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Annual Awards Winners
This year, for the first time, CLA honored our award and scholarship winners at an Award Dinner Gala on the Friday before our annual conference. Below are brief introductions of the honorees. Congratulations to all our winners!
MEMBER OF THE YEAR: Anne Cain
The Member of the Year Award recognizes an individual member of the California Library Association for his or her outstanding contributions, leadership and achievements in service to California libraries.
This year's recipient led her library to excellence amid budget cuts and diminishing County resources. She became County Librarian one month after the library lost an election for a parcel tax to increase library hours in 1998. Since that time, she built consensus, forged community partnerships, and created a strong, cohesive county library system that reflects the diverse communities the library serves. Under her leadership, six new libraries have been built or moved into new facilities, and six others have been renovated, and library usage has increased.
She has been described as resourceful, ingenious, and creative. Some examples:
- In 2004/05, facing a $250,000 budget shortfall, she raised over $250,000 in donations and $350,000 in grants to support the library. A library sponsored 5K Fun Run drew over 400 runners and support from library unions and local businesses!
- The 2005 county State Fair exhibit featured library services and won a silver medal.
- With a small IT staff, she has been able to offer online library cards that allow new users access to the library resources remotely, wireless "hot spots," digital audiobooks, and expanded computer training.
- The library's literacy program, Project Second Chance, is one of the most successful in the State.
Her remarkable achievements were recognized by her Board of Supervisors when the library won the 2005 Departmental Award of Excellence.
In CLA, she has chaired the Legislative Committee, the 2005 Awards Committee and is currently a member of the Nominations Committee. She served on the Executive Committee of the Proposition 81 Campaign, and worked tirelessly to generate support for the library bond measure. We are pleased to recognize Anne Cain, Library Director of the Contra Costa County Library, as the 2006 CLA Member of the Year.
PRESIDENT'S AWARD: Alan Smith
The CLA President's Award recognizes outstanding contributions, leadership and achievement in support of California libraries by a Trustee, Friend, Elected Official or other layperson. The President's Award for 2006 goes to Alan Smith.
Alan is recognized for his tireless advocacy for public libraries in Contra Costa County and throughout California. He is a Contra Costa County Library Commissioner.
As Chair of the Prop. 81 campaign in Contra Costa County, Alan gave over 25 presentations in 2006 and obtained over 50 endorsements for Prop 81 from groups including the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors, 18 of the 19 City Councils, 11 school boards, a community college district, and numerous organizations and leaders in the community. He met with other local campaigns to provide assistance and advice on grassroots advocacy.
Since 2000, Alan has worked with CALTAC and the California State Library to present board effectiveness training for over 100 library boards and commissions in California. A frequent and effective speaker at meetings of public agencies, Alan has generously shared his talent and expertise in advocacy with fellow library commissioners and board members. He is a remarkable man, who demonstrates every day what a committed, motivated and articulate community advocate can do for libraries.
CYRM PRIMARY CATEGORY: Michael Garland - "Miss Smith's Incredible Storybook"
Each year, one of the CYRM winners is recognized at the CLA annual conference. This year's honoree was Michael Garland. On Michael's website he reveals that he wasn't the smartest one in his class or the best athlete in any sport, but when they passed out the paper and crayons, it was his day to shine. His teachers would never hold up his math test and proudly display it to the rest of the class, but everything he drew would be shown to the class and given a place of honor on the bulletin board. And that's when he started to think he might become an artist. A complete listing of the 2006 CYRM winners is available at http://californiayoungreadermedal.org/winners.htm.
JOHN AND PATRICIA BEATTY AWARD: Dorothy Kupcha Leland - "The Balloon Boy of San Francisco"
Dorothy didn't have a TV when she was growing up and reading was a really big thing in her family. She used to ride her bike up to the library, filling her bicycle baskets with books. She was always intrigued with the idea of writing and really enjoys the research. She ran across the story of Ready Gates, the young San Francisco newsboy who took flight, while working on another book. We are glad that she wanted to learn more about Ready, and now we have "The Balloon Boy of San Francisco" and Dorothy Kupcha Leland, winner of this year's Beatty Award.
