Blatant Berry: Celebrating Librarians
They create the future of the public library
John N. Berry III, Editor-in-Chief -- Library Journal, 12/15/2005
It was inspiring! It came at just the right time. The annual reception for the New York Times Librarian Awards was the cure for the blues that had begun to take over my psyche. The leaves had fallen; a cold, icy blast had replaced the late November breezes of Indian summer; winter was here. Worse than the weather, fools in a think tank named after Da Vinci were predicting the demise of libraries. Google had just revealed that rental revenue might be behind its drive to digitize everything in libraries. Bright, new, young librarians with fresh MLS degrees were finding it very tough to get professional jobs.
The Times awards are an annual celebration of dedicated librarianship that have grown from their initial regional focus into a national exaltation. The winning librarians, 27 of them this year, hail from across America: a county librarian from Idaho, a teen librarian from San Antonio, a library assistant from rural Connecticut, and a children’s librarian from Santa Monica, CA. (see the winners). Their stories shored up my conviction that the public library is still urgently needed in America. More important, they confirmed that librarians use incredible creativity and innovation to meet the diverse needs of their users, with severely limited resources.
For example, winner Frieda Lee-Fai Ling established programs and information sessions for the aging folks who come to the Glendale Public Library in Arizona. She worked in partnership with the Alzheimer’s Association there.
Kate Lyons pushed the bureaucracy to rejuvenate the Wakefield Branch of the New York Public Library in an impoverished neighborhood in the Bronx. After getting the hole in the ceiling repaired, she created a community garden on the property. Her nominator told the Times judges that Kate “is well-versed in library policies without being too much of a disciplinarian.”
Bina Williams works as a children’s librarian at the Borroughs Library in Bridgeport, Connecticut’s economically deprived fine old wreck of a city. The adolescent who nominated her said, “I love her because she knows what book is right for me.”
Kay Morrow, a coal miner’s daughter, runs the McCreary County Public Library in Whitley City, KY. It began as “a couple of shelves in the basement of an aging city hall.” In one of the poorest counties in America, that library now thrives as the information center for both town and county.
Julia Hanson works in the Virtual Library at the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, NC. It has grown from a small room to an entire floor there, ensuring that patrons who want computer skills, even the ones who were embarrassed to ask at first, get answers to all their questions.
It dawned on me that while these stories show the dedication and commitment to service of these fine librarians and are worthy of celebration, they are not unique.
I realized during the presentation of these awards that we were celebrating not just the dedication of these superb librarians but the future of the public library in America, a future being guaranteed by the imaginative, single-minded service and efforts of thousands of public librarians in every corner of the United States. They are the proof that the public library fills important needs of Americans and will always be there to meet those needs.
