Announcing Jorge Cárdenas, Head of Belzberg Library

Jorge joins SFU Library from New Westminster Public Library, where he has been Chief Librarian since October 2021. In that role, he provided strategic leadership for the development and implementation of long- and short-term planning for all aspects of library services for the City of New Westminster and oversaw operations of two busy branches.

To this new role at SFU Library, Jorge brings a relationship-centric leadership approach, as well as a strong record of innovation, collaboration, and advancement of equity and social justice.

“My work and research has focused on exploring communities, understanding individuals, and connecting people with each other,” Jorge shares. “I have done this from every position: community librarian, supervisor, manager, director, instructor, and always applying an equitable and anti-oppressive approach that puts people, both staff and community members, at the front.”

He is also an expert in community-led librarianship, an approach that centres on collaborative relationships with communities, especially through understanding the needs of those who have faced systemic barriers or been excluded from library spaces or services, and through focusing on dismantling such barriers.

“My work in the past few years has been all around people,” he says, noting that SFU Library’s strategic priorities centring on relationships and communities “feels like a perfect match.”

Other past positions include Community Development Manager and Branch Manager at Burnaby Public Library, and Branch Head and Skilled Immigrant InfoCentre Coordinator at Vancouver Public Library. The search committee was impressed by Jorge’s experience championing equity, diversity, and inclusion, and integrating social justice as an integral component of library services and activities