Vermont Library Association 2026 Award Nominations Due May 1

Help the Vermont Library Association acknowledge your colleague by nominating them for one of the following awards. The nomination deadline is Friday, May 1, 2026.

The Birdie Award, for outstanding service in the field of technical services.

The Green Mountain Award, for distinguished service, support, or unusual contribution to a library or libraries.

The Sarah C. Hagar Award, for exceptional service or a significant contribution to librarianship.

The Trustee of the Year Award, for outstanding achievement by a library trustee.

To place a name in nomination for these awards, complete the appropriate online nomination form:

Nominations for a fifth award, the Senator Patrick Leahy Library Advocate of the Year Award, are provided by the Government Relations & Advocacy Committee.

Honoring Retirees
Are you retiring or know a librarian who is? If that librarian is also a VLA member, we want to honor them at the annual Vermont Library Conference. Email pcartier@vermontlaw.edu with their name, library, and position.

Recognition
Award recipients will be announced at the annual Vermont Library Conference on Monday, June 1, 2026, at the University of Vermont’s Howe Library. Support all Vermont librarians by recognizing those special colleagues, mentors, trustees, and/or library supporters who help create the community that we value and who give us reason to celebrate.

Questions?
For more information, visit the Vermont Library Association Scholarship and Awards Committee webpage, or email committee chairperson Pamela Cartier at pcartier@vermontlaw.edu

Last updated April 4, 2026 (sl)

The Working Group on the Status of Libraries in Vermont Receives 2024 Green Mountain Award

The Working Group on the Status of Libraries in Vermont received the Vermont Library Association’s 2024 Green Mountain Award, which recognizes outstanding service, support, or exceptional contributions to Vermont libraries.

“The final, comprehensive report authored by the group lays out a series of important recommendations which are already resulting in significant legislative discussion at the Statehouse,” said VLA President Oceana Wilson in presenting the award.

Vermont Department of Libraries State Librarian and Library Commissioner Catherine Delneo served as the Working Group’s Chair, and Assistant State Librarian Tom McMurdo served as chair prior to her tenure. Other members of the group were:

Kelly McCagg – Vermont Library Association President (2022-2023) and Past President (2023-2024), and Director of Burnham Memorial Library
Christopher Kaufman Ilstrup – Executive Director of the Vermont Humanities Council
Jeannette Bair – Public Library Representative, Retired Director, Rochester Public Library
Susan O’Connell – Public Library Representative, Director, Craftsbury Public Library
Wendy Sharkey – Public Library Representative, Director, Bennington Free Library
Meg Allison – Past-President, Legislative Concerns Chair, Vermont School Library Association, Librarian, U32 High School, Montpelier
Karen McCalla – Vermont School Library Association Representative, Teacher Librarian, Mill River Union Middle/High School, North Clarendon
Maria Avery – Academic Library Representative, University of Vermont Libraries, Burlington
Denise Hersey – Academic Library Representative, Director, Dana Health Sciences Library, University of Vermont, Burlington
Andy Kolovos – Friends and Trustees Section Representative, Vermont Library Association, Trustee, Brownell Library, Associate Director and Archivist, Vermont Folklife, Middlebury

Thank you to Jonathan Clark of the Vermont Department of Libraries for the photo of members of the working group receiving the award at VLA’s May 2024 conference.

Last update June 12, 2024

2023 VLA Award Nominations Open

There are so many excellent librarians and trustees in Vermont that it is hard to single out just one of each annually, but there are always ones who are extraordinary and deserved to be recognized statewide. Now is the time to nominate those deserving colleagues. Winners will be recognized and awarded at the VLA Conference on Monday, April 3, 2023.

To place a person in nomination for any award, please send the nominee’s name, the name of their library, a letter or letters explaining why this person should receive the award, along with your name, library, telephone number, and e-mail address, Send this information to VLA Awards Committee co-chair mdanko[at]burlingtonvt.gov.

Nominations that include a few letters that present a well-rounded picture of the candidate are preferred to a single letter, or many letters that all say similar things. If a nomination is made by more than one person, please designate one signatory as the contact person. Nominations are due by Wednesday, March 1, 2023.Read more→