Month: May 2013

Recently, I received two great phone calls within a few weeks of each other.  The first was from Chapel Hill, NC, offering me the position of director at the Chapel Hill Public Library. The second was from the John Cotton Dana Award committee, letting me know that a project I spearheaded at Lawrence Public Library was selected to receive a 2013 John Cotton Dana Award.  If good things come in threes, I hope that Publisher’s Clearinghouse pops up on my Caller ID next!

The John Cotton Dana Award is called “the most prestigious award of the American Library Association.” Here’s a little more about it:

“The John Cotton Dana Award, provided in conjunction with the H.W. Wilson Foundation, the American Library Association and EBSCO Publishing, honors outstanding library public relations, whether a summer reading program, a year-long centennial celebration, fundraising for a new college library, an awareness campaign or an innovative partnership in the community.”

LPL received the award for our Banned Books Trading Card project, which we summarized for the judges:

“With seven collectible trading cards featuring art inspired by banned books and created by local artists, Lawrence Public Library’s Banned Books Trading Card project sought to raise awareness of Banned Books Week in a unique way, engage the local arts community, and bring wider exposure to the talented artists living and working in our community.  The project achieved these goals, garnered national media attention, and resulted in a few surprising outcomes that have given the project an extended life, long after the end of 2012’s Banned Books Week.”        Continue reading “OMG! We got a JCD!” →