The New Mexico State Library welcomes Kate Alderete as the new Deputy State Librarian. Most recently, Kate served as the Director of the Taos Public Library, but she has a broad background in libraries beginning in her hometown of Las Vegas, NM. After earning her BA in Literature at the University of Prince Edward Island, she returned to Las Vegas as the Children’s Librarian at Carnegie Public Library. This experience led her to enroll in the University of Denver MLIS program where her research practicum at the Denver Public Library focused on the role of public libraries in diverse and gentrifying areas. On the technical services side, Kate also interned for the CNN corporate library in Washington, DC, as a digital records cataloger and sampled datamining for UNM’s DataOne.
“New Mexico’s libraries shaped my view of the world from a very young age. I’m looking forward to working with and making a positive impact on the libraries in our beautiful state.” – Kate Alderete
During graduate school, Kate also worked as the studio manager for Talking Books Publishers in Denver, seeing first-hand the production side of creating equitable library resources. After graduation, she worked as a Reader Advisor Librarian at the Colorado Talking Book Library in Denver and as head librarian at the United World College of the American West in Montezuma, NM, before moving on the Taos Public Library.
Kate feels fortunate that her previous library work has enabled her to fully appreciate the effort and staffing required to realize library service goals. In taking up the role of Deputy State Librarian, she looks forward to putting that knowledge to work. Her move will also bring her closer to Ski Santa Fe, a favorite winter destination that she can share with her 4-year old daughter.