This honor roll for Illinois libraries serves the dual purpose of recognizing outstanding voices in the library community, while creating a legacy through the ILA Endowment to continue their important work.
2013
Valerie Wilford, 1939-2016
Valerie J. Wilford retired as executive director of the Alliance Library System after a forty-year career improving libraries and librarianship in Illinois. She was a colleague, instructor, and mentor to hundreds of librarians, noted for her leadership, creativity, and enterprise. On the state level, she served as ILA President in 1984, was honored as ILA's Librarian of the Year in 1992, and received the Hugh Atkinson Award for contributions to multi-type library cooperation and resource-sharing. National recognition included ALA's Margaret E. Monroe Award and ASCLA's Leadership Achievement Award for setting new standards in cooperation among all types of libraries.
She spearheaded the first national virtual conference for the American Association of School Libraries (AASL) and developed a FREENET for rural libraries. Wilford is a member of the American Library Association, the Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies, the Illinois Library Association, the American Association of School Librarians, and the Illinois School Library and Media Association.
Wilford has a bachelor's degree in education from Illinois State University and a master's degree in library science from the University of Illinois. Her studies included post-graduate work at the University of Minnesota, Northwestern University, and Illinois State University.
Inducted November 15, 2013
Sally Decker Smith
“With every new experience, I always try to learn enough to help other people.” That statement from Sally Decker Smith exemplifies her long career serving as a trusted mentor to innumerable colleagues. When Northern Illinois University presented her with a library degree, they presented an inspirational role model to the library world. An active member of the Illinois Library Association, serving on numerous committees and as a mentor to new librarians, Smith reviews resumes at conferences, offering constructive criticism and a sincere ear. She willingly shares her expertise with everyone from new librarians and new trustees to new managers and first-time public speakers. She embodies the notion that she succeeds only when helping others to succeed.
A former staff member at Indian Trails Public Library District, she authored the popular “Sally in Libraryland” column for the ILA Reporter for more than twenty years. Always entertaining and often thought provoking, her column makes you feel like you received a letter from a personal friend. Her extraordinary ability to drill down to a core issue, an innate grasp of reality, and a natural flare for humor, draws enthusiastic audiences to her speaking engagements. To put it simply, she inspires!
Inducted September 30, 2013
A. Denise Farrugia
A. Denise Farrugia is to be credited with establishing the framework for running a financially successful iREAD program, now one of the cornerstones of the Illinois Library Association. As a three-time chair of the iREAD Committee, she established iREAD’s popularity and credibility with libraries in Illinois. While she was not the first chair of the program, she developed an annual calendar, step-by-step procedures, goals and deadlines, all contributing to the sustainability of the project for those who followed in her footsteps.
A recipient of the Illinois Library Association’s Davis Cup Award, Farrugia has devoted her professional life to youth services librarianship and storytelling. She has been a storyteller at the Illinois State Fair, past president of the Lincoln Story League, coordinated twenty trips to the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee, and received the National Storytelling Network Oracle Award for the North Central Region in 2003. Currently youth services manager at the St. Charles Public Library District, she has also worked for the Glen Ellyn and Woodridge Public Libraries.
Inducted September 30, 2013
Rose Allen
Rose Allen's library career began in 1969 and in 1987, she starting working at the Mount Prospect Public Library (MPPL) as a library assistant. After raising her family, she returned to school, earning a bachelor's degree from Northern Illinois University (NIU) and a master's in Library and Information Science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) while working full time.
She served on the ILA Reaching Forward Committee, ALA Support Staff Round Table, and was instrumental in forming a support staff group at MPPL. She was elected to the ILA Executive Board and served on numerous ILA committees, including Awards, Membership, Cultural and Racial Diversity committees, and is a recipient of the Jane O'Brien Award recognizing her work.
After becoming teen services librarian at MPPL, her leadership and outreach efforts expanded the library's visibility and her positive impact on the community was acknowledged when awarded the "Toast of the Town" award by the Village of Mount Prospect. She has served on young adult committees with both ILA and ALA, reviewing books, and speaking, moderating and providing displays at programs.
Allen's love for reading developed at an early age, overcoming Maryland segregation laws that barred her from the library. Mentored by her school librarian, she read everything her family could buy, borrow or were given.
Inducted June 14, 2013
Beverly Lynch
Beverly Lynch has a long and distinguished record in librarianship in Illinois and nationally as a librarian, library educator, and library leader.
She became executive director of the Association of College and Research Libraries, a division of the American Library Association, in 1972. Following that, she served as university librarian and professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago from 1977 to 1989. Lynch was president of the American Library Association in 1985-86 and twice served as interim president of the Center for Research Libraries in Chicago.
Her tenure at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) includes serving as dean and professor in the Department of Information Studies at UCLA, founding director of the California Rare Book School, and directing the UCLA Senior Fellows Program.
Lynch has received many honors and awards, including the Melvil Dewey Medal (2012) and the Lippincott Award (2009), both awarded by the American Library Association. She holds a master’s degree in library and information science from the University of Illinois and a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin.
Inducted April 26, 2013
Lynn M. Hammerlund, 1959-2016
Lynn M. Hammerlund is one of Illinois’ unsung heroes who quietly goes about the business of ensuring that her hometown library functions at the highest level, that her peers and colleagues are taught the principles of librarianship well, and that her students are information-literacy overachievers.
She was appointed to the Algonquin Area Public Library District (AAPLD) Board of Trustees in 1988 and has served twenty-four consecutive years, twenty of them as board president. As trustee and president, Hammerlund has done all the big things that allowed AAPLD to become a Library Journal 4 Star Library. She led two successful referenda resulting in the construction of a new 35,000-square-foot central library and the renovation of an 18,000-square-foot branch library. From 1988 through 2002, she led the library district through eight successful annexations of the Algonquin, Lake in the Hills, and Carey communities.
Hammerlund earned her master’s in library and information studies at Northern Illinois University and is a key part of the library staff at Judson University, with a thirty-year tenure as associate professor. In 2012 she was a winning contestant on Jeopardy, cementing the reputation of librarians as very smart people.
Inducted February 8, 2013
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