CLA SCHOLARSHIP FOR MINORITY STUDENTS IN MEMORY OF EDNA YELLAND: Africa Hands, Pearl Ly and Melanee Vicedo
Africa Hands is in her second semester at San Jose State's MLIS program. She lives in the Bay Area and currently works part-time for Contra Costa County Library. As a child, Africa frequented the Richmond Public Library Main and Point Richmond Branches. She fondly remembers participating in summer reading programs and spending lots of time among the stacks discovering the treasures within.
Africa comes to librarianship from higher education where she worked for several years in admissions and academic advising. Her experiences providing information and services to prospective and current students led her to explore a library career and information science. Africa graduated from Golden Gate University with an MA in Psychology, concentration in Counseling; and University of California at Davis with a BA in Psychology.
Pearl Ly is a native Southern Californian with Chinese-Vietnamese heritage. She received her B.A. in Environmental Studies from the University of San Diego (USD). As an undergraduate, Pearl was an Americorps Volunteer and USD Student Co-Director of Community Service. After graduation, Pearl served in the Peace Corps as a natural resources specialist in Central Honduras. In addition to providing environmental education workshops, Pearl supported a forestry school library data management project and helped establish the first library in a rural community elementary school. Her professional goals include becoming a community college librarian and/or an information specialist for non-profit groups.
Melanee Vicedo is a student at UCLA's Information Studies program. After emigrating from the Philippines at age 7, she was introduced to her local library and the branch became one of the most useful tools into understanding her new home. From the children's section to the university stacks, her appreciation for the services and knowledge residing in libraries has grown exponentially. She received her B.A. in Education from Cal State Los Angeles. She currently works as a Library Assistant at UCLA's Biomedical Library and has a summer internship at the Marina Del Rey branch of the L.A. County Public Libraries. She has worked with UCLA's LGBT Library and the Los Angeles Filipino American Library and was recently elected co-president of the ALA Student Chapter. Melanee will graduate in Summer 2007 and anticipates working as an academic librarian in the community college level.
THE BEGUN SCHOLARSHIP: Jody Meza
CLA has a second scholarship, the Begun Scholarship, named in memory of former librarian Betty Begun. This scholarship supports continuing library school students who have demonstrated a commitment to becoming children's or young adult librarians in a California public library.
The 2006 Begun Scholarship winner is Jody Meza. Jody is a student at SJSU. Her local library in Orland, CA was always her favorite place to visit. She never outgrew her love of the library and as a high school student, she became a volunteer. It was the assignments helping the Children's Librarian that most influenced her decision to work in Youth Services. She was delighted to be hired as the Children's Librarian at the Orland Free Library in 2003 and she believes that earning her degree will allow her to offer the children and young adults of Orland the best programs and services.
CLA REFERENCE SERVICES PRESS FELLOWSHIP - Sarah Lehmann
The CLA Reference Service Press Fellowship encourages college seniors, college graduates and beginning library school students to prepare for a career in reference/information service librarianship.
One fellowship of $3,000 is awarded annually. The funding for this fellowship is provided by Reference Service Press, a California-based publishing company.
This year's winner is Sarah Lehmann. Sarah is currently a first-year student in UCLA's Library and Information Science Master's program. She first became interested in librarianship through a student job at Occidental's library reference desk. What she loves about librarianship is that it unites her interests, skills, and values in the service of something which she finds both meaningful and rewarding: enabling the greatest possible access to the best possible information.
She is particularly interested in academic reference, library outreach and marketing, and thinking about ways to ensure that libraries are as user-friendly as possible.
AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE AS A PUBLIC LIBRARIAN: Lynn Whitehouse
This award was established in 1994 by CLA's Public Library Section and provides recognition to a librarian who, in a public library setting, has demonstrated achievement in library programming, community outreach, range and depth of knowledge about books or other library materials, or in service delivery.
This year's winner is Lynn Whitehouse.
Lynn's success in developing high quality programming, attracting new audiences to the library and building lasting partnerships with local organizations and community groups is remarkable. Thanks in large part to Lynn's creative talents, organizational skills and grant-writing expertise, the library has been able to offer a wide variety of thought-provoking and entertaining programs for audiences of all ages and backgrounds. Her programming expertise is a major asset to the library.
ACCESS, COLLECTIONS AND TECHNICAL SERVICES SECTION AWARD: Patricia French
This award acknowledges superior achievement by an individual in those areas of the library profession that encompass access, collections, and technical services. The ACTSS Award recognizes colleagues who have made outstanding contributions in those areas of librarianship that have been especially challenged by the need for innovation and adaptation in dealing with rapidly changing technology and work environments.
