I Love My Librarian Award
NELA Member At Large 1
What is the I Love My Librarian Award?
This national award recognizes librarians working in public, school, college, community college, and university libraries for their outstanding public service contributions. Among last year's inspiring recipients are Melissa Corey, a school librarian in St. Joseph, MO, who distributes free books and prizes to her school community at her biannual book fairs; Gladys López-Soto, a librarian at the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez whose mastery of intellectual property has helped students and residents turn ideas into reality; and Mychal Threets, a former public librarian in Fairfield, CA, who lights up social media with viral videos spreading library joy.
You can read more about all ten of these librarians and their unexpected stories in The Secret Life of Librarians, an exciting new initiative to promote the award from the award's sponsor, The Carnegie Corporation of New York.
ALA member leaders will select ten librarians from over 1,000 nominations submitted by library users around the country, and each will receive $5,000 in recognition of their outstanding public service. The Association will honor award recipients at the I Love My Librarian Award ceremony at the 2025 LibLearnX event in Phoenix. Recipients will also receive complimentary LibLearnX registration as part of their award packages as well as a $750 travel stipend to attend.
Nominations for the 2025 award will be accepted online through September 30, 2024.
What can you do to promote the award?
This is one of ALA's most visible awards to the general public and has major impacts for the libraries and communities it touches, with coverage of these librarians' extraordinary efforts featured in numerous local news stories, as well as national media like the Associated Press, the New York Times, Good Morning America, USA Today, and many others. Now more than ever, it's essential to uncover and elevate the positive testimonials that demonstrate why librarians and libraries of all kinds benefit their communities.
Having a large nomination pool is critical to selecting librarians who have powerful stories and reflect the diversity of the profession, representing a variety of backgrounds, library types, and regions. We hope you will highlight the award via your social media, website, newsletter, or wherever else you think people can be reached. Nominators tend to be library patrons-parents, students, faculty, community partners, etc.-as well as colleagues and coworkers of the nominees; sharing the call for nominations with your members helps them to promote it to their networks and communities.
We have many free promotional tools available on the award website, including social media graphics and sample posts, printable flyers and postcards, and a newsletter blurb to make it easy for libraries and library supporters to promote the award in their communities. Below is also some newsletter copy you can include in your email outreach:
Nominations open for the I Love My Librarian Award
ALA invites library users across America to submit nominations for the I Love My Librarian Award through September 30, 2024! Ten outstanding librarians will receive $5,000 and the honor of a lifetime, including being celebrated on stage at ALA's LibLearnX Conference in Phoenix in January 2025. Honorees will also receive complimentary LibLearnX registration as part of their award packages as well as a $750 travel stipend. We know librarians of all kinds go above and beyond to serve and educate their patrons every day, so please spread the word in your community about this life-changing opportunity! Promotional tools including graphics, social media copy, printable materials, and a sample press release are all available on the award website.
Thanks,
Aaron Coutu-Jones
Member-at-Large
Aaron J. Coutu-Jones, MLIS (he/him)
Member-at-Large
