The results are in! RRLC is pleased to announce the 2024 Library of the Year and Library All Star winners!
RRLC Library of the Year
| RRLC Academic Library of the Year: Drake Memorial Library, SUNY Brockport RRLC Public Library of the Year: Naples Library RRLC School Library of the Year: Churchville-Chili SHS & NGA Library |
| Drake Memorial Library: Drake Memorial Library is the vibrant heart of the academic community at SUNY Brockport, providing invaluable resources and support to students, staff, faculty, and community members alike. The library’s highly skilled and dedicated team of librarians go above and beyond, expertly assisting users with research, connecting faculty to essential course materials, and ensuring community members have access to the information they need. Drake Memorial Library’s unwavering dedication to serving the academic community, enriching the broader Western New York region, and fostering academic excellence and professional development make it a standout candidate for the 2024 RRLC Library of the Year award. Naples Library: While the public-facing mechanics of the library have engaged, involved, and supported our community, our other staff and trustee members have collaborated and worked incredibly hard to continue our growth! Behind the scenes, our circulation coordinator, John worked diligently to organize and catalog each of our 1,411 new materials independently, as well as developing a Drama Club program himself. And, certainly not least of us all, our trustees are incredible! Their involvement and seamless collaboration has contributed to how smoothly our library runs. Under the dedicated leadership of our Director, Kendyl Litwiller, we have enthusiastically cultivated a rural library that is MUCH MORE than books. We are a resource center. We are a safe space. We are a place a person can be without having to pay money. We are friends. We are here for you. We are a staple in our little community. <3 Churchville-Chili SHS & NGA Library: Our library seeks to be a safe and welcoming space for all. Our library aims to spark joy within our school community. There are a myriad of reasons students should feel joy in the library and we strive to exceed them all. One reason would be that the materials and services we provide for them are of interest and applicable to them. Students need to feel joy in the library, so they keep returning. Having the library be a joyous place is also essential because we know that outside of school, students may have several responsibilities – they may need to work to help provide for their families, babysit, they may have sports, and so on. The library should be a refuge for the school and the public. I often think of a quote that I’ve seen floating around the interwebs — ” libraries are one of the few public spaces where you’re allowed to exist without the expectation of spending any money,” and I think that – in and of itself – should spark joy in many people! |
RRLC 2024 Library All Star
Brandi Rozelle, Youth Services Librarian at Geneva Public Library Sara Schlinger, Adult Services Coordinator at Livonia Public Library ZuZu Boomer-Knapp, Youth Services Librarian at Parma Public Library Brandi Rozelle: Brandi has spearheaded a remarkable transformation of our library’s children’s floor, injecting it with dynamic vitality through her inventive programming, comprehensive services, thoughtfully curated collections, and unwavering optimism. Her commitment to cultivating an inclusive and inviting atmosphere, coupled with her boundless imagination, has rejuvenated the library and profoundly enriched our patrons’ experiences. Sara Schlinger: Sara is an absolutely dedicated worker with an extremely thorough understanding knowledge of how to keep a library functioning. They not only handle organizing all of our adult programming at Livonia, but also handle most of our materials processing and cataloging requests, while consistently stepping up to put out any and all fires that might flare up from day to day. She does all this with a cheerful attitude and a commitment towards making certain that both coworkers and patrons feel welcomed and comfortable in our library, and an enduring commitment to making certain we can extend a greater degree of services to a larger swathe of our community at all times (like signing up for library-specific ASL courses to better serve all our patrons.) I’m confident in saying that the Livonia Public Library would run significantly less smoothly without her presence and work ethic. ZuZu Boomer-Knapp: Zuzu is a very dedicated librarian, who is looking for innovative ways to reach youth within our capability. She has created a Homeschool Hour event that is well-attended and valued by all who attend. She creates interesting and engaging lessons each month on topics such as Would You Survive the Oregon Trail, Human Body, Earthquakes, Medieval Times, Solar Ovens and more. In any given month, she offers twenty or more events for children, tweens & teens. Zuzu is committed to diversity and that is reflected in her collection development. She spends lots of time making sure that all groups are represented in our library. It is amazing what she accomplishes as one person leading two departments. What I admire the most about her is her constant effort and passion to try new things and the rapport she has built with children, teens, and caregivers. She is someone in our building who is trusted and appreciated by patrons and staff alike. |
Congratulations to all of this years’ winners!
