Carol Small Receives 2010 Maher Stern Award for Excellence in Community Service

August 10, 2010 – At a ceremony held yesterday, Carol Small, the Library Manager at the Hamilton Grange Library, was award the 2010 Maher Stern Award for Service Excellence for her untiring dedication to her library and the community it serves. 

The award was established in 1993 by Allison Maher Stern along with her husband Leonard Stern. It encourages high standards in branch library service by honoring a librarian and his or her staff for distinction. Included is a $1,000 prize for the winning librarian along with $1,000 to the branch to enhance its quality of service.

Since her arrival at the Hamilton Grange Library, Ms. Small has focused her endeavors on the community. Most notably, with her team, she has developed a Job information center, where users are given extended computer appointments to complete unemployment benefits claims, perform job searches, update resumes and covers letters, and apply for social service benefits. Ms. Small has also worked with her team to offer a variety of popular computer literacy classes, including workshops about Microsoft Word, Job Searching, PowerPoint, Resume Writing, the New York Public Library’s Electronic Resources, Email, and Introduction to the Internet. The Hamilton Grange Library also offers its community diverse programming for all ages, most notably Baby Lap-sit and toddler programs, yoga and fitness classes, poetry contests, book discussion groups, crochet classes, and a Teen Advisory Group (TAG). Under her leadership this library has hosted seven exhibitions by local artists and photographers. And Ms. Small is currently working with library leaders to develop proposals for a teen space for Hamilton Grange.

About The New York Public Library

The New York Public Library was created in 1895 with the consolidation of the private libraries of John Jacob Astor and James Lenox with the Samuel Jones Tilden Trust. The Library provides free and open access to its physical and electronic collections and information, as well as to its services. Its renowned research collections are located in the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street; The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center; the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem; and the Science, Industry and Business Library at 34th Street and Madison Avenue. Eighty-eight branch libraries provide access to circulating collections and a wide range of other services in neighborhoods throughout the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island. Research and circulating collections combined total more than 50 million items. In addition, each year the Library presents thousands of exhibitions and public programs, which include classes in technology, literacy, and English for speakers of other languages. All in all The New York Public Library serves more than 17 million patrons who come through its doors annually and millions more around the globe who use its resources at www.nypl.org.

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Contact:            Jennifer Lam,  212.592.7708 or Jennifer_Lam(at)nypl(dot)org