Director

Elizabeth Hoover de Galvez is an adult services librarian at the Des Moines Public Library where she is responsible for programming and outreach for the Central Library. She records a monthly program called Spark Stories to give individuals who devote themselves to fostering community an opportunity to share their motivations for their work and their vision for the community. She has also begun an annual collaboration with Latinx Immigrants of Iowa to invite Des Moines residents to learn about and be involved in creating a Day of the Dead altar in the Library each November. 

She is a member and steward with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

In her spare time she serves as a neighborhood ambassador in North Liberty, where she resides, as part of a citywide initiative to strengthen the bonds among neighbors and to amplify the voices of residents in communication with City leaders.

In addition, she and her husband own Galvez & Hoover Services, the entity behind the annual Iowa City Latino Festival.

Elizabeth earned her bachelor’s degree in interdepartmental health studies and master’s in Library and Information Science, with fellowship in digital libraries, from the University of Iowa.