NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani has secured another win for the city’s LGBTQ+ population by appointing a black lesbian to oversee the city’s Department of Records and Info Services (DORIS). Taking the position is seasoned librarian and archivist Shawn(ta) Smith-Cruz who expressed her joy at receiving the honor via an official statement.
“Providing access to government records, documents and data is our municipal responsibility,” she wrote. “Embracing and preserving a comprehensive imprint of NYC histories, as representative of our many communities, is the mission of DORIS that I aim to uphold.”
Smith-Cruz is also looking forward to working with Democratic Socialist Mayor Mamdani who has already made strides for marginalized communities during his first few months as mayor. Smith-Cruz is excited to join the team at this time “which feels to be a moment in NYC political history of great importance and collective endeavor.”
Smith-Cruz is more than prepared for the job, with almost 20 years of experience as a coordinator for the Lesbian Herstory Archives, according to LGBTQ Nation. Plus, she served as Associate Dean for Teaching, Learning and Engagement at NYU Division of Libraries, and most recently, as dean of the Barnard College Library.
She also serves on the board of the Metropolitan New York Library Council, and has held leadership positions at CUNY Graduate Center, Brooklyn Public Library and Storycorps. She’s a Brooklyn native, and ventured into community activism at the age of 17, founding a nonprofit called Sister Outsider, which provided financial, education and harm-reduction for young women in East Flatbush and Brownsville.
“As Commissioner I intend to ensure an informed citizenry…together, we can continue to work toward robust and complete information dissemination, while also honoring the multiple histories of all New Yorkers,” she wrote.
The announcement of Smith-Cruz’s appointment was grouped with the news of two other appointees across City agencies. “These are leaders who believe government must deliver in service of the public good,” said Mamdani in the official statement.
Smith-Cruz is open about her queerness, listing three primary identifiers on her website as “Librarian, Archivist, Queer.” She even begs the question: “when is the work not queer.”
