Max Gonzalez Burdick

2023 Ken Haycock Award Recipient

My name is Max Gonzalez Burdick. My love for libraries began when my father would drop me off at the Los Angeles Public Library in Downtown L.A. as a teen. It's here where I would do my thing, relax or work on projects with colleagues. During my undergrad years, I attended UC Davis, where I graduated with a Bachelor's degree in both Communication and English Literature; furthering my future in the library and informational world. I started the MLIS program in Fall of 2019, after having volunteered at my local public library in 2018. During 2020 through 2022, I joined the Special Library Association Student Chapter at SJSU where I started as the 2nd Blog Assistant to become the Blog Director for the committee. My love for libraries expanded even more when I began working as a full-time Library Technician in 2020, later promoting to Library Program Coordinator in 2021 and finally becoming the Library Branch Manager in 2022 at the military base in the Marine Corps. I am so proud of all of the achievements during my time here at SJSU, including various scholarships, a perfect 4.0 GPA, and all of the many sacrifices my family and I made, to make all of this possible. With that said, I encourage anyone interested in studying library or information science to pursue their dreams and make them a reality.