Librarians of the Year!!

I am blogging today, not to whine and rant, but to celebrate!

The management staff of the Cedar Rapids Public Library are the proud recipients of the 2009 Librarian of the Year award from Library Journal. This award is given to a librarian for "outstanding achievement and accomplishments reflecting the loftiest service goals of the library profession." This is the first year that Library Journal has awarded this to a team of librarians.

I am so proud of the management staff at CRPL! This is a nationally recognized award and a much deserved one at that. As I've mentioned multiple times over in this blog, I worked for Cedar Rapids for 3 years before landing over here at Hiawatha. Many of the people in this photo were supervisors and mentors to me.

One in particular, Tamara Glise, who is currently serving as interim director was the one who saw enough zest and talent in a then 21-year-old, and gave me a shot at proving myself in a larger library. She has truly been a mentor to me in this profession and a wonderful friend as well! Not to mention a compassionate and dedicate leader to her staff.

The staff at Cedar Rapids Public Library has a long road ahead of them in terms of rebuilding. But they have proven themselves time and time again over the last 6 months with the challenges that they have already overcome.

So here's my toast to the management team (and staff) of the Cedar Rapids Public Library...congratulations on a job well done!

For a link to the Library Journal article: http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6625169.html&