Outstanding Librarian in Support of Literacy 2012 - Christy Aguirre, Branch Supervisor Southgate Branch, Sacramento Public Library

Outstanding Librarian
in Support of Literacy Award: 2012
Christy Aguirre, Branch Supervisor
Southgate Branch, Sacramento Public Library, CA

Christy Aguirre Movers & Shakers 2013 — Community Builders - Literacy Legacy

Library Journal: 3.19.2013

Thanks to branch supervisor Christy Aguirre, the Southgate Branch of the Sacramento Public Library (SPL), located in a poor neighborhood known for gang-related violence, has become a literacy-promoting safe space.

Almost immediately after joining Southgate in spring 2012, Aguirre, who has been with the Sacramento Public Library since 2008 (and before that spent seven years in the public libraries of San José), initiated partnerships with dozens of local businesses, city organizers, and public and private agencies to offer grant-funded programming and workshops to increase literacy across all ages and abilities.

She brought Desert Storm veterans from the Sacramento Veterans Resource and Rehab Center into SPL’s Adult Literacy Program and combined forces with the Southgate Recreation and Park District to support neighborhood Summer Reading Camps. She reached out to Head Start parents and caregivers, pregnant and parenting teens at the nearby alternative high school, struggling families in housing developments, the AIDS Housing Alliance, the Al-Arqam Islamic School, a shelter for women and children, and more.

The keystone of this literacy push is the summer reading program. To promote it, the library set up tables at events and locations all over Sacramento, including the Filipino Fiesta, San Francisco Junior Giants Baseball Summer Camp, National Night Out, Sacramento Zoo, and more. Library staff visited schools, made presentations at parent/teacher meetings and before the media, and distributed flyers.  READ MORE !

This award, established in 2003 (Literacy Interest Group), recognizes and honors a librarian who has gone above and beyond the call of duty to support literacy.

Past Winners
2011: Patricia Lorenzo, Santa Clara County Library District
2010: Anne Cain, Contra Costa County Library
2009: Derek Wolfgram, Santa Clara County Library
2008: Jean Hofacket, Alameda County Library
2007: Carol Starr, Marin County Free Library
2006: John M. Adams, Orange County Public Library
2005: Sofia Bellos, Oxnard Public Library
2004: Leslie McGinnis Rodd, Oakland Public Library
2003: Chuck Aston, Redwood City Public Library