LBPD Wins 2006 State Librarian's Excellence Award

Washtenaw County’s Library for the Blind and Physically Disabled (LBPD) has received the 2006 State Librarian’s Excellence Award for exemplary public service. The Library of Michigan Foundation presented the award, which includes a trophy and $5,000 in privately raised funds to be used for library service. The LBPD staff and a number of board members attended an awards luncheon to receive the honor at the Michigan Library Association’s annual conference at the Renaissance Center in Detroit on October 12th.

The Award is presented to just one Michigan library each year that demonstrates

• new, innovative and superior services to its customers in a cost-effective manner, with a can-do attitude and by always delivering on promises;
• the library's commitment to high standards of customer service through staff dealings with customers and synergy within the staff through a coordinated approach to supporting customers;
• that the library is a 'team player' through its collaborations in the community.

The Washtenaw County Library for the Blind and Physically Disabled serves residents of Washtenaw, Jackson and Livingston counties. As part of the National Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, the library provides traditional services like audio books, playback equipment, large-print materials and descriptive videos. "These are all essential and valued, but what makes this library exceptional is how it builds upon its core mission with programming that involves extensive outreach, innovative services and collaborations with many other community organizations," said the State of Michigan’s Librarian Nancy Robertson.

Washtenaw County LBPD Director Mary Udoji was thrilled with the award. "We truly do have such terrific people here at the Library, and I’m so happy to see them recognized. But I have to say, too, that our customers are the ones who help push us forward. They’re involved and so important in our ability to be successful."

The Library's many unique programs include " Many Ways of Seeing," a partnership with the University of Michigan School of Art and Design that brought students and visually impaired community members to create and exhibit works of ceramic art. The LBPD’s VISIONS series is a biennial vendor fair in conjunction with the Michigan Commission for the Blind that brought together more than 50 agencies and companies serving the visually impaired.

"I was really moved, and inspired, by a quote that was included in one of supporting letters in our nomination for this award," said LBPD coordinator Margaret Wolfe. "It was from Helen Keller and, I think for all of us, spoke to our hearts: 'When we do the best that we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in our life, or in the life of another.'"
 
 
 
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