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Librarian of Virginia Sandra G. Treadway is the recipient of the National Genealogical Society’s Filby Award for Genealogical Librarianship. The award was presented at the NGS’s 2014 Family History Conference at Librarians’ Day preconference on May 6. The $1,000 NGS Filby Award for Genealogical Librarianship is awarded annually. The Filby Award is named for the late P. William Filby, former director of the Maryland Historical Society and author of many core genealogical reference tools that genealogists have relied on for decades. The award was created and first presented at the annual 1999 NGS Family History Conference by the publisher Scholarly Resources of Wilmington, Delaware. In 2004 and 2005, it was sponsored by the Godfrey Memorial Library. Since 2006, it has been sponsored by ProQuest. In addition to serving as Librarian of Virginia, Treadway also serves as State Archivist. An accomplished historian and author, she is an active member of the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies and the Council of State Archivists. Treadway serves on the board of directors of Lyrasis, a nonprofit membership organization that partners with member libraries to create access to and manage information. Treadway was recognized by NGS for her efforts to expand patron access to information and for the preservation of historical records. She has been instrumental in encouraging staff of the Library of Virginia to explore innovative ways of making information accessible to the public. A historian specializing in women’s history, she is a member of the Organization of American Historians, Southern Association for Women Historians, Virginia Library Association, Virginia Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War Advisory Council, Southern Historical Association, Supreme Court of Virginia Historical Commission, and the Virginia War of 1812 Commission. Since 2007 she has served on the Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council. At the opening session of the NGS conference, Treadway spoke about the Library of Virginia’s plans to take a fresh look at its traditional service models and its public spaces in order to create a more dynamic and customer-focused research and learning environment. She discussed the evolving nature of libraries and research repositories in the 21st century and the needs and wants of today’s technology-savvy library users. |
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The Library of Virginia is pleased to sponsor the 11th Annual People's Choice Awards. Winners will be announced at the 17th Annual Library of Virginia Literary Awards at the Library of Virginia. Awards are given for the best fiction and nonfiction books published in the past year by Virginia authors; in the case of nonfiction, books on a Virginia subject are eligible. The winners will be chosen by public vote from among five finalists in each category. Readers may vote in public libraries or online at the Library of Virginia's website, www.lva.virginia.gov/public/litawards/vote.asp. Voting for the People's Choice Awards runs through June 30, 2014. Please vote for only one book in each category. The fiction finalists are:
The nonfiction finalists are:
Winners will be announced on October 18, 2014, at the 17th Annual Library of Virginia Literary Awards Celebration presented by Dominion and the Richmond Times-Dispatch. |
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The Library of Virginia will honor internationally acclaimed author Barbara Kingsolver with its 2014 Literary Lifetime Achievement Award. She is the author of best-selling novels, nonfiction, and poetry, as well as a freelance journalist and political activist. Born in 1955, Kingsolver grew up in rural Kentucky and earned degrees in biology from DePauw University and the University of Arizona. Critical acclaim for her books includes multiple awards from the American Booksellers Association and the American Library Association, among others. The Poisonwood Bible (1998), a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the Orange Prize, won the national book award of South Africa before being named an Oprah Book Club selection. The bookwas recently listed by Amazon.com among its "100 Books to Read in a Lifetime." In 2000, Kingsolver received the National Humanities Medal, our country’s highest honor for service through the arts. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (2007) won numerous prizes including the James Beard award. Britain's prestigious Orange Prize for Fiction and the Library of Virginia Literary Award for Fiction both went to The Lacuna (2009), which the Virginia judges described as “the achievement of a literary artist at the peak of her skills.” In 2011, she was awarded the Dayton Literary Peace Prize for the body of her work. Kingsolver established the Bellwether Prize in 1998 to promote fiction that addresses issues of social justice and the impact of culture and politics on human relationships. Awarded biennially to the author of a previously unpublished novel of high literary caliber that exemplifies the prize’s founding principles, the prize includes $25,000 and a publishing contract with Algonquin Books. In 2012 it became the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction. During a Lila Wallace fellowship at Emory and Henry College in the 1990s, Kingsolver met her husband Steven Hopp, an environmental studies professor. Between 1996 and 2003 she divided her time between Tucson, Arizona, and a log cabin in Virginia. Since June 2004, Kingsolver and her family have lived on a farm in southwestern Virginia. |
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The Library is pleased to announce that Amy Bridge has joined us as the new executive director of the Library of Virginia Foundation. She will be responsible for all fund-raising efforts of the Foundation as well as oversight of the Virginia Shops (at the Library and the Capitol) and the Discovery Café. Bridge comes to the Library from the Richmond Public Library Foundation, where she served as chief administrative officer and director of development. From 2002 until 2012 she served as director of the Executive Mansion of the Commonwealth of Virginia. In that capacity she planned and implemented 750 events for more than 55,000 mansion guests. Among the more memorable of these were a private reception given by then-Governor Kaine for Queen Elizabeth II and events for the ambassadors of China, Israel, and Great Britain. “We are delighted to have Amy as a member of our leadership team,” said Librarian of Virginia Sandra G. Treadway in announcing the appointment. “Both the Library and the Foundation will benefit tremendously from her experience and the energy she brings to everything that she does.” The Library of Virginia Foundation was founded in 1984 to promote and coordinate private support of the Library of Virginia and its mission and programs. The Foundation is a nonprofit, charitable organization receiving bequests and donations from individuals, businesses, foundations, and others in support of the Library of Virginia. Bridge is a graduate of Leadership Metro Richmond and the Virginia Executive Institute, and is regional coordinator for the Jane Austin Society of North America. She serves on the board of the Henley Street Theatre and the Virginia Opera. A native of Roanoke, Bridge holds a bachelor of arts degree in history and communications from Mary Baldwin College. |
