalaureate Program, City University of New York

Smith-Cruz, S., and Sara Howard. (2024). Grabbing Tea (Vol 1): Queer Conversations in Identities and Libraries, Sacramento, CA: Litwin Books.

Smith-Cruz, S., and Sara Howard. (2024). Grabbing Tea (Vol 2): Queer Conversations in Archives and Practice, Sacramento, CA: Litwin Books.

Smith-Cruz, S. (2024). “Ancestral calls: What if learning is bearing witness? and other derivatives of June Beer.” In Education for Information: Special Issue: Resistant Knowledges: unmasking coloniality through the re-search of local to global communities. (4).

Smith-Cruz, S., April Hathcock and Scott Collard. (2024).“Reflections on a Faculty Cluster Hiring Approach at a Large PWI Academic Library.” In Kathryn Houk, Jordan Nielsen, & Jenny Wong- Welch (Eds.), Toward Inclusive Academic Librarian Hiring Practices. Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL).

Bakaitis, E., and Shawn(ta) Smith-Cruz. (2022.) “Breaking Open: Defining a Student-Centered Pedagogy.” In Elizabeth Dill and Mary Ann Cullen, Intersections of Open Educational Resources and Information Literacy. Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL).

Bakaitis, Elvis, Shawn(ta) Smith-Cruz, and Red Washburn, eds. (2020) Forty-Five Years: A Tribute to the Lesbian Herstory Archives, Sinister Wisdom: Lesbian Literary and Art Journal, (118).

The Editorial Collective: Smith-Cruz, Shawn(ta) D., Allison Ricket, Brynn Warriner, Angela Martin, and Amy Washburn, eds. (2017). Celebrating the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival, Sinister Wisdom: Lesbian Literary and Art Journal, (103).