Glass, McMillan, and Margaret Edwards Award Committee awarded 2017 Volunteer of the Year Award

CHICAGO – The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), awarded Traci Glass, Chair of the Great Graphic Novels for Teens, Dawn McMillan, member of the 2016 YALSA Symposium Marketing and Planning Taskforce, and the Margaret Edwards Award Committee with the 2017 Volunteer of the Year Award.

The award acknowledges the contributions of YALSA members who have demonstrated outstanding service to the mission, goals and work of YALSA during a given service year.

“Traci epitomizes YALSA’s mission and values through the award selection process. She has created an open and friendly environment for committee members and the public to create a list of titles reflective of the teens they serve,” said nominator, Kim Farnsworth. “Traci’s chair experience was not without its difficulties. Prior to Annual, a committee member had to leave the group. One was replaced, but not until after the conference. Traci has worked closely with the new member to ensure that she is well-supported with the abbreviated time she has to read all of the titles.”

Dawn McMillan, member of the 2016 YALSA Symposium Marketing and Planning Taskforce Committee, “volunteered to moderate one of the two author panels, and I am proud to share that the questions she created and the conversational pace she set with the panel only contributed to the success of the event." said Heather Sparks. "Dawn McMillan consistently delivered quality work. She regularly was among the first to reply to any and all requests.”

“Over the years of working on various YALSA committees, I’ve worked with many amazing and talented people, but never have I worked with an entire committee that was as insightful, willing, open, respectful and diligent as the 2016 Edwards Award Committee,” said nominator and committee chair, Valerie Davis. “Any committee they work on or chair they work with in the future will be lucky to have them.”

Any official YALSA group or individual appointed to an official YALSA group is eligible for consideration for the Volunteer of the Year Award. For more information or to nominate someone, visit the Awards and Grants section of the YALSA website. Nomination forms are due no later than Dec. 1, 2017.

Members of the Volunteer of the Year Award Jury are: Chair, Angelique M. Kopa, Baltimore (Maryland) County Public Library; RoseMary Honnold, VOYA Magazine, Zanesville, Ohio; Heather T. Sparks, Free Library of Philadelphia; Justin Charles Switzer, Baltimore (Maryland) County Public; and Tess Wilson, University of Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) School of Information Sciences.

The mission of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) is to support library staff in alleviating the challenges teens face, and in putting all teens ‒ especially those with the greatest needs ‒ on the path to successful and fulfilling lives. For more information about YALSA or to access national guidelines and other resources go to www.ala.org/yalsa, or contact the YALSA office by phone, 800-545-2433, ext. 4390; or e-mail: yalsa@ala.org.