Meet Steve Stratton!: An RT member profile by Tess Goldwasser

By Tess Goldwasser

Steve has served on various GLBTRT committees, most recently the ad hoc committee on the organization of the Stonewall Book Awards committee. RT chair from 2001-2005, he said, “It was hard work and also rewarding. I learned a lot about professional organizations, collaboration, personal relationships, and building a group of volunteers into a working unit… I guess right now I serve as a voice of some of our RT history, though that sounds odd for me to say.”

At this time, Steve is the Interim (“we’ll see what happens at the end of our campus agreement in December”) Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs of the Broome Library, California State University Channel Islands. In most academic libraries he would be considered the Dean of the Library, but the titles are different there. Previously, he was Head of Collections and Technical Services. He described his job as going to meetings to discuss Academic Affairs issues, working on collaboration with the campus IT unit, fundraising, and managing the faculty and staff in the library to include the University Writing Center which is housed in the library.

Steve also co-teaches a course for undergraduates, “The Library,” with an economist. “It is a cross-listed, upper-division writing course for business, economics, and education students, and involves lots of field trips to area libraries so students can see the range of work, issues, and strategies behind libraries as a theme,” he said. Steve is also the advisor to the LGBTQI student group on campus.

When I asked about his hobbies, he said, “Hobbies? Hello? I am in administration. I have no time for hobbies!” Joking aside, Steve likes to read. A lot! He is a member of a reading group on his campus and said, “I am intimidated by their reading prowess.” He got the group to read Everything Begins and Ends at the Kentucky Club by Benjamin Alire Sáenz. Everyone enjoyed it, so go Stonewall Awards and Over the Rainbow! When he has time, he quilts and has donated his quilts to ALA scholarship auctions. Steve said, “I enjoy working with my hands and the colors of the fabrics.” He also loves hiking and has been known to play softball on occasion.

One of Steve’s passions is traveling. “I don’t think of myself as a tourist but as a traveler. I enjoy encountering new people, culture, and adventures.” As ALA representative for the IFLA Section on Library Services to Multicultural Populations, he attends IFLA each year and reports back to ALA on their activities at IFLA meetings. This is his second and last term on this committee and has planned two program sessions for the committee. He’s particularly pleased with the time he has spent working with the IFLA Special Interest Group on Indigenous Matters. Most of his time traveling has been in Guatemala. “I love the people I have met there and the experiences I have had: learning the languages, helping out in libraries, and just learning to be at home with myself and others, somewhere else besides my usual home.”

Steve is proud of working and writing with many people on topics involving HIV issues. He has volunteered and served on several community and national groups involved with HIV education, service, and research.

I asked Steve what animal he might be, and he asked, “What about a tree?” Probably a Jacaranda tree, which are big (up to 100 feet tall) and flower each summer with beautiful blooms that create a carpet of lavender as they fall off the tree. The Jacaranda can be annoying to Southern Californians because it drips sap, has large, tough seed pods that drop in the fall, and requires a big clean-up. “So, I would be big and beautiful, yet somewhat bothersome to those close to me,” he concluded.

If Steve could have a dinner party with five culturally or historically significant figures, he would invite five authors, representing a variety of cultures and views: Tete-Michel Kpomassie, Felice Picano, Jan Morris, Quentin Crisp, and Alexandra Fuller. Steve added, “Perhaps I am wrong, but I think the conversation would be amazing.”