Public Encouraged to Nominate Librarians for National I Love My Librarian Award

NEW YORK, Aug. 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Nominations are now open for the 2010 Carnegie Corporation of New York/New York Times I Love My Librarian Award.

The award invites library users nationwide to recognize the accomplishments of librarians in public, school, college, community college and university libraries for their efforts to improve the lives of people in their community.  Nominations run through September 20 and are being accepted online at ilovelibraries.org/ilovemylibrarian.    

Up to 10 librarians will be selected.  Each will receive a $5,000 cash award, a plaque and a $500 travel stipend to attend an awards ceremony and reception in New York, hosted by The New York Times in December.  

Each nominee must be a librarian with a master's degree from a program accredited by the ALA in library and information studies or a master's degree with a specialty in school library media from an educational unit accredited by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education.  Nominees must be currently working in the United States in a public library, a library at an accredited two- or four-year college or university or at an accredited K-12 school.

In 2008, Carnegie Corporation of New York awarded the American Library Association (ALA) $489,000 to support the award, which will continue annually through 2012.  The award continues in the tradition of one The New York Times presented from 2001 to 2006.  

Last year, more than 3,200 library users nationwide nominated a librarian.  For more information on last year's winners, visit ilovelibraries.org/ilovemylibrarian.

Carnegie Corp. of New York was created by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to promote "the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding."  For more than 95 years, the corporation has carried out Carnegie's vision of philanthropy by building on his two major concerns: international peace and advancing education and knowledge.  As a private grant-making foundation, the corporation will invest more than $100 million this year in nonprofits to fulfill Carnegie's mission, "to do real and permanent good in this world."  The corporation's capital fund, originally donated at a value of about $135 million, had a market value of $3 billion on Sept. 30, 2007.

The New York Times Company, a leading media company with 2008 revenues of $2.9 billion, includes The New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, The Boston Globe, 15 other daily newspapers, WQXR-FM and more than 50 Web sites, including NYTimes.com, Boston.com and About.com.  The Company's core purpose is to enhance society by creating, collecting and distributing high-quality news, information and entertainment.

The American Library Association is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 62,000 members.  Its mission is to promote the highest quality library and information services and public access to information.

SOURCE American Library Association