Growing up in El Paso as the youngest of four daughters and with parents who valued education, Gloria Meraz learned the power of libraries at an early age. Her mom took her to their local library every two weeks like clockwork. “I was not an athletic kid, so reading is where I found my strength and intellect,” she says. “By the time I got to high school, I was very interested in museums and cultural life and the world of the mind.”
Those interests solidified at Baylor University, where she was a student docent at the Armstrong Browning Library & Museum, home to a collection of works by 19th century poets Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. “I was asked to create exhibits using these artifacts,” she says. “It led me down this path of combining my love of museums and art with rare books and manuscripts.”
After earning a master’s degree in library and information science from the University of Texas at Austin, Meraz served as director of communication for the Texas Library Association for 17 years before spending five years as assistant state librarian. In 2021, she was named the director of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission and the official Texas State Librarian—the first Hispanic woman and first person of color in the role. “I’m so proud to represent Hispanics, and I know it would make my [late] parents proud,” she says.
Meraz supports the programs of more than 500 public library systems and the services they provide, including workforce development, bookmobiles, and family literary programs, and oversees the management of state archives. The library is home to “millions upon millions” of documents, photos, maps, and more dating to Texas as a colony as well as archival records of state agencies and the governor’s office—including the original sheet music for the official Texas Bluebonnet Song and Sam Houston’s letter recounting the Battle of San Jacinto. “The role of our agency—and any archival repository of primary materials—is to keep the truth and to maintain the integrity of the records and of history,” she says.
Texas Highways: What are your earliest memories of growing up in El Paso?
Gloria Meraz: I remember the sun as a big ball of fire in the sky against the landscape and the 180-degree sky you get there, especially in the evenings. I also remember the rainstorms because they were so infrequent. We’d get these little rivers flowing on the sidewalks, and as kids we were so enamored with it. We’d make paper boats and watch them race down the little rivers.
TH: Were there any particular books that made a big impact on you as a child?
GM: I remember reading The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck. I must have been 8 or 9, and it was my first “grown-up” book. It may have seemed a little dense for a child my age, but the librarian who gave it to me understood I was ready for something more. Reading it was a transformative experience, like, “I’m having grown-up thoughts about the world and people.” I felt stretched in a way that I had never felt before. To this day, I remember the feeling of empowerment.
TH: Was the leap from El Paso to Baylor in Waco a big one?
GM: All my older sisters went to Baylor, so when it was my turn to fly it was exciting. Just the 10-hour drive alone was a transition, from the brown desert landscape to seeing a few trees and then the rolling hills of Central Texas. Visually, it felt like a mystical place and a privilege to be there. It was very different than where I grew up—there weren’t a lot of Hispanic students at that time, and although it was a small liberal arts school of 12,000 back then, it felt huge to me. But it was one of the most welcoming places I’ve ever been in my life.
TH: As the state librarian, what books do you recommend?
GM: I feel compelled to talk about a couple of Texas authors. Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove—I don’t think literature gets any better. There’s just so much truth in that book. Paulette Jiles also comes to mind. She’s not a native Texan, but she lived in Utopia. She wrote News of the World, which was made into a movie with Tom Hanks. It’s an important book because it reiterates the value of accuracy and news and being connected to the world.
TH: What would surprise people about the services provided by Texas libraries?
GM: Most people think of libraries as the place where you get books off the shelf, and of course we do that. But there’s so much more. The best libraries reflect and respond to their communities, whether that’s an older population where you’ll see more services for senior citizens or a community with a lot of young families. Today libraries are also expected to be hubs for various services, including the delivery of health services—we’ve provided many grants to develop telehealth centers. Some libraries have programs for innovators wanting to start their own business, and some locations even have seed libraries, with actual seeds people can plant. It really is almost everything under the sun.
TH: What’s it like working with librarians around the state?
GM: My experience is that they care passionately about the people they serve. I was talking with a colleague about the kids in her elementary school. She’d been doing this for 40 years and she told me, “I know my kids. And I know when they check out certain books, something’s going on with them. So, I know they need a little extra attention and to get the counselor and we can just chat.” She showed love and concern without imposing. It’s about being attuned to what these kids are seeking, what questions they’re trying to answer.
TH: You recently said on a podcast that it’s impossible to be a forward-looking society if we don’t have access to libraries. Can you elaborate?
GM: Libraries show what we value. If we want to be leaders in any scientific or artistic endeavor, we have to understand the achievements of the past. We have to learn from others. We each have a limited lifespan, and the only way to maximize that is to benefit from what others think and what others have done. That’s the only way we can become bigger than ourselves. And as society becomes more complicated, as our systems become ever more difficult to manage, how do we continue to build? I don’t think there’s any more democratic way of doing that than with a library.
TH: Do you have other hobbies besides reading?
GM: I love to make jewelry and do mosaic tile work. Because I studied art history and handcrafts, I felt it was necessary to understand the technical aspect of how things are made. And the notion of working with my hands is very freeing to me and makes me appreciative of people who are truly artists.
TH: What are some of your favorite places in Texas to visit?
GM: San Antonio for all their wonderful tile shops. I also love Pedernales State Park, where I sometimes go just for the day. It’s very soothing and comforting and feels like Texas to me.
