LIBRARY STORIES: BOOKS ON THE BACKROADS

In association with the Santa Fe International Literary Festival

A special event in celebration of National Library Week 2026

3:00 PM Film Screening:

Library Stories: Books on the Backroads is a film about New Mexico's rural libraries. It’s about villages and Pueblo communities, their histories and their people, where their libraries are, and what their libraries mean. Rural people across our country know their libraries are essential to the educational and social fabric of their communities.

55 minutes. Released 2023

Produced & Directed by Mary Lance and Ben Daitz

Watch the trailer and learn more at newdealfilms.com/library-stories.

4:00 PM Q & A:

Discussion with Film Directors Mary Lance and Ben Daitz, and Representatives of New Mexico Rural Library Initiative, Aspen Coriz Romero and Shel Neymark.

Mary Lance is an award winning independent filmmaker. In 1980, in New York, she created New Deal Films, Inc. to produce independent documentaries including ARTISTS AT WORK: A FILM ON THE NEW DEAL ART PROJECTS (1981), DIEGO RIVERA: I PAINT WHAT I SEE (1989), and short films for the Public Art Fund, the Smithsonian, and other museums and arts organizations. She also worked extensively as an archival film researcher for film and television. Learn more at newdealfilms.com/marylance.

Ben Daitz is emeritus professor of family and community medicine at the University of New Mexico. He has written for The New York Times, The Atlantic, Undark and Eclectica, and his novel, Delivery, was named to the best of the Southwest. He is also a multi-award winning documentary filmmaker.

Aspen Coriz Romero is an essential fellow with the New Mexico Rural Library Initiative, advancing library equity across New Mexico by strengthening rural and small libraries via research, resource development, and strategic outreach. Aspen regularly coordinates library site visits and produces detailed reports and ethnographic write-ups to document local programming and community impact. Follow Aspen and her library experiences by signing up for the NMRLI newsletter.

Shel Neymark is the Director of New Mexico Rural Library Initiative, which advocates on behalf of roughly 60 libraries in small villages and tribal communities throughout the state. Shel's unwavering dedication to rural libraries across New Mexico has earned him the title of 2025 True Hero by New Mexico Magazine.

This event is presented in partnership with and made possible by the Santa Fe International Literary Festival.

Santa Fe Public Library programs are made possible by the support from Friends of the Santa Fe Public Library.

For accommodations such as translations, ASL interpreters, or disability needs, please email library@santafenm.gov or call the Library.