Meet the Staff: Gaby Lagos

Your community library has many amazing people working not only at the front desk, but also behind the scenes to make sure your time in the library is great. One of those people is our Technical Services Associate Gaby Lagos. Gaby has worked at the library for 5 years, and volunteered at the library before joining our staff. She splits her time between repairing books, maintaining the magazine collection, working the desk, and a thousand other tasks that help make this library the place to be. Read on to learn more about Gaby, her accomplishments, and what brought her to this library.  ​

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Gaby was born in Huancayo, a mountain town in Peru, and grew up in Lima, Peru. As a child she wanted to be an architect, and went on to study Industrial Engineering in Lima-Peru. After moving to the valley about 10 years ago, she studied Early Childhood Education at CMC and had a career as an early childhood educator and assistant kindergarten teacher. Gaby has a passion for kids and for learning. “I remember in a Montessori classroom between the ages of 3 and 5, in Lima, one of the youngest students did not speak, neither at home nor at school and thanks to some riddles that I read to him frequently, the boy was able to memorize one of them about the penguin and one day he began to recite it. It was an unforgettable moment in my life.”

Gaby understands the power of kids books. One of her favorite tasks at the library is creating the children’s book bundles, sets of books that cover a certain topic, subject, or genre. Her own three favorite children’s books are “Bird Hugs” by Ged Adamson, “Un beso para cada noche” by Ana Galán, and “One Snowy Night” by Christina Butler. 

When asked to describe her career in three words, she said “Knowledge, Community & Learning.” While all of that definitely describes the spirit of libraries, as learning is one of Gaby’s treasured values, we asked her what the most important lesson was that she has learned. Her response: 
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“At home, I like to keep family traditions, such as Easter. I remember as a child, my cousins ​​and I would spend time watching Old Testament movies like “Ben Hur” and “The 10 Commandments” on Easter. This year we watched “The Lives of Don Bosco” and “Saint Martin de Porres”. I remember many years ago I tried to watch “The Life of Santa Rita de Casia” with my daughters, but it was impossible. The movie lasted 4 hours, and what really happened was that one of my daughters saw the beginning with me, my other daughter approached in the middle and my other daughter accompanied me at the end. Since that day I received one of the great lessons of my life, knowing that things don't always go as planned and that's okay.”

Fun Facts About Gaby: 

• She is married with 3 daughters.
• If she could be anywhere in the world right now, she would want to be at the Bologna Children Book Fair in Italy. 
• She won an American Library Association Award in 2022, the Lucy Schweers Award for Excellence in Support Services. 
• She represented the Library at the 2022 Guadalajara Book Fair. 

Next time you are at the library, make sure to say hi to Gaby!