Wayne Onkst wins the Sullivan Award For Public Library Administrators Supporting Services To Children Award
Contact: Cheryl Malden
Program Officer
312-280-3247
For Immediate Release
March 17, 2005
Wayne Onkst wins the Sullivan Award For Public Library Administrators Supporting Services To Children Award
CHICAGO — The American Library Association (ALA) is pleased to announce Wayne Onkst as the recipient of the Sullivan Award For Public Library Administrators Supporting Services To Children Award. The award honors an individual who has shown exceptional understanding and support of public library service to children while having general management/supervisory/administrative responsibility that has included public library service to children in its scope.
Wayne Onkst is the director of the Kenton County Public Library.
During his tenure as director of the Kenton Public Library in Covington, Kentucky, Wayne Onkst has demonstrated outstanding commitment to providing library services for children in his community. As a library administrator, he supplied vision and support for his staff. Upon his appointment in 1999, Wayne Onkst laid out an action plan to reach as many children within the county as possible.
“He has the wisdom and judgment to select talented librarians,” states Lois Schultz, Kenton County Public Library Trustee. “He then gives them the freedom and support to implement new programs.”
With his encouragement and leadership, the children’s services staff developed new approaches not only to reach children, but also families.
“Under Onkst’s guidance, partnerships were established with the schools and multiple groups and agencies in the community resulting in the development of a wide range of innovative programs for children and families as well as the receipt of multiple grants,” said chair Penny Markey.
In 2001, Wayne Onkst received the Children, Inc. award for “innovative services that imagine a better tomorrow for children”. It is an honor to name him as the recipient of the 2005 Sullivan Award for Public Library Administrators to Children Award.
Onkst is a member of ALA and Public Library Association (PLA). He received a BA in History and a MSLS from the University of Kentucky.
The Sullivan Award For Public Library Administrators Supporting Services To Children Award will be presented on Tuesday, June 28, during the ALA 2005 Annual Conference in Chicago.