Maria Dones, a graduate student in the USF M.A. in Library and Information Science (MLIS) program, was just awarded a prestigious . Maria Dones is a Youth Services Assistant at the Palm Harbor Library. She has a passion for community building through fandom, creativity, and uplifting marginalized voices. She also writes YA fiction and has short stories published in Gingerbread House, Cicada, and Bourbon Penn. Her Puerto Rican roots inspire her work, both as a librarian and writer.