Elizabeth Martinez
The REFORMA Elizabeth Martinez Lifetime Achievement (LAA) Award Committee recognizes those who have achieved excellence in librarianship over an extended (over 20 years) period of service and who have made significant and lasting contributions to REFORMA, as well as to the Latino and the Spanish-speaking communities.
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On receiving the 2016
Elizabeth Martinez Lifetime Achievement (LAA) Award.
Elizabeth Martínez influenced librarianship in so many ways.
She was a cofounder of REFORMA; she established the Mexican American Library
Training Institute at California State University, Fullerton. She was City
Librarian in Los Angeles; county librarian of Orange County, Executive Director
of the American Library Association, and director of the Salinas Public Library
where she revitalized the Cesar Chavez Library. She created the SPECTRUM Scholarship
Program, a national program administered by ALA to recruit American
Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino and Native
Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander students to librarianship.
On her retirement from the Salinas Public Library Stanford
University collected her papers for its archives. Roberto Trujillo, curator and
head of Stanford's Special Collection, stated that Elizabeth Martínez’ role in
the Chicano movement, its history as it relates to schools, libraries and other
cultural centers is worthy of documentation. Her professional activity is a
record of involvement and engagement that was strong, focused, and very much a
part of a communal sense of responsibility for a greater public good for the
Mexican communities in Los Angeles.
Elizabeth Martínez changed librarianship in the United
States forever. REFORMA honors her remarkable achievements with this award
which inspires us to follow her good work. I am grateful to have been nominated
for this honor and dedicate the honorarium to the REFORMA scholarship fund.
With gratitude, Kathleen
Kathleen
de la Peña McCook
Distinguished University Professor of Librarianship
Distinguished University Professor of Librarianship
School
of Information, University of South Florida
