Miriam Quiros-Laso is new manager of village library

By Gary Alan Ruse….

Miriam Quiros-Laso is pictured in the village library’s main room.

The Palmetto Bay Branch of the Miami-Dade Library System has a new manager, Miriam Quiros-Laso, who began her new position on Apr. 4.

Quiros-Laso, who previously was at the Fairlawn Branch, at SW Eighth Street and 63rd Avenue in West Miami, said she has several reasons to be pleased to be at the village’s library, located at 17641 Old Cutler Rd.

“I like the fact that it’s in a park, and a very good community,” she said. “The residents are active users of the branch. What I’ve noticed about this library is that it’s very family oriented. You have a lot of residents who come in with their families. They want activities and any kind of program that we offer. You’ll see the little children walking in with their moms or with their nannies, the students coming in to use the computers. The atmosphere is nice, it’s very beautiful.”

Quiros-Laso said that she has worked at a number of library branches in different locations and thinks that the interaction between the community and the Palmetto Bay branch is special. She sees a lot of participation in the various clubs the library offers.

“We have a young adult book club and an adult book club, that both meet once a month,” Quiros-Laso said. “We have a knitting and crochet club that meets twice a month and we have an Italian club that meets twice a month as well. We have the Children’s Story Time. I’m going to be presenting one of the children’s programs.

“We have the Reading Ready Story Times, which is one of our library initiatives. We’ll be offering the Toddler Story Times, which is for children ages 2 and 3. We’ll also be offering the Pre-School Story Time, which is for children 3 to 5. And we’ll have the Family Story Time which will be on the second Tuesday of every month.”

In 2010 she went to South America representing the public library system as part of an exchange program.

“A group of us traveled to Argentina and presented our system and the programs that we offer here, and in exchange a delegation came here and we’ve been networking,” Quiros-Laso said. “Something we’re going to be celebrating this year, all year long, is the 40th birthday of the public library system.”

More information about the library’s programs and activities can be found on the official website at www.mdpls.org, if you click on “Find a Library,” then “Palmetto Bay” and the events link.

“There’s a lot of material available online that people can download to their iPads, their iPhones and their E-Books,” she said.

Quiros-Laso said that it’s more than just a job for her. The work and the people are an important part of her life.

“I’ve been working for the library system for 15 years,” she said. “I started right out of high school. I went up the ranks from parttimer, went to library school while working. It’s my family. We all work together. We all learn from each other.”


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