Mark Twain Library

First, a bit about me:

My name is Lisa M. Lopez-Williamson and I am your new school librarian at Mark Twain Elementary. I just moved to the area recently from El Paso, Texas, my hometown. Albuquerque had always been a vacation destination for me and my family, and I am thrilled to call it home now!

This will be my 12th year as a school librarian; my first four years were at Zavala Elementary, then seven years at Herrera Elementary in El Paso, and now I am here and loving it very much! I am a certified teacher in the state of Texas, and New Mexico, and received a Masters in Library and Information Science from the University of North Texas in the summer of 2010.

I am originally from El Paso but grew up across the border in Ciudad Juárez ,Chihuahua, until I was fourteen years old. We then moved to El Paso and had to learn a new language, and adapt to a new culture. The first thing I did when we moved to El Paso was to get a library card from the El Paso Public Libraries.

I was elated with the fact that I could borrow as many books as I wanted and keep them for as long as three weeks! The library became my safe space, a place where I could stay for several hours browsing isles and isles of books, and borrowing my favorite ones. It was those experiences at the public library that shaped me into the person I am today.

Over in Juarez, we only went to bookstores or "librerias", where the only option we had was to save money to purchase books. Ever since then, I have been fascinated with the borrowing concept of libraries, "bibliotecas". We are so lucky to have them around!

Since I learned how to read and write in Spanish, I can say that I am a native Spanish speaker and thus an advocate for bilingualism and biculturalism. I am of Mexican, Native American, Cuban, and Irish decent.

I hope you enjoy browsing through this site....It is my pleasure sharing with you what the Mark Twain Library is all about and what it is up to. Thank you and keep reading :-)

Feel free to reach me at Lisa.Lopez3@aps.edu