91´«Ã½

CHICAGO – Valerie Horton, Director, Minitex, University of Minnesota, has been selected for the 2018 administered by the .

“Valerie took on the challenge of being the founding Executive Director, when Colorado suffered a significant state budget cut to the funding for its seven regional systems, resulting in the merger of all seven into a single statewide system. Under her guidance, the system not only survived but flourished”, said nominator Brenda

K. Bailey-Hainer. “In the role of Executive Director, she embraced management of the statewide library courier delivery service and engaged consultants to create a software package to improve courier management that was then offered to other groups in other states managing couriers.” She added.

As the Director of Minitex, a library support and resource sharing program based in Minnesota that serves over 2,200 libraries of all types in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota, Valerie manages many statewide services including the Electronic Library of Minnesota and the Minnesota Digital Library, which is one of the original DPLA hubs.”

Horton will be honored at the ASCLA Achievement Awards Ceremony on Saturday, June 23, 2018 from 8:30-10:00am at the 91´«Ã½ Annual Conference in New Orleans. All conference attendees are invited to attend the event. Additional event details are available on the

The, a division of the , enhances the effectiveness of library service by advocating for and providing high quality networking, enrichment and educational opportunities for its diverse members, who represent state library agencies, libraries serving special populations, library cooperatives and library consultants.