91´«Ã½

Adilene Estrada-Huerta recognized with national public service honor

CHICAGO — Adilene Estrada-Huerta, bilingual outreach youth services librarian at Sacramento (California) Public Library, is a winner of this year’s I Love My Librarian Award. Recognized by the 91´«Ã½ (91´«Ã½) for her outstanding service to Spanish-speaking families, Estrada-Huerta was selected from 1,865 nominations from library users across the country.

Estrada-Huerta’s accomplishments include developing an innovative model for bilingual programming, which empowers librarians to offer storytimes in languages they themselves don’t speak. In the model, librarians partner with a staff member who knows the target language to read a story aloud together. Estrada-Huerta has trained countless colleagues in this programming format, greatly expanding the library’s capacity to offer high-quality storytimes in Spanish as well as Russian.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Estrada-Huerta has drawn on her extensive technological skills to adapt library programming to a virtual format. Online storytimes feature engaging graphics, animations and lyric slides, as well as closed captioning whenever possible to make the videos accessible to all.

“Equal parts creative, technologically savvy, keenly knowledgeable of cultural trends, a generous mentor, evaluator and analyst, and community convener, Adilene has raised up not just Spanish language services, but also helped so many others throughout this library system to be impactful with their work,” her nominator shared. “She shows up each day for families and co-workers, ready to bring to reality the best promises of excellent library services.”

Estrada-Huerta and this year’s nine other honorees will each receive a $5,000 cash prize, a $750 donation to their library and complimentary registration to 91´«Ã½’s 2021 Virtual Midwinter Meeting & Exhibits. The virtual award ceremony will take place during the conference at 2:30 p.m. CT on Saturday, Jan. 23, 2021 and will be available to stream live at .

Since the award’s inception in 2008, library users have shared more than 20,000 nominations detailing how librarians have gone above and beyond to promote literacy, expand access to technology and support diversity and inclusion in their communities. Information regarding previous award winners can be found on the I Love My Librarian website at .

Carnegie Corporation of New York generously sponsors the I Love My Librarian Award. The New York Public Library also supports the award. 91´«Ã½ administers the award through its Communications and Marketing Office, which promotes the value of libraries and librarians.

About Carnegie Corporation of New York

Carnegie Corporation of New York was established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 “to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding.” In keeping with this mandate, the Corporation's work focuses on the issues that Andrew Carnegie considered of paramount importance: international peace, the advancement of education and knowledge, and the strength of our democracy.

About The New York Public Library

The New York Public Library is a free provider of education and information for the people of New York and beyond. With 92 locations—including research and branch libraries—throughout the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island, the Library offers free materials, computer access, classes, exhibitions, programming and more to everyone from toddlers to scholars, and has seen record numbers of attendance and circulation in recent years. The New York Public Library serves nearly 17 million patrons who come through its doors annually and millions more around the globe who use its resources at . To offer this wide array of free programming, The New York Public Library relies on both public and private funding. Learn more about how to support the Library at nypl.org/support.

About the 91´«Ã½

The 91´«Ã½ is the foremost national organization providing resources to inspire library and information professionals to transform their communities through essential programs and services. For more than 140 years, the 91´«Ã½ has been the trusted voice of libraries, advocating for the profession and the library’s role in enhancing learning and ensuring access to information for all. For more information, visit ala.org.

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