Mario Ascencio is a 1st generation library user. Born in New York City and reared in Los Angeles, he enjoys the multiculturalism that exists in large cities.  He currently lives in Washington, DC with his husband and is the Library Director at the Corcoran Gallery of Art / College of Art and Design.  Mario is passionate about the equity of information for all.  At the age of 17, Mario helped an illiterate woman get her first library card. This empowering experience made him realize the extent to which libraries impact the everyday lives of people, in particular the disadvantaged.  He knew at that moment he wanted to become a librarian in order to help people connect to information.  Now, as a Library Director in a museum/college setting, he is one of the few Latino library directors in this arena.

Mario has held positions at George Mason University, the District of Columbia Public Library, the Getty Research Institute, the UCLA Arts Library, and the Smithsonian Institution Libraries. In addition, Mario held graduate internships at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

On a national and international level, Mario has presented lectures, keynote addresses, workshops, and radio and television interviews throughout the United States, El Salvador, Mexico, and Panama. Topics have included InfoDiversity, Libraries and Civil Societies, Web 2.0 Technologies in Libraries, and Library Services to Latinos and Spanish-speakers.

Mario holds a Master’s degree in Library and Information Science from the University of California, Los Angeles; and a Bachelor of Arts in Art History with a minor in Italian from California State University, Northridge.

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Washington, DC