Translate| California Library Hall of Fame: Elizabeth Martinez |
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Throughout her career, Elizabeth Martinez has been known for her leadership, innovation, and advocacy for cultural diversity. She started her career in 1966 at the County of Los Angeles Public Library. In 1971, she co-founded REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking. As Orange County library director (1979-90), she managed the construction of 9 new branches. She returned to L.A. in 1990 as director of the Los Angeles Public Library, where she oversaw the reconstruction of the central library, which was nearly destroyed by fire in 1986. From 1994 until 1997, Martinez served as executive director of the American Library Association. While there she developed the Spectrum Scholarship program and proposed an initiative to Bill Gates that resulted in a $200 million grant connecting more than 4000 public libraries nationwide to the Internet. In 2007, she was appointed director of the Salinas Public Library, which had been closed due to a funding crisis. Under her leadership, the Cesar Chavez Library was remodeled and library cards issued to every child in the local school district—one of the first such partnerships between schools and a public library in California. Martinez has served on the steering committee of the University of Arizona’s Knowledge River program for Native American and Latinx librarians since its inception in 2004 and is on the library commission of the New Mexico State Library. In 2013, the Los Angeles chapter of REFORMA named its lifetime achievement award after her. Other honors include the ALA Equality Award (2013), ACLU Ralph B. Atkinson Monterey chapter award (2013), Hispanic Librarian of the Year (1990), and Hispanic Women Recognition Award (1982). In 1996, Martinez was named one of “100 Outstanding Hispanics” by Hispanic Magazine.