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Each year students are encouraged to nominate individuals for the Strong Men and Women and the Virginia Women in History programs. This year, nominations are due June 13. Nominees can be either living or dead, but should be someone who has made a major difference in the community, the state, or their profession. Schools with winning nominations are eligible for cash prizes, free teacher workshops, and student programming. Members of the public are also encouraged to submit entries but are not eligible for prizes. Go to www.lva.virginia.gov/smw or www.lva.virginia.gov/vawomen to learn more about the process and to be sure your nominee has not already been recognized. For questions concerning the nomination process, please contact Catherine Wyatt at 804-692-3999 or education@lva.virginia.gov. |
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The Suffolk Public Library, which serves a population of 85,000, is one of ten public libraries chosen by the American Library Association to undergo an intensive 18-month, team-based community engagement training program as part of the Libraries Transforming Communities Public Innovators Cohort. The Suffolk Public Library system, which has three locations and also operates a bookmobile, provides free services to residents living within the 430 square miles that comprise the city of Suffolk The cohort, selected through a highly competitive peer-reviewed application process, is part of ALA’s LTC initiative, a national plan to help librarians strengthen their role as core community leaders and change agents. The selected libraries represent the range of American communities in terms of size, location, ethnic and racial diversity, and socioeconomic status, and they all face challenges including illiteracy, unemployment, a “digital divide” in their community’s access to information technology, an influx of new and immigrant populations, and disparate access to services. Other libraries selected for the LTC Public Innovators Cohort were: Red Hook (N.Y.) Public Library (pop. 1,900), Columbus (Wis.) Public Library (pop. 5,000), Knox County (Ind.) Library (pop. 33,900), Hartford (Conn.) Public Library (pop. 125,000), Springfield (Mass.) City Library (pop. 153,000), Tuscaloosa (Ala.) Public Library (pop. 195,000), Spokane County (Wash.) Library District (pop. 255,000), San Jose (Calif.) Public Library (pop. 980,000), and Los Angeles Public Library (pop. 3.8 million). Through in-person training, webinars, and coaching—valued at $50,000—teams from each library will learn new community engagement techniques and apply them within their communities. Each library also receives an $8,000 cash grant to help cover the cost of its new community-engagement work. In partnership with the Harwood Institute for Public Innovation, Libraries Transforming Communities addresses a critical need within the library field by developing and distributing new tools, resources, and support for librarians to engage with their communities in new ways. The initiative is made possible through a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Libraries Transforming Communities is grounded in the Harwood Institute’s approach of “turning outward,” which emphasizes changing the orientation of institutions and individuals from internal (institutional) to external (community-facing). These practices will be shared at four “Turning Outward” sessions at the 2014 ALA Annual Conference and through webinars and digital resources, now available for free download at ala.org/LTC. –submitted by Sarah Ostman, American Library Association |
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The Library of Virginia will present the fifth annual Anne and Ryland Brown Teacher Institute on June 27, 2014. The Brown Teacher Institute is an annual event held to enhance the knowledge of and training in history and social science instruction in the commonwealth of Virginia by providing educators with teaching resources and opportunities for in-depth study. This year’s theme, “Teaching Tough Topics,” explores how to use primary sources to tell stories that can teach us about tough times in history. In a lead-up to the Library’s ground-breaking exhibition To Be Sold: Virginia and the American Slave Trade, scheduled to open on October 27, the event will focus on the domestic slave trade as well as Indians in Virginia history. This year’s guest speakers include Karenne Wood (a member of the Monacan Indian Nation), director of Virginia Indian Programs at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, who will present a session titled “Representing Our History: Virginia Indians Past and Present,” and Rose McAphee, training specialist with the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, who will present a session titled “Interpreting Controversial Issues.” This year, the Brown Institute will be hitting the road! On July 7, 2014, the Brown Institute will be repeated at the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center in Abingdon. All Virginia social studies teachers are invited to participate. Eligible candidates for the Brown Teacher Institute must be residents of Virginia currently working as educators in Virginia or pre-service teachers still completing degrees. There is no fee and participants will receive a certificate of completion for six hours, which can be used toward recertification points. To register: www.eventbrite.com/e/5th-annual-anne-and-ryland-brown-teacher-institute-tickets-11541401643. Space is limited to the first 35 registrants. Optional box lunches may be purchased at this site as well. |
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The Virginia Shop at the Library of Virginia will hold its summer sale June 16–29, featuring savings of up to 75 percent on clearance books, toys, home goods, and jewelry. Savings of 10 percent will be offered on full-priced merchandise. Semper Virginia Society members will receive 20 percent off all full-priced merchandise purchased in the store during the sale. |
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The Virginia Early Childhood Foundation and the Library of Virginia have designated May 11–June 15, the time period between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, as an opportunity to focus on the unique needs of young children and to recognize that “Smart Beginnings Start with Families.”
“We are delighted to partner with VECF on this innovative initiative to honor families and recognize the pivotal role of parental guidance in the lives of young children,” said Dr. Sandra G. Treadway, Librarian of Virginia. “One way to celebrate Smart Beginnings Start with Families is for parents to enroll their children in the summer reading program sponsored by their local library. Even the youngest child enjoys being read to and looking at picture books with an adult. Reading helps children discover and understand how the world works.” |
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