Michael Alvarez is the Bronx Library Center Network Manager of The New York Public Library. The Bronx Library Center Network is comprised of the Bronx Library Center, serving as the main library in the Bronx, and 11 neighborhood branch libraries. Alvarez has been with The New York Public Library for 24 years and has worked in 32 different locations within the system.
He has a bachelors degree in psychology from Baruch College and a Master of Library Science from Pratt Institute. Alvarez started as a page in 1984 at the Webster Branch and worked his way up through various positions, such as a part-time clerk at the Yorkville Branch and then as a trainee at the Inwood Branch. Upon graduating from library school he became a librarian at the Riverside Branch Library, commuting to and from work on roller skates during the mini-transit strike. He later served as Supervising Librarian at the Washington Heights and Hamilton Grange branches. In 2001 Alvarez was appointed Regional Librarian of the Northern Manhattan Region, overseeing 5 branches. Then in 2003 he became the District Librarian of Northern Manhattan and Harlem, overseeing 9 branches.
In 2005 he was named Chief Librarian of the Bronx Library Center, which opened its doors to the public on January 17, 2006. The next year, along with his team at the Bronx Library Center, Alvarez won the Librarys Maher Stern Award for Excellence in Community Service. In September 2008 he assumed his current position as the Bronx Library Center Network Manager.
