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CLA Member of the Year Award

Award information | Current award recipient | Past award recipients

CLA Member of the Year Award

Award Information

The CLA Member of the Year Award recognizes an individual member of the California Library Association for her or his outstanding contributions, leadership, and achievements in service to California libraries.

The California Library community is invited and encouraged to submit nominations for this prestigious award.

Nomination information for the CLA's Member of the Year.

Submissions for the 2025 Award

The 2025 awards nomination period is closed.

Eligibility

  • Nominees must be current members of the California Library Association who have held membership for at least three years. If unsure, please contact the CLA Office for assistance no later than two weeks prior to the deadline.
  • Nominees must be, or must have been, working in a recognized library position or teaching in library education.
  • Elected officials of the CLA (president, vice-president, immediate past-president, treasurer, ALA chapter councilor, and Board members) are excluded from consideration during their term of office.
  • Nominators are not required to be CLA members.

How to Nominate

Using the online form, nominators should submit the following:

  • Evidence of the nominee’s significant contribution to the advancement of libraries and librarianship through professional activities. The statement should be specific, should include dates where appropriate, and should not exceed 500 words. Consideration for selection as Member of the Year includes:
    • Distinguished service to the profession
    • Active and innovative leadership in the development of libraries and the improvement of library service
    • Outstanding contributions in promoting libraries and bringing community, regional, or statewide recognition to libraries
  • Evidence of a nominee’s significant contribution to the California Library Association is optional but favorably regarded. If included, evidence should not exceed 500 words.
  • The membership committee may reach out to you to gather more information.

 

Further Information

  • The CLA Member of the Year Award is coordinated by the CLA’s Membership committee and supported by the CLA Awards Committee.
  • The CLA Membership Committee actively encourages members to nominate qualified candidates and seeks out qualified candidates to nominate on their own.
  • The committee reserves the right to not give an award if a qualified candidate is not found.
  • Nominees are evaluated on the basis of evidence and support presented in the nomination as to the nature and scope of the accomplishments and on the committee’s own knowledge of the nominee’s qualification. The committee is not expected to undertake research into the qualification of nominees.
  • Award recipients will be asked to submit a photograph to be used in award publicity.
  • If you have questions, please contact one of the Co-Chairs of CLA’s Membership Committee

 

Kate Hug, Oakland Public Library - Co-Chair
Joy Rodriguez, Fresno VA Medical Center - Co-Chair

 

2025 Award Recipient

Tina Lerno, Los Angeles Public Library

 

 

Tina is a Librarian for the Los Angeles Public Library’s digital content team, and has worked for LAPL for almost 10 years. Before becoming a librarian, Tina earned a degree in Art from UCLA and worked in the world of television animation doing color design on shows such as Harold and the Purple Crayon, Jackie Chan Adventures, and The Boondocks. Her past experience working in TV animation and graphic design provides her with a unique perspective on visual literacy and comics advocacy.

Tina joined CLA in 2010 when she was a student at SJSU’s iSchool and has been a member ever since. During her time in CLA, she has been a member of the conference Awards Committee, the Membership Committee, a co-founder of the Special Libraries Interest Group, and has been an active contributor to the annual conference. A common theme throughout Tina’s career has been mentoring other librarians, both those who are new to the profession and those who are looking to transition to a new area of librarianship. She is currently mentoring a library school student through LAPL’s mentoring program and has served in the past as a Conference Buddy for first-time attendees at CLA. She has presented at CLA on the topic of mentorship as a form of leadership and played a key role in developing and facilitating the 5-Minute Mentoring program at the conference for the last three years. Tina’s early involvement with CLA as a student was instrumental in helping her discover her career path and she loves sharing her enthusiasm for the organization with other members, especially students. Everyone who knows Tina, knows how much she loves a good conference and networking at CLA’s annual conference and meeting up with peers locally have been important to her throughout her career.

 During her term on the Membership Committee, Tina generously donated her time and graphic arts expertise to design the conference t-shirts and pins for the past three years. Despite her term on the Membership Committee ending in 2024, Tina volunteered to stay on this year to design the conference t-shirt once again. In early 2025, catastrophic fires in Southern California caused indescribable damage, displaced scores, and destroyed individual and collective senses of community.  Tina was among those directly impacted by the Eaton fire in Altadena and was displaced from her home and community for most of 2025. Throughout this time, she continued to show up for her CLA community, worked hard to create this year's conference t-shirt, and kept a sense of joy and hopefulness within her that she continuously shared with the Membership and Awards Committees. We appreciate Tina’s thoughtfulness, dedication, and willingness to continue contributing to the CLA community in the face of tragedy. For this and everything else, we are proud to celebrate Tina Lerno as CLA’s 2025 Member of the Year!