Connie Paul receives ASCLA Leadership and Professional Achievement Award

Contact: Eileen Hardy


Marketing Specialist


(312) 280-4398


ehardy@ala.org


For Immediate Release,


March 10, 2008


Connie Paul receives ASCLA Leadership and Professional Achievement Award

CHICAGO -Connie Paul, executive director, Central Jersey Regional Library Cooperative, Freehold (N.J.), is the 2008 co-recipient of the Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies (ASCLA) Leadership and Professional Achievement Award presented by the ASCLA, a division of the American Library Association (ALA).




The ASCLA Leadership and Professional Achievement Award is a citation presented to one or more ASCLA members in recognition of leadership and achievement in the following areas of activity: consulting, multi-type library cooperation, networking, statewide service and programs and state library development.




“Connie Paul has been selected for this award to honor her outstanding leadership and professional achievements in recruitment and training on a state and national level,” said Kathleen Hegarty, ASCLA awards committee chair. “On a state level she was responsible for the development of a Recruitment and Leadership Training Grant which encompassed three elements: an annual week-long New Jersey Academy of Library Leadership Training for mid-career librarians; a program in succession planning for librarians nearing retirement; and a recruitment campaign to attract high school and college students to the field of librarianship. On a national level, Paul served as chair of the Recruitment Forum (2005), is an ongoing member of the ALA Recruitment Assembly and is a founding member of the ALA Emerging Leaders Task Force.”




“ASCLA has been my home for the past 11 years. In ICAN, I found colleagues who became mentors and mentors who became friends,” said Connie Paul. “They, and the outstanding professionals of the New Jersey library community, demonstrate every day why being a librarian is the best possible career choice.”




The award will be presented during the ASCLA Awards Ceremony 10:30 a.m. to noon on June 29, during the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim (Calif.).