New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is appointing a Black lesbian archivist and librarian on Wednesday to lead one of the city’s most consequential but often overlooked agencies, elevating a longtime advocate for information access at a moment when battles over public records, history, and identity are intensifying nationwide.
Shawn(ta) Smith-Cruz, who has spent nearly two decades working across academic, public, and community-based archives, will serve as commissioner of the New York City Department of Records and Information Services, or DORIS, The Advocate has exclusively learned. The agency oversees the municipal archives, library, and records administration, making it central to how the city preserves its history and responds to public requests for government information.
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Smith-Cruz, a Brooklyn native, said she identifies as both queer and lesbian, describing those identities as intertwined. Her appointment places an out LGBTQ+ Black woman in charge of safeguarding the official record of the nation’s largest city.
Last year, the Trump administration faced backlash after federal materials tied to the Stonewall uprising were revised to remove or downplay references to transgender people, prompting accusations of historical erasure. Earlier this year, the administration again drew criticism after the Pride flag was removed from the federally managed Stonewall National Monument in Manhattan. LGBTQ+ groups sued, and in early April, the federal government agreed to a court settlement requiring the flag to be restored and allowed to remain, reversing the earlier decision.
For Smith-Cruz, those battles underscore the stakes of her role. “We have such a rich New York City history when it comes to Stonewall in particular,” she told The Advocate in an interview, adding that preserving it means ensuring that not only well-known groups but also “other groups and other people whose voices and names were not documented or heard” are included.
Her selection also reinforces how Mamdani is staffing his administration with leaders drawn from community-based work and advocacy networks. Smith-Cruz said she sees that approach as intentional.
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“It’s really a Mamdani experience that I’m interested in being a part of,” she said, pointing to a broader cohort of appointees with roots in grassroots organizing and public service.
The appointment also fits into a broader pattern in Mamdani’s early administration, which has elevated LGBTQ+ leadership across the city government. In March, Mamdani created New York City’s first-ever Office of LGBTQIA+ Affairs and appointed civil rights attorney Taylor Brown as its inaugural director, making her the first out transgender person to lead a city office or agency. He has also appointed Lillian Bonsignore as the Fire Department’s first out gay commissioner.
In her new role, Smith-Cruz will oversee not only the preservation of historical materials but also the city’s response to public records requests. She described that work as both technical and urgent, particularly in an era defined by the rapid expansion of digital information and rising concerns about access.
“It’s really responding to FOIA requests or people who are thinking about open access to government data, government records, government information,” she said. “That is something that is a right for all people.”
Her résumé reflects a career built at the intersection of archives, equity, and public access. Smith-Cruz most recently served as dean of the Barnard College Library, where she oversaw collections, digital infrastructure, and research services at one of the country’s leading liberal arts institutions.
She has also held senior roles at New York University, the CUNY Graduate Center, and the Brooklyn Public Library.
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Her work has consistently focused on expanding access to information for marginalized communities, including projects that support incarcerated people and curate exhibitions on LGBTQ+ history, such as the Salsa Soul Sisters, New York City’s first lesbian-of-color organization.
Smith-Cruz’s leadership extends beyond institutions. As a teenager, she co-founded the nonprofit Sister Outsider, which provides paid peer education programs for young women in Brooklyn, rooted in harm reduction and economic empowerment.
She holds a master’s degree in library science with a concentration in archives, a master of fine arts in fiction, and a bachelor’s degree through the CUNY Baccalaureate Program.
Her appointment comes as debates over historical preservation and public data have taken on new political weight. Across the country, advocates have raised alarms about efforts by the Trump administration and Republicans to restrict or reshape how government institutions document LGBTQ+ lives, racial history, and other marginalized stories.
“There are national endeavors…scraping U.S.-based government data sites so that we can retain what’s still there before they get shut down,” she said.
“Providing access to government records, documents, and data is our municipal responsibility,” Smith-Cruz said in a statement announcing her appointment, adding that the agency must ensure the city’s historical record reflects “our many communities.”
