Speaking Up: Lisa Varga Is LJ’s 2024 Librarian of the Year; Library Journal, January 2, 2024

Lisa Peet  , Library Journal; Speaking Up: Lisa Varga Is LJ’s 2024 Librarian of the Year

"Libraries in the Commonwealth of Virginia are fortunate to have the Virginia Library Association (VLA) on their side. Among other services, VLA provides continuing education to members through meetings, workshops, and two annual conferences; maintains the VLA Jobline and listserv; publishes the Virginia Libraries journal; sponsors several awards and scholarships; advocates for state and local funding; and supports libraries and individuals confronting intellectual freedom challenges."

Jill Bourne: LJ’s 2017 Librarian of the Year; Library Journal, 1/4/17

John N. Berry III, Library Journal; 

Jill Bourne: LJ’s 2017 Librarian of the Year:

"When she arrived to direct California’s San José Public Library (SJPL) in 2013, Jill Bourne faced the effects of years of decimating budget shortfalls and service cuts. The system’s 23 branches had all been built or renovated in a previous and generous capital improvement program, but several of the new buildings were already shuttered. In the rest, hours had been reduced to four days per week. Library use was in a steep decline.

The effectiveness with which Bourne spearheaded her Library Access Strategy, opened the libraries, built new relationships with and support from San José’s civic leadership, and leveraged partnerships and fostered innovation—and is now reaching beyond the library to a new citywide Education and Digital Literacy Initiative—has won over a newly inspired staff and convinced our judges to name her the 2017 LJ Librarian of the Year, sponsored by Baker & Taylor."

Siobhan A. Reardon: LJ’s 2015 Librarian of the Year; Library Journal, 1/6/15

John N. Berry III, Library Journal; Siobhan A. Reardon: LJ’s 2015 Librarian of the Year:

"President and Director, Free Library of Philadelphia

She engineered the creation of an ambitious, five-year strategic plan, underpinned by a powerful mission to advance literacy, guide learning, and inspire curiosity through the Free Library of Philadelphia (FLP). Siobhan A. Reardon had been in the director’s chair for less than a month when FLP was handed a 20 percent cut and branch hours were drastically reduced. Library state funding was slashed by 34 percent. In 2010, with funding trickling back into the budget, FLP launched a two-year process to formalize a new strategic plan. “We agreed that we had to stop trying to be all things to all people; we just didn’t have the money,” Reardon says.

Instead, her plan refocused the role of the library, identifying five target populations (job seekers, ­entrepreneurs, new Americans, children under five, and people with disabilities). The plan outlines a cluster model to streamline and enhance neighborhood library services, share resources and staff among neighborhood libraries, and collaborate with community leaders to develop programs and services most needed by residents."

Jo Budler: LJ’s 2013 Librarian of the Year; Library Journal, 1/7/13

John N. Berry III, Library Journal; Jo Budler: LJ’s 2013 Librarian of the Year: "It was a seismic move in the struggle to create a workable ebook access model for the users of America’s libraries. It was engineered by Joanne (Jo) Budler, the Kansas State Librarian, when she realized that an initial proposal in 2010 to renew the Kansas State Library (KSL) contract with OverDrive would increase administrative costs by some 700 percent over the next few years, as the state ebook deal was being restructured. Despite the risk of disrupting and even losing access to ebooks for the users of Kansas libraries, Budler rejected more than one proposal from OverDrive for a new contract until a year ago when she won the right to transfer titles from OverDrive to a new platform. The dispute set off a long (and public) national examination of library service agreements. Budler worked closely with Kansas Deputy Attorney General Jeff Chanay, whose expertise helped KSL struggle through the complex copyright and ownership issues built into the original state ebook platform contract. Budler’s ongoing efforts in the ebook battles and her work as chair of the Ebook Task Force of the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies (COSLA), in addition to her significant local contributions in the state of Kansas, made clear a picture of Budler as an extremely effective library leader and LJ Editors’ choice for Librarian of the Year 2013."