Sara Sarmiento(she/her) is an Adjunct Reference & Instruction Librarian who joined the City Tech Library in the spring of 2025.
In a nutshell, what do you do at the City Tech Library?
Students can often find me at the reference desk, where I’m available to help with anything from short simple queries about finding a book, to a full blown research consultation. This is the most visible part of my work, and the part which most aligns with what people’s stereotypical idea of a librarian looks like.
In addition to the instruction I do at the reference desk, I lead instructional sessions with classes to orient students with the library and its resources, and how to approach research. I’ll also be helping to update and create library resources.
What is your academic and library background?
I have a BA in Latin American studies and visual arts, an MFA in cartooning, and a MS of Library and Information Science. I’m a recent graduate from library school, so this is my first position officially as a librarian, but my first job as a teenager was shelving books at my public library. I have a professional background working in nonprofits and design and am very proud of the work I’ve done to support other artists. If you look up City Artist Corps, you can even find an exhibition catalog I designed for a large public art project serving NYCHA communities in the CUNY Libraries catalog! That’s something I’ve carried forward into my library studies. I’ve done a number of projects about supporting artists and helping them understand and preserve their digital artwork, and I’m interested in visual resources and visual literacy. It’s also important to me to have an inclusive definition of “artists” that includes the so called “applied arts”, like illustration or design, as well as people who did not go through a traditional art school program.
What made you want to become a librarian? Was there any event or person that influenced you?
It’s difficult to work just as an illustrator, financially, but for me also, I like to get out and do different things and work with people, and making books is a lot of time spent intensely focused on a single project with very little company. I also have a hard time being creative when the rest of my life isn’t taken care of, so I needed a day job that was fulfilling in its own right and balanced my different professional needs. My mom is a children’s librarian, which gave me insight into the field. What I studied and what I’m interested in as a librarian are very different from her work, but through her I got to know a lot of librarians and knew that I liked the community. I’m also a very curious person, which I think is an important trait in a profession that’s all about information.
What were your first impressions of life at City Tech? Were there any surprises?
As I’ve done a lot of work supporting New York City through my work at nonprofits, I love that I’m continuing to support the city through my work at City Tech. NYC is the biggest city in the country, but it can still feel like a tight-knit community, especially when you’re working in a place like CUNY.
A surprise was learning that the library building was built without any plumbing! I completely understand why it was done, it’s very practical, but I think it’s hilarious.
What are some of your favorite City Tech library resources?
The fact that students have access to the entire CUNY and SUNY library network. There’s always interlibrary loan, but the CLICS book delivery service is far less intimidating. City Tech has finite library space, so students should know that they aren’t limited by what we have on the shelves. The Opposing Viewpoints in Context database is also a really great entry point for research. And, this may sound silly, but the librarians themselves are such a good resource! When I’m sitting at the reference desk, I WANT students to come ask me questions, that’s what we’re there for.
What books, tv, films, and/or music are you currently listening to?
I’m currently on book two of “The Hild Sequence” series (“Hild”, “Menewood”) by Nicola Griffith. It’s a historical fiction about the early life of Saint Hilda in early medieval England. It has a lot of background detail about the constant ongoing work of creating textiles, which I especially enjoy as I recently learned how to spin wool into yarn. I’d stopped listening to podcasts early in the pandemic when I needed a break from the news cycle—everything at the time was about Covid—but spinning has helped me finally get back into podcasts as I can listen to them while I spin, so that’s been a lot of the media I’ve been consuming lately. I’ve been enjoying “What The Duck?!”, a lighthearted podcast about animals by an enthusiastic Australian science journalist. “Stolen” or “Throughline” are great when I have the tolerance for more serious investigative journalism. For more fun investigative journalism, I always recommend “Wild Thing” to people—the first season honestly asks the question “could Bigfoot exist”, and the result is really charming. “Snap Judgement”, “Spooked” and “This American Life” are all great for storytelling. “99% Invisible” is an amazing design podcast, I even recommended an episode to a student the other day that was about a typeface she was researching.
What else would you like City Tech students and faculty to know about you?
Come to me with any of your questions about images. I love the technical/practical side of art, so bring me any of your questions about file types, color theory, or how to find and properly cite images in your papers. Or just come show me your doodles and I’ll tell you how awesome they are!
