2010 ALSC Distinguished Service Award Winner named

Contact: Jenny Najduch


ALSC Marketing Specialist


(312) 280-4026


JNajduch@ala.org

NEWS


For Immediate Release,


February 9, 2010

CHICAGO—Margaret (Maggie) Bush is the 2010 recipient of the Association for Library Service to Children’s (ALSC) Distinguished Service Award. This prestigious award honors an individual who has made significant contributions to library service to children and ALSC.




Beginning as a children’s librarian at the New York Public Library, Bush has devoted almost 50 years to the provision of high-quality library services to young people. As a public librarian, library education professor and advocate for children’s library services, Bush has designed and implemented standards of service for libraries on many levels. As professor emerita at Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS), a position which she still holds, she has inspired generations of library school students and provided consistent advocacy for libraries and the needs of young people.




Bush worked with children at the New York Public Library for seven years before becoming the head of the Children’s Department at the Oak Park Public Library in Illinois. Following her time at Oak Park, she held a variety of positions including: children’s literature specialist, curriculum librarian and instructor at the National College of Education in Evanston, Ill.; assistant professor at Simmons College GSLIS; bibliographer and reference librarians for the Children’ Literature Center at the Library of Congress; and network consultant for the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped at the Library of Congress.Â




For more than 40 years, Bush has reviewed books for multiple journals including the
Horn Book and
School Library Journal. Her service in the American Library Association (ALA) includes four years on ALA Council and numerous ALSC positions such as president, priority group consultant and committee member. Her ALSC committee service spans the organization and includes the prestigious Newbery, Caldecott and Wilder book award committees, among others. She is an active member of the Massachusetts Library Association and was honored by being entered into the Massachusetts Library Association Hall of Fame in 1998; she has also received leadership awards from the Illinois Library Association and Boston’s Foundation for Children’s Books. Bush was also on the board of directors for The League for the Advancement of New England Storytelling.Â




When Bush retired from Simmons College GSLIS this year, a youth service scholarship was established in her name. This is Simmons’ first scholarship in support of youth services, an area of study that has grown tremendously at Simmons thanks to the help of Bush. Please contact Simmons GSLIS at 617-521-2800 for information about the scholarship or making a contribution.  Â




Through her service and her students, Bush’s contributions to the profession of children’s librarianship and the association reverberate widely. ALSC is please to honor Margaret Bush with the 2010 Distinguished Service Award.




ALSC, a division of the ALA, is the world’s largest organization dedicated to the support and enhancement of library service to children. With a network of more than 4,200 children’s and youth librarians, literature experts, publishers and educational faculty, ALSC is committed to creating a better future for children through libraries. To learn more about ALSC, visit ALSC’s Web site at
www.ala.org/alsc.




The 2010 ALSC Distinguished Service Award Committee includes: Cynthia K. Richey, Mt. Lebanon (Pa.) Public Library; Joan L. Atkinson, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Ala.; Theresa (Terry) M. Borzumato-Greenberg, Holiday House, N.Y.; Peggy Sullivan, library consultant, Ill.; Roger Sutton, Horn Book, Mass.