Award Honors 2 North Texas Librarians & 8 Others Across U.S.

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NEW YORK (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — A librarian in Denton County who makes librarians look "cool" and another in Hood County who during the summer fought to keep two LGBT children's books from being banned are among 10 recipients of the I Love My Librarian Award.

The awards announced Thursday by the American Library Association and the Carnegie Corporation of New York honor "exceptional public service" and include a $5,000 cash prize for each winner. Librarians were nominated by patrons, with more than 1,300 submissions turned in for 2015.

A nominator at the University of North Texas in Denton liked Doug Campbell's "smart/kind combo" and added that he makes "the library and librarians look cool!"  Sylvia Cieply of the Otto A. Fischer School in Orange, California, was praised for adding a wide range of books to her school's collection, from career guides to ones with LGBT themes.

Several winners were cited for their work with low income residents, including Leslie Koch of the Armstrong Elementary School in Eastover, North Carolina; April Roy of the Kansas City Public Library in Missouri; and Elizabeth Rumery of the University of Connecticut in Groton.

One of the other recipients is Courtney P. Kincaid, formerly of the Hood County Library in Granbury, who fought earlier this year to keep some LGBT children's books on library shelves. The two children's books at the center of the debate were "My Princess Boy" by Cheryl Kilodavis and "This Day in June" by Gayle E. Pitman. At the time, Kincaid defended her position saying, "We have lesbians and gays in the community and they deserve to have items in the collection for themselves or for their families."

The other librarian award recipients were Diane Brown of the New Haven Free Public Library in Connecticut; Dona J. Helmer of the College Gate Elementary School Library in Anchorage, Alaska; Dr. Christopher A. Shaffer of Troy University in Alabama; and Shugana Williams of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College in Perkinston.

The award was established in 2008.

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