Now's the time to submit your nominations for the 2021 Ricki Brown Librarian of the Year Award, made possible thanks to the Friends of the Abilene Public Library. This award was established in honor of Ricki V. Brown, former City Librarian who led the Abilene Public Library from 1998 until her untimely passing in December 2013. This award was created to honor her memory by recognizing a librarian from the community that has gone above and beyond in their duties as a librarian, helping to make a great impact in the community they serve.
All librarians are eligible to receive this award regardless of where they work in our community. Public libraries, school libraries, academic libraries, even special libraries, all librarians currently working in these fields are eligible to be nominated for this award. The face of the what librarians have had to do has changed greatly in the state of the world we live in with COVID being present, so taking that into account as to how they've served their community would also be of importance.
To submit your nomination, CLICK HERE to access the form online. You will need a valid email address to start with. Once you've submitted your email, you'll then enter information about the person you're nominating. Such will include how the nominee encourages reading, demonstrates value for libraries, enhances library services, promotes a positive library climate, and what new program they've developed within the past 18 months for their library.
Nominations will be accepted until October 10. All nominations will then be reviewed by committee from the Friends of the Library, who will then choose the winner to announce the following month at their membership drive meeting.
Past award recipients include:
- 2014: Teresa Ellis, Associate Professor and Theological Librarian at Hardin-Simmons University
- 2015: Kristy Compton, Librarian for the Abilene Independent School District
- 2016: Alyssa Crow, Children's Librarian for the Abilene Public Library, South Branch
- 2017: Denise Bruner, Early Childhood Librarian for the Abilene Independent School District
- 2018: Eddy Smith, Librarian and Executive Director of the Abilene Library Consortium
- 2019: Tremain Jackson, Librarian & Technology/Multimedia and Social Media Manager for the Abilene Public Library
- 2020: Janis C. Test, Former Librarian and Information Services Manager for the Abilene Public Library