This year's winner is Patricia French. Pat served the California library community for many years, providing leadership within the University of California and beyond. Pat's contributions to the library field are numerous She has served as a trainer, was President of ACTSS in 2000 and was one of the initial group from the UC campuses that spent a year setting up the foundation for the Shared Cataloging Program. She was instrumental in setting up and testing the actual process of receiving the MARC records at the campuses. Three years after the records started to flow, she wrote a well-received article for Serials Review on the Shared Cataloging Program. She has also been a multi-year editor for the NASIG proceedings. Her contributions are numerous, but embody outstanding achievements in all four criteria for the ACTSS award.
This past summer, Patricia French left California for a new life as head of technical services for the Multnomah County Library in Portland, Oregon. This award thanks her for the many, many contributions in California.
OUTSTANDING LIBRARIAN IN SUPPORT OF LITERACY AWARD: John Adams
Since its inception in 2003, the Literacy Section has sponsored an annual award for Outstanding Librarian In Support of Literacy.
This year's winner is John Adams. John has been working in libraries since 1971, starting as an undergraduate Librarian at University of Illinois. After receiving his MLS in 1973, he worked as a branch librarian for Los Angeles Public Library until 1978. From LAPL he moved back to the Midwest to be the director of the Moline, IL Library and then to Tampa, FL as the Director until 1991 when he came to the Orange County Public Library where he has remained.
ZOIA HORN INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM AWARD: Tarnel Abbott
This Award honors Californians who have made significant contributions to intellectual freedom in California. The committee selects nominees based on recent or important lifetime contributions to intellectual freedom.
The Zoia Horn Intellectual Freedom Award honors California librarian Zoia Horn, who in 1973 chose to serve time in jail rather than betray confidential patron information. Ms. Horn's experience sets an example of integrity over personal comfort, and has been a model discussed in library literature and shared with generations of library students everywhere. A key goal of the Zoia Horn Intellectual Freedom Award is to celebrate and honor other selfless examples of commitment to intellectual freedom that help preserve free speech in an open society.
This year's winner is Tarnel Abbott, a reference librarian at Richmond Public Library and a passionate about intellectual freedom. Ms. Abbott has also been a children's librarian at Richmond. She works tirelessly to promote intellectual freedom. In addition to annual Banned Books displays, she has partnered with organizations to provide films and lectures regarding freedom to read.
PREXCELLENCE AWARDS
The PRExcellence Awards honor the creative side of California's libraries. The awards are to showcase the materials that libraries produce in the areas of marketing, advertising, public relations and all-together communications.
There are four categories that entries can be entered into: Programming (social, cultural, educational or political); Advocacy (fundraising, etc.); News and Information (service listing, calendars, websites, etc.) and Other (everything else that doesn't fit into the other categories.) Within each of these categories there are budget categories (based on the library's budget) as well. A "Best of Show" award is also selected.
BEST OF SHOW
- Whittier Public Library Foundation - One City One Book, Whittier Reads: Farewell to Manzanar material
Less than $5 million Category:
PROGRAMMING
- Whittier Public Library One City One Book, Whittier Reads: Farewell to Manzanar material
NEWS & INFO (tie)
- San Jose State University, Recruiting and Development materials
- South San Francisco Public Library Small Business Brochure
ADVOCACY
- San Francisco Public Library Book Sale Material
OTHER (tie)
- San Bruno Public Library brand campaign
- Victoria Garden Library Cultural Center Opening materials
$5-10 Million Category:
PROGRAMMING
- Kern County Library One Book, One Bakersfield: Epitaph for a Peach
NEWS & INFO
- Santa Clara City Public Library Teen Net
OTHER
- Livermore Public Library Recruiting Brochure
More than $10 Million Category:
PROGRAMMING
- County of Los Angeles Public Library Homework Centers material
NEWS & INFO
- Contra Costa County Early Literacy Services Information
ADVOCACY
- Oakland Public Library Fundraising brochure
OTHER
- San Diego County Library Youth Services Exchange/internal tool
Again, congratulations to all our winners! And a very special thank you to Danis Kreimeier for planning and coordinating the inaugural awards dinner gala! This would not have happened without her and amazing staff.
- Gala Slide Show! (3,640 k)
Posted on November 22, 2006 7:42 AM | Permalink