Role Model—Daniel Berdaner

Daniel Berdaner says he knows what it's like to “start from zero” in America, unable to speak the language. Brought here by his parents from Argentina as a child, he paid attention to a family friend who told him, “This is the land of opportunities, but they will not come if you do nothing.” So he learned English and pushed himself through school, college, and, eventually, an LIS program.

Now a librarian at Ft. Worth Public Library, Berdaner teaches Spanish-language computer classes and is building a Spanish-language collection for other Latinos. He's also the official English/Spanish translator for the City of Fort Worth. In 2005, when he chaired the library's Hispanic Heritage month program, he attracted nearly 800 young Latinos to the library with a Low Rider show.

His success in using educational opportunities to build a career inspires him to mentor teens, especially Hispanic teens, both inside the library as supervisor of library volunteers, and out. He's a volunteer coach for the American Youth Soccer Organization and a mentor for Fort Worth Independent School District's Absolute Xcellence Program.

Berdaner loves his job because it gives him the opportunity to share “my positive views, my energy, my enthusiasm, and my never quitting attitude” with so many others who, as he once did, are starting from zero.