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CHICAGO – Library users have until Sept. 12 to nominate a librarian for the 2011 Carnegie Corporation of New York/New York Times I Love My Librarian Award. Ten librarians will win $5,000 and receive national recognition.

Librarians can download tools to promote the award locally on the .

The award invites library users nationwide to recognize the accomplishments of librarians in public, school, college, community college and university libraries for their efforts to improve the lives of people in their community. Nominations are accepted online at .

In addition to the $5,000 cash award, ten winners will receive a plaque and will be honored at an awards ceremony and reception in New York, hosted by The New York Times, in December.

“At the centennial of Carnegie Corporation of New York, whose creator’s greatest philanthropic act was his endowment of libraries, the library remains as one of our most important institutions. Libraries continue as places of opportunity and centers of community, with librarians dedicated to ensuring free access to knowledge for everyone,” said Vartan Gregorian, president of Carnegie Corporation of New York, which was founded by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie to support “the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding.”

Over the past three years, 30 librarians from across the country have won the I Love My Librarian Award. Previous winners were lauded for starting community gardens, helping students with severe disabilities read classic works of literature, for helping non-traditional students learn new technology to get better jobs and more. For more information on previous winners, visit . Previous winners are also featured in a .

“Being nominated for the I Love My Librarian Award by people in my community was meaningful to me personally and professionally,” said 2010 I Love My Librarian winner Ellen Dolan, director of the Shrewsbury (Mass.) Public Library. “My winning the award really is a testament to how deeply the community cares about its library as a vibrant, active, comfortable place to connect with others.”

Each nominee must be a librarian with a master’s degree from a program accredited by the 91´«Ã½ in library and information studies or a master’s degree with a specialty in school library media from an educational unit accredited by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education. Nominees must be currently working in the United States in a public library, a library at an accredited two- or four-year college or university or at an accredited K-12 school.

The Carnegie Corporation of New York/New York Times I Love My Librarian Award is administered by the Campaign for America’s Libraries, 91´«Ã½’s public awareness campaign that promotes the value of libraries and librarians. The Campaign is made possible by 91´«Ã½’s Library Champions, corporations and foundations.