Tracie Walker-Reed, library media specialist at H. Grady Spruce High School in Dallas, is a winner of this year’s I Love My Librarian Award. Recognized for her leadership in her school and commitment to transforming lives, she is one of only ten librarians in the country to receive this national honor. Walker-Reed’s nominators highlighted her one-on-one tutoring and mentoring of at-risk and low-income students and her invaluable support of H. Grandy Spruce High School’s learning process through instruction, technology support, and access to print and digital library books.

Holding a true commitment to supporting all areas of positive learning, Walker Reed goes above and beyond her role as a media specialist to make a positive impact by sponsoring numerous student clubs, organizations, and committees. Over the years, she has sponsored the Ladies of Class, an organization that focuses on empowering young women and teaching them social skills; the Decathlon UIL event, which brings home several medals every year; and the Teen School Board, a student advisory group consisting of the junior and senior class presidents.  

Her humble and generous spirit creates a warm and inviting place in the library for students, staff, and community members. She opens the library to students and their families for college readiness workshops and allows neighborhood residents to borrow books. She also provides much-needed access to technology and digital literacy information.  

The American Library Association (ALA) receives I Love My Librarian Award nominations from the general public that showcase the lasting contributions of dynamic librarians working in public, school, college, community college, and university libraries. This year library users nationwide submitted 1,974 nominations detailing how their favorite librarians have gone above and beyond to improve community members’ lives.

Since the award’s inception in 2008, ALA has selected up to ten librarians from a pool of hundreds of nominations. This year’s award winners will each receive a $5,000 cash prize, a plaque, and a travel stipend to attend the I Love My Librarian Award ceremony in Philadelphia on January 25, 2020, at 3 p.m. during ALA’s Midwinter Meeting & Exhibits. The event will be streamed via Facebook Live at https://www.facebook.com/AmericanLibraryAssociation/ . 

Over the last decade, library supporters have shared more than nineteen thousand nominations detailing how librarians have gone above and beyond to connect them to information, educational opportunities, and critical technology. Information regarding previous award winners, can be found on the I Love My Librarian website at http://www.ilovelibraries.org/lovemylibrarian.