The Pennsylvania Library Association has named the Weinberg Memorial Library as the 2024 Library of the Year!
Each year, the Pennsylvania Library Association (PaLA) honors the service of their members, as well as those community volunteers, who go above and beyond the call of duty to support the work of libraries throughout the commonwealth.
The Weinberg Memorial Library’s vision is to promote “an accessible, inclusive, supportive, and welcoming environment where everyone can learn and grow creatively, intellectually, and spiritually.” The library staff embodies this vision in their day-to-day operations, and prides themselves on service to the community, professional development, and service to the Pennsylvania Library Association.
Over the past year and a half, the Weinberg Memorial Library has accomplished much in the areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion. They collaborated with campus groups, offices, and faculty to host a series of films to celebrate Black History, Arab American Heritage, and Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander months for both students and the Scranton community at large. Library staff created new research guides for gender and sexuality and accessibility, and a Statement on Harmful Language to address systemic problems in the Library of Congress subject headings. They also created an Accessibility/Sensory Map to highlight the library’s spaces and features with general accessibility, types of lighting, and noise level. The guide is helpful to all, but particularly valuable to neurodiverse students. From library support for open educational resources to a collection diversity audit focused on children’s books to support the greater Scranton community, and to hiring an outside consultant to review DEI efforts, the Library has demonstrated their ongoing commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Deserving of recognition is the Library’s focus on professional development. The Weinberg Memorial Library has been a long-time institutional member of the Pennsylvania Library Association as well as supporting their staff both financially and with time as personal members of the Association. They not only support their own staff, but were a 2023 conference sponsor so that all librarians could have an enhanced experience through coffee and conversation.
Many staff attend, volunteer, and lead within the Association. Sylvia Orner served as conference chair in 2020 and is currently President. Kate Cummings was previously Treasurer on the statewide board of directors and is now serving as Intellectual Freedom Committee Chair. Rebecca Dzikowski is the current Mentorship Subcommittee Chair. Ian O’Hara serves as the College and Research Division grant funds manager and is on the EDI Committee. Sheli Pratt-McHugh was 3rd Vice-President, Membership Committee Chair, and served on the conference committee and EDI committee. Marleen Cloutier was the 2023 Conference Chair for Technical Arrangements and is now the vice-chair elect for the Technical Services Round Table. Melissa Gallo is the treasurer for the Northeast Chapter. As the nominator indicated, “We all individually have gained so much from our time and efforts within and for the Association, and it has collectively contributed to the Weinberg Memorial Library’s ability to serve its community in impactful ways.”