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AASL NEWS
For Immediate Release
June 10, 2002
Contact: Keidra Chaney
Phone: 312-280-4381
Fax: 312-664-7459

Congressman Ralph Regula selected as 2002 Crystal Apple recipient

The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) President Helen Adams is has selected Representative Ralph Regula (R-Ohio), as the recipient of the AASL Crystal Apple Award. The award is given at the discretion of the AASL President to an individual or group who has had significant impact on school libraries and students.

Rep. Regula is the Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education, and an acknowledged advocate of school libraries.

In December 2001 Congress passed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act Reauthorization bill (H.R. 1, No Child Left Behind) through the efforts of Congressman Jack Reed (D-R.I.), but the original House resoulations bill did not include funding. Regula and the members of his subcommittee approved funding for the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries program (a subset of the ESEA bill) at $12.5 million.

Regula is the third U.S. elected official to receive the AASL Crystal Apple Award. In 1994, Senator Paul Simon (D-Ill.) and Congressman Reed were selected by AASL President E. Blanche Woolls to receive this honor.

Information about other AASL awards presented at the 2002 ALA Annual Conference in Atlanta is available on the AASL Web site.

The American Association of School Librarians is a division of the American Library Association (ALA). AASL promotes the improvement and extension of library media services in elementary and secondary schools as a means of strengthening the total education program. Its mission is to advocate excellence, facilitate change, and develop leaders in the school library media field.

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