For Immediate Release Contact: Cheryl Malden
March 24, 2008 Program Officer
312-280-3247
Harriet Henderson receives 2008 Sullivan Award
CHICAGO – Harriet Henderson, director of the Richmond Public Library in Richmond, Va., has been selected to receive the 2008 American Library Association (ALA) Peggy Sullivan Award for Public Library Administrators Supporting Services to Children. The Sullivan Award is presented annually by ALA to an individual who has shown exceptional understanding and support of public library services to children while having general management, supervisory or administrative responsibility that has included public library services to children in its scope. The award is donated by and honors Peggy Sullivan, ALA President 1980-81 and former ALA Executive Director.
“The 2008 Sullivan Award jury is pleased to honor Harriet Henderson for her commitment to public libraries and their impact on children,” said jury chair Eva Davis. “This commitment is demonstrated on many levels, most notably in Ms. Henderson’s leadership on the Public Library Association/Association for Library Service to Children Early Literacy Task Force and the establishment of the Every Child Ready to Read @ Your Library initiative.”
Henderson’s focus on early childhood literacy and the role of the public library in promoting early education has been a hallmark of her career. A former Public Library Association (PLA) President, ALA Councilor and member of the Urban Libraries Council (ULC) Board of Directors, Ms. Henderson has also taken on leadership roles locally on boards and councils in several states, in each instance working to improve children’s services by using research from respected institutions to develop strategic early literacy initiatives. “Harriet is an administrator who understands the needs of children and the part libraries can play in meeting them,” said Jo Ann Pinder in her nomination letter.
“The Sullivan Award jury was impressed with the scope of Ms. Henderson’s early education efforts throughout her career,” continued Davis. “In each of the libraries in which she has worked, Ms. Henderson has established early childhood literacy as a value and, to that end, trained and developed dozens of library workers in the field. She has improved children’s collections and children’s programming and developed strategic partnerships with organizations in each of her communities.”
Members of the 2008 Peggy Sullivan Award jury are: Eva Davis, Canton Public Library, Mich.; Jolie Ogg Graybill, Cline Library, Northern Arizona University; Samantha Hines, Mansfield Library, University of Montana; Jessica MacPhail, Racine Public Library, Wis.; and Penny Markey, Los Angeles County Public Library, Calif.
The Sullivan Award will be presented to Ms. Henderson at the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, Calif., on July 1.
The deadline for submission of nominations for the 2009 Peggy Sullivan Award for Public Library Administrators Supporting Services to Children is Dec. 1. Guidelines and the nomination form are available on the ALA website at http://www.ala.org/ala/awardsbucket/sullivanaward/sullivanaward.htm.
