Library Staff

  Chief Librarian, CUNY Dominican Studies Institute
  Professor, The City College of New York Libraries

  212.650.7170 |  aponte@ccny.cuny.edu

Sarah Aponte is Chief Librarian of the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute Library at The City College of New York and Professor at The City College Libraries, teaching courses on Dominican Studies and bibliographical instruction. She founded the Dominican Library in 1994 with donations of books and other materials by the Council of Dominican Educators and is the first Dominican librarian solely dedicated to Dominican studies in the United States. She holds an M.L.S. in Library and Information Sciences (Queens College); an M.S.Ed. in Higher Education Administration (Baruch College); a B.A. in International Studies (the City College of New York); and an A.A. in Liberal Arts (Hostos Community College). Professor Aponte created the Dominican Studies Research Guide to provide links to materials in the interdisciplinary field of Dominican Studies.

    Librarian    
    CUNY Dominican Studies Institute
    T: 212-650-7170
    E-Mail:  jortiz2@ccny.cuny.edu

Jhensen Ortiz is a graduate of the MSLIS/MA dual-degree program in Library and Information Science, and History from Queens College, CUNY. During his graduate study, he was a member of the Society of American Archivist student chapter. He was an intern in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History summer internship program from 2012-2013. In 2021, he was awarded the Rare Book School-Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship for Diversity, Inclusion & Cultural Heritage.

As Librarian for the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute, Mr. Ortiz manages collection development and donations, related to the Dominican Republic and its diaspora, while also providing reference and instruction assistance. He co-teaches the Library Educational Workshops with Chief Librarian Prof. Sarah Aponte using unique primary and secondary resources on Dominican studies. His current academic and research interests are centered on collection development, history of the Dominican community in the U.S., audiovisual media, 20th century visual and material culture, 20th Century Dominican popular music, and digital library collections.