From ‘cool’ to diversity champions: 10 librarians receive the I Love My Librarian Award

NEW YORK, N.Y. – A librarian in California who champions diversity and one in Texas who makes librarians look “cool” are among 10 recipients of the I Love My Librarian Award.

The awards announced Thursday by the American Library Association and the Carnegie Corporation of New York honour “exceptional public service” and include a $5,000 cash prize for each winner. Librarians were nominated by patrons, with more than 1,300 submissions turned in for 2015.

Sylvia Cieply of the Otto A. Fischer School in Orange, California, was praised for adding a wide range of books to her school’s collection, from career guides to ones with LGBT themes. A nominator at the University of North Texas in Denton liked Doug Campbell’s “smart/kind combo” and added that he makes “the library and librarians look cool!”

Several winners were cited for their work with low income residents, including Leslie Koch of the Armstrong Elementary School in Eastover, North Carolina; April Roy of the Kansas City Public Library in Missouri; and Elizabeth Rumery of the University of Connecticut in Groton.

The other recipients were Diane Brown of the New Haven Free Public Library in Connecticut; Dona J. Helmer of the College Gate Elementary School Library in Anchorage, Alaska; Courtney P. Kincaid, formerly of the Hood County Library in Granbury, Texas; Dr. Christopher A. Shaffer of Troy University in Alabama; and Shugana Williams of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College in Perkinston.

The award was established in 2008.