Oak Park Public Library is pleased to announce that it has won this year's Gordon M. Conable Award for the Transgender Resource Collection and related work. The Public Library Association ( PLA ) issues the Conable Award to a library staff member, library trustee, or public library that has demonstrated a commitment to intellectual freedom and the Library Bill of Rights.
"We are thrilled to have this work recognized as an important aspect to intellectual freedom. It recognizes that our public library truly is a place for everyone" states Bleue Benton, Collection Development Manager.
According to the PLA website, "The recipient of the Gordon M. Conable Award must have demonstrated a commitment to intellectual freedom and the Library Bill of Rights in various ways, including, but not limited, to the following: developed and promoted collections that include diverse points of view; provided programs that promote community dialog on controversial issues; created and nurtured an organizational climate that fosters an understanding of the Library Bill of Rights amongst the library staff, library board, and elected and appointed officials; initiated activities at the local, state, or national level that promote, support, or defend intellectual freedom, the Library Bill of Rights, or the First Amendment; guaranteed open access to library materials and services for children and young adults; guaranteed open access to electronic information; defended library materials, programs, or services when confronted with a censorship challenge. The award consists of a $1,500 check and a commemorative plaque." The award is sponsored by LSSI.
In 2007 Oak Park Public Library received a prestigious $3,000 LSTA grant provided by the Illinois State Library to create the first focused Transgender Resource Collection in a U.S. public library. This unique public library collection consists mainly of nonfiction materials and includes medical information, legal concerns, and social issues. With its own resources, the Oak Park Public Library has added popular and lesser known fiction titles as well as films. The collection serves transgender people and anyone seeking information, including employers, medical providers, allies, friends, and family.
In addition to purchasing materials, Oak Park Public Library provided awareness workshops for staff. "Our goals was to make certain that all library staff are prepared to provide excellent customer service to people who are transgender," says Executive Director Deirdre Brennan. The Library also conducted a self-study to identify any barriers to serving and employing transgender people and consider other aspects to welcoming, reflecting, serving, and employing transgender people. Oak Park Public Library has also put together a Library Toolkit for other libraries interested in knowing more about our Transgender Resource Collection.
To demonstrate Oak Park Public Library's leadership in this area of service, Bleue Benton and Sharon Grimm, Communications Coordinator, presented at the 2009 Massachusetts Library Association annual conference and the 2008 Illinois Library Association annual conference. Their presentation titled "When Collection Development Leads to Staff Development" will be published as a chapter by the same name in a forthcoming book Serving LGBTIQ Communities: Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and More in Libraries and Archives.
Oak Park Public Library is pleased to receive the prestigious Conable award and hopefully inspire other libraries with our holistic model for collection development. Oak Park Public Library plans to use the award money to purchase additional collection materials and continue to raise awareness of the collection.
Additional details about the Transgender Resource Collection are online at www.oppl.org/media/trc.htm. More about innovations at the Oak Park Public Library are on our website at www.oppl.org/about/innovations.htm.
FROM A NEWS RELEASE
Feb. 10, 2010
