Althea (Vicki) Silvera is the department jead of the Special Collections Department in the Green Library at Florida International University.Ms. Silvera has been at FIU for over thirty-five years. She previously served as university archivist, FIU's records management liaison officer, and Ccrator for the Gallery at Green Library. She came to FIU in 1987 from Occidental College in California. Ms. Silvera has also worked with the Archives of Jamaica, the National Library of Jamaica, and NHPRC's Garvey Papers Project (UCLA).
During her tenure as head of Special Collections, the Department has received appraised or in-kind donations of over $5 million. Because of these donations and purchases, Special Collections has grown from 360 linear feet to over 5,067 linear feet and approximately 27,934 titles. Ms. Silvera oversees the items in the Díaz-Ayala Cuban and Latin American Popular Music Collection, which are housed in the Special Collections department, providing assistance to researchers, students, and the general public.
Ms. Silvera received her library degree from the University of Western Ontario. She majored in history and minored in education as an undergraduate at St. Elizabeth University.