Clare Graham named the 2025 winner of ALA’s Scholastic Library Publishing Award

CHICAGO — Clare Graham has been named the 2025 winner of ALA’s Scholastic Library Publishing Award. This award of $1,000 and certificate of achievement recognizes a librarian whose unusual contribution to the stimulation and guidance of reading by children and young people exemplifies outstanding achievement in the profession.

Serving as the Director of the Malvern-Hot Springs County Library, Clare serves as the “public face” of the library, ensuring that people have access to library services.

“Libraries are the place people go when they don’t know where to go. That’s huge," Graham said, "Because we offer services to people of all ages, all backgrounds, of all status.”

Receiving her Masters in Library Science from the University of North Texas, Graham is being is being honored with this award for her unstinting commitment to the library’s many outstanding programs, including Book Giveaways, encouraging families to build their own libraries at home, and “The Library of Things,” based on the needs of the community.

Upon learning she was the recipient of the 2025 Scholastic Library Publishing Award Graham said, “It is both an incredible honor and a testament to the hard work and dedication we pour into our library and its mission. Winning this award means so much to me personally, as it validates the passion I feel for empowering individuals through knowledge and resources. For our library, it represents recognition of the vital role we play in shaping the minds of readers, learners, and dreamers. It inspires us to continue striving for excellence, to dream bigger, and to find even more ways to support and uplift our community. Most importantly, this honor is a celebration of everyone who walks through our doors — this award belongs to them as much as it does me”.

The 2025 Scholastic Library Publishing Award will be presented at the ALA President’s Program, Sunday, June 29 during the ALA Annual Conference Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Members of the 2025 Scholastic Library Publishing Award jury are: Chair, Susan Hess, retired New York City school librarian; Nikki Johnson, Business Librarian, Butler University Libraries; Christina Fuller-Gregory, Assistant Director of Libraries, SC Governor’s School of the Arts and Humanities; and Linda Weatherspoon.

More information about the Scholastic Library Publishing Award can be found at
www.ala.org/awardsgrants/scholastic-library-publishing-award

About the American Library Association

The American Library Association (ALA) is the only non-partisan, nonprofit organization dedicated entirely to America's libraries and library professionals. For almost 150 years, ALA has provided resources to inspire library and information professionals to transform their communities through essential programs and services. The ALA serves 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.