Gallup librarian receives I Love My Librarian Award 

Tammi Moe recognized with national public service honor  

CHICAGO – Tammi Moe, director of libraries and museums for the city of Gallup, New Mexico, is a winner of this year’s I Love My Librarian Award. Recognized by the American Library Association (ALA) for expanding the Octavia Fellin Public Library’s community engagement initiatives, Moe was selected from more than 1,300 nominations from library users across the country. 

Moe has worked to broaden the library’s programming and service reach beyond the library’s walls in order to reach its majority-indigenous American population. By forging strong partnerships with other city departments and community organizations, Moe has facilitated a library presence at festivals, health fairs, career days and other local events, and program attendance continues to climb. 

Through Moe’s efforts, the library has focused its programming on socially relevant issues, generational experiences and opportunities for open dialogue. Library programs have addressed a wide range of historically sensitive topics for the community, notably the involuntary sterilization of indigenous women and the incarceration and murder of indigenous activists. As one of her nominators noted, “Confronting our historical and current, very real issues is exactly what [Tammi] has inaugurated, in an unbelievably effective series of instructive installations, displays, and programs. The public library has become a center for deeply probing our own history, our own conflicts, and our own individual and collective roles in those conflicts.” 

“Tammi’s leadership is kind, supportive, engaged, and thoughtful,” one of her nominators wrote. “She has dissolved the walls of the library, creating a community platform for healing and cultural understanding through shared experiences.” 

Moe and this year’s nine other honorees will each receive a $5,000 cash prize, a $750 donation to their library, and complimentary registration to ALA’s LibLearnX. The virtual award ceremony will take place during the conference at 3:30 p.m. CT on Saturday, Jan. 22, 2022, and will be available to stream live at https://www.youtube.com/user/AmLibraryAssociation. 

Since the award’s inception in 2008, library users have shared more than 20,000 nominations detailing how librarians have gone above and beyond to promote literacy, expand access to technology and support diversity and inclusion in their communities. Information regarding previous award winners can be found on the I Love My Librarian website at http://www.ilovelibraries.org/lovemylibrarian.  

Carnegie Corporation of New York generously sponsors the I Love My Librarian Award. The New York Public Library also supports the award. ALA administers the award through its Communications and Marketing Office, which promotes the value of libraries and librarians.  

About Carnegie Corporation of New York 
Carnegie Corporation of New York was established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding. In keeping with this mandate, the Corporation's work focuses on the issues that Andrew Carnegie considered of paramount importance: education, international peace, and a strong democracy. 

About The New York Public Library 
The New York Public Library is a free provider of education and information for the people of New York and beyond. With 92 locations—including research and branch libraries—throughout the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island, the Library offers free materials, computer access, classes, exhibitions, programming and more to everyone from toddlers to scholars, and has seen record numbers of attendance and circulation in recent years. The New York Public Library serves nearly 17 million patrons who come through its doors annually and millions more around the globe who use its resources at www.nypl.org. To offer this wide array of free programming, The New York Public Library relies on both public and private funding. Learn more about how to support the Library at nypl.org/support. 

About the American Library Association 
The American Library Association is the foremost national organization providing resources to inspire library and information professionals to transform their communities through essential programs and services. For more than 140 years, the ALA has been the trusted voice of libraries, advocating for the profession and the library’s role in enhancing learning and ensuring access to information for all. For more information, visit ala.org. 

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