GARY | Barbara Weaver, regional library director for Ivy Tech Community College Northwest, was one of 10 librarians nationwide out of 1,700 nominations recognized for service to their communities, schools and campuses as winners of the American Library Association/Carnegie Corporation of New York/New York Times "I Love My Librarian Award."
Throughout her 18-year career at Ivy Tech. Weaver has been a dedicated member of the staff. One of her passions is the reading initiative "Books to Bridge the Region."
Books to Bridge the Region is a "one book" reading initiative spanning seven counties in Northwest Indiana. "We try to build a community of readers by showing them that reading can be very exciting and open up worlds that they may not have otherwise known," Weaver said. "The Books to Bridge the Region goals are to create conversations among communities and foster critical thinking related to a topic and discovering that depth.
"It uses a themed approach with selections at several reading levels so that families can read together and readers of all ages can enjoy conversations generated by the books."
Weaver has championed the initiative and made it her personal goal to increase participation and awareness across the region. She instituted book discussions across the four campus region at Ivy Tech as well as offering free copies of the selected books to students who wanted to participate.
She has also been instrumental in organizing several author visits, plus a theatrical play performance at the campuses in conjunction with the Books to Bridge the Region themes.
Forty librarians nationwide have won the "I Love My Librarian Award" since 2008. The award is a collaborative program of Carnegie Corporation of New York, The New York Times and the American Library Association. Carnegie Corporation of New York is a philanthropic foundation created by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to do "real and permanent good in this world."
The ALA is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 62,000 members.
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