Winners of 2007 ACLA Awards

ACLA Board Excellence Awards

Excellence in Partnerships With Schools:
Shaler - Jazz Extravaganza - For the past 3 years Shaler North Hills Library has been celebrating Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM) with the Shaler Area School District, Pittsburgh Public Schools, North Allegheny School District and the Afro-American Music Institute. There were student musicians, Charles Austin a professional musician and Bob Studebaker program host for WDUQ - FM. The performances were both by students and professional musicians as well as, photo exhibitions.

Excellence in Service Provided to the Underserved:
Bethel Park Library - Rays of Hope Program - Bethel Park began a partnership with the homeless shelters throughout Allegheny County to provide library cards to residents and with the help of a State grant, libraries inside each shelter. Library staff also presented numerous programs in each of the shelters as part of the Pennsylvania One Book, Every Young Child. Other programs have also been presented throughout the year.

Excellence in Customer Service:
Scott Township Library - Sherry Small - Sherry is responsible for the children's department at Scott Township library and has redone the collection, increased programming implemented a plan to move part of the collection to an area that is more accessible to patrons and increased special programming. She has remained in constant contact with the local newspapers to publicize library activities and has logged over 150 volunteer hours at the library to make sure that her programs and children's activities are well received. She also includes the input of children and their parents in her programming decisions. Scott is a small library with a limited budget, but she has managed to bring more children and adults into the library with programs such as her Harry Potter Evening where over 100 people were in attendance. The library has never had a program that attracted that many people.

ACLA Annual Awards

Local Elected Official of the Year:
Dave Fawcett - Oakmont - County Council. Mr. Fawcett has shown great support of public libraries throughout his career. He was one of the key advocates to help get a bond referendum going for the new addition to the Oakmont Carnegie Library. He also serves on the board of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

State Elected Official of the Year:
Matt Smith - South Hills Libraries - State Representative. Mr. Smith is a passionate supporter of public libraries. He has advocated for improved library funding and voted to preserve the Keystone Fund for libraries, parks and conservation. He is also involved in local library programming as both a presenter and a sponsor.

Volunteer of the Year:
James Jamieson - Mt. Lebanon Library - Volunteer. Mr. Jamieson is a long time library patron who is using his time in retirement to volunteer at the library. He processes books, weeds the collection, inter-shelved the mystery and fiction collection and various other tasks. His activities help the library function more effectively and provide a higher level of service.

Community Partner of the Year:
Art Institute of Pittsburgh - for their two year project on website development with public libraries through out Allegheny County. The Art Institute developed a template that can be used and updated by any library in the county. This template addresses user need issues by making information easy to find on the websites and helps those libraries with limited staff to have a professionally developed website with a clean uncluttered appearance. The Art Institute also kept community political leaders informed about this program as an example of county-wide collaboration and cooperation.