91´«Ã½

CHICAGO — The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) has named Laura Haverkamp, Librarian at Dreher High School in Columbia, SC as the inaugural recipient of its new , which aims to recognize a librarian who has planned a creative, innovative project that promotes literacy.

“My library assistant, Elizabeth Jenkins, and I are so delighted and honored that our proposal “Pizza Box Puppet Talks” was chosen to be this year’s Joann Sweetland Lum Memorial Grant recipient,” said Haverkamp. “As public high school library staff, we are always looking for new ways to engage teachers and students in literacy, both traditional and computer. Our project combines old-fashioned finger puppets, green screen video technology, and foreign language learning for a (hopefully) fun and memorable learning opportunity.”

Haverkamp will receive $1,000 to purchase puppets, supplies for green screens and software for her literacy project.

Established in 2020, the Joann Sweetland Lum Memorial Grant is an annual $1,000 award of Joann Sweetland Lum. As a classroom teacher, a college professor, and a homeschooling mother, Joann Sweetland Lum was an avid user and advocate of libraries. The application form for the Joann Sweetland Lum Memorial Grant is available in the section of the YALSA website. must be received by Dec. 1, 2021.

Members of the 2021 Joann Sweetland Lum Memorial Grant Jury are: Chair Gregory Lum, Library Director, Clark Library, Jesuit High School, Portland, OR; Jerene Battisti, retired librarian, Bakersfield, CA; Abigail Lance, Student, Simmons College GSLIS, Brighton, MA; Kristin Lum, Tigard, OR; and Linda Mayhew, Franklin, TN.

The mission of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) is to support library staff in alleviating the challenges teens face, and in putting all teens ‒ especially those with the greatest needs ‒ on the path to successful and fulfilling lives. For more information about YALSA or to access national guidelines and other resources go to www.ala.org/yalsa, or contact the YALSA office by phone, 800-545-2433, ext. 4390; or e-mail: yalsa@ala.org.