For immediate release | February 3, 2025
K-12 school librarians invited to apply for the annual $5,000 Sara Jaffarian School Library Program Award
CHICAGO — School librarians are invited to apply for a $5,000 annual award recognizing outstanding humanities programming in kindergarten through twelfth grade.
Nominations for the 2025 Sara Jaffarian School Library Program Award will be accepted until May 1, 2025.
Applications, award guidelines and a list of previous winners are available at www.ala.org/jaffarian.
U.S. school libraries, public or private, that serve children in any combination of grades K-12 are eligible, provided a state-certified librarian staffs the library. Libraries are encouraged to self-nominate. Nominated programs must have occurred during the current school year (2024-2025).
The award intends to recognize humanities programs that expand student horizons beyond “basic education.” A humanities program can focus on many subject areas, including but not limited to social studies, poetry, drama, art, music, language arts, foreign languages and culture. Programs should focus on broadening perspectives and helping students understand the wider world and their place in it. The humanities program should be initiated and coordinated by the school librarian and exemplify the role of library programming in advancing the overall education goals of the school.
Recent Jaffarian Award-winners have included:
- Freedom Walk, a program at Tom C. Clark High School in San Antonio, Texas, centered on the freedom to read and engaged the school community in understanding students' fundamental rights to access diverse information and literature in their school library.
- Growing Readers, Growing Leaders, a program that prepared students to be “Bi-literate, Bi-Cultural, and Bi-Lingual” as it transitions into a Spanish Immersion Magnet elementary school.
- Empathizing with Teens in Trauma: An Exploration of the Terezin Ghetto/Camp, a program where students researched the artwork, poetry and music created by teenagers in the Theresienstadt/Terezín Nazi concentration camp during World War II.
Named after the late Sara Jaffarian, a school librarian and longtime ALA member, ALA’s Jaffarian Award was established in 2006 to recognize and promote excellence in humanities programming in elementary and middle school libraries. In 2024, the award expanded eligibility to high school libraries. It is presented annually by the ALA Public Programs Office in cooperation with the American Association of School Librarians (AASL).
The award is selected by a committee comprising members of the ALA Public and Cultural Programs Advisory Committee (PCPAC), AASL and the Association for Library Services to Children (ALSC).
This year’s committee is chaired by Anne Link, library media specialist at Bristol (Mo.) Elementary School, and chair-elect Lucy Podmore, librarian at Tom C. Clark High School in San Antonio, Texas. Both are members of the American Association of School Librarians (AASL). Other committee members include Amy Osjerkis, media specialist at Atlantic County Institute of Technology in Mays Landing, New Jersey, and Julie Williams, librarian at Sanford Middle School Library in Connecticut.
Funding for the Jaffarian Award is provided by ALA’s Cultural Communities Fund (CCF). To contribute to CCF, visit www.ala.org/ccf.
About the ALA Public Programs Office
The American Library Association (ALA) Public Programs Office empowers libraries to create vibrant hubs of learning, conversation and connection in communities of all types.
About the American Association of School Librarians
The American Association of School Librarians, www.aasl.org, a division of the American Library Association (ALA), empowers leaders to transform teaching and learning.
About the American Library Association
The American Library Association (ALA) is the foremost national organization providing resources to inspire library and information professionals to transform their communities through essential programs and services. For more than 140 years, the ALA has been the trusted voice for academic, public, school, government and special libraries, advocating for the profession and the library’s role in enhancing learning and ensuring access to information for all. For more information, visit www.ala.org.
Contact:
Hannah Arata
Communications Manager
American Library Association
Public Programs Office
harata@ala.orgFeatured News