ALSC Profile | August 2025
Maria Vega
Assistant Branch Manager/Librarian, Senior
Broward County Library, Hollywood and Miramar Branches
Hollywood, Florida
ALSC Membership: 5 years
Where did you attend library school?
I received my MLIS from Kent State University in Ohio. I have degrees from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and Wayne State University in Detroit, where I started taking children’s literature classes.
What was your very first library position?
In 2004, I had just moved to Ohio, where my teaching certificate wasn’t valid, so I started working part time as a circulation clerk at the small town library, thinking I would only work there until I transferred my certificate. They didn’t have a teen area at the time, so I focused on creating one and accidentally fell in love with youth services in libraries. I haven’t left libraries since.
What do you love most about your current job?
I love working with the incredible population in South Florida. We have people from all over the United States and the world come through my library—people who live in Florida and people visiting us for vacation. I speak multiple languages, and it is always wonderful to see the light in people’s eyes when you can make a connection with them in their own language or practice English with a friendly librarian. I get to do multilingual storytime at my library, and I truly enjoy having the children and families share their languages and cultures with me.
What is your favorite family tradition?
I have young nieces and nephews, and we have started a tradition of somehow sneaking in the word banana into every conversation. I am pretty sure it started with the banana and orange knock-knock joke. It doesn’t matter if it is someone’s birthday, a school event, a dance recital, or a basketball game, someone is going to bring bananas into the conversation. During COVID, when my library was doing online programs, my nieces attended one of the online author events and even managed to get a Caldecott Award-winning author to say banana.
Who would you most like to swap places with for a day?
I would love to swap places with Emily Key, the Assistant Director of Learning and Public Engagement at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino. To not only be a part of that institution from the ground up, but to also see the phenomenal educational resources they have already created and the new resources in the works, and of course see how we can use them in libraries would be a dream come true!
What do you think libraries will be like 25 years from now?
AI may handle simple questions, but nothing can replace the emotion that comes from human connection. That is a lot of the reason people come to libraries. I think those of us who work with children understand this on a deep level, and I think this won’t have changed in 25 years. Libraries will still be places people can go for connection. That being said, I really want there to be wireless holograms. I am hoping that we won’t need to separate ourselves and sit at computers with headsets but instead have holograms that we can touch and manipulate. Imagine having access to holograms of millions of books that we can hold in our hands and that have holographic pages we can flip like physical books. Or host a storytime where children and families appear to us as holograms, and we can appear to them in their homes.
Who is your favorite superhero?
Wonder Woman is my favorite because, as a child, I found out that Linda Carter was Mexican American, and in my mind, that made Wonder Woman a Mexican American like me. So, I have been obsessed with her ever since. Nothing beats childhood logic.
Where is your favorite place in the world?
I love Washington, D.C. and Mexico City (CDMX) equally because they have amazing museums (for adults and children), amazing food, and amazing libraries.
