At its annual awards banquet on Thursday, October 26, the New Mexico Library Association gave its prestigious NMLA Community Achievement award to Joseph McKenzie, Library Director at the Martha Liebert Public Library in Bernalillo.
The award was given for having developed the Martha Liebert Public Library “into a cultural center of learning for the Town of Bernalillo, by offering professional programming in concerts, drama and historical lectures, updating the collection, which includes an outstanding SW section, offering a delightful children’s story hour, a computer space, a teen room, craft areas and meeting rooms for statewide educational and historic groups.”
The library is named after Martha Liebert, a historian and genealogist who moved to Bernalillo in the 1950s. In 1965 Liebert and several other young mothers started a library for the town of Bernalillo because they wanted a story hour for their children. The town gave them room in City Hall with Martha acting as librarian.
McKenzie has served as the library’s director since 2020.
The award given was a handmade plate by Acoma Pueblo potter Sherry Aragon.