ladies and gentlemen thank you for joining us for the 2012 National medal
for Museum and Library service awards ceremony today we recognize the
extraordinary work of 10 outstanding museums and libraries from across the
nation and celebrate the valuable role these institutions and all museums and
libraries play in our communities we're very proud to have members of the
National Museum and Library Services board with us today uh they are all
sitting together and I'll just mention them and where they're from we're very
uh We've seated just eight new members today and we're very proud of them and
our board members here include Charles Benton from Illinois Julia Bland
Louisiana Christy brandow Iowa Bert crass Castro Arizona John Copa Florida
Paula Gap Michigan uh Louis Herrera California
Eric Jolly Minnesota Susanna torea Laval New York Mary minnow California Tina
oraal Washington Lawrence pjo Alabama Winston tab Maryland Suzanne Thoren New
York and Bob wedworth from Illinois so thank you all for joining us today I
also would like to um acknowledge the members of Congress who are here today
and we're very happy to have Congressman Jason altm from Pennsylvania thank you
so much for coming and
also we are very happy to have Mrs Tipton uh and and representing her
husband Scott Tipton from Colorado so I'm sure you have a wonderful first name
Mrs
Tipton I just wanted to talk a little bit about the role our board members
play in this process they bring passion and Leadership to The Institute of
Museum and Library services and they help strengthen the educational and
cultural life of our country they also lend their expertise to the National
medal selection process by their careful review of nominations and sharing
insightful recommendations so thank you very much for our current board members
and the new ones you have a big task ahead of you and we're looking forward
to your advice thank you very much um so each of you here today you play a very
important part in promoting the tremendous value of museums and
libraries to our these institutions are Community anchors
that offer lifechanging learning experiences they have long contributed
to our country and they are responding to the needs of 21st century Learners
with creativity and vitality I'd also like to acknowledge that our museums and
libraries uh in our neighbors to the north who were hit with a desperate uh
Storm from Sandy have really been doing a great job in terms of bringing those
communities together providing light power uh and just a place to come
together in need so we really would like to acknowledge uh our friends that were
hurt by Sandy but are really making a difference uh in the lives and
restoration of some peace and Sanity up there the libraries and museums we honor
Today show us what is possible they are places that are using their physical and
digital spaces their Collections and their dedicated staffs to make a real
difference in community life the national medal for Museum and Library
service is the highest National Honor conferred on museums and libraries and
to sum up why this year's honores have earned this award I believe First Lady
Michelle Obama Put It Best in a message to our recipients Mrs Obama wrote
congratulations to the winners of the national medal for Museum and Library
service this year's recipients share a common commitment to Excellence the
spirit of innovative thinking and the determination to serve their home
communities by pushing the boundaries of what's possible and embracing new ideas
and approaches these Award winners have challenged the conventional Notions of
what a library or Museum can and should be congratulations again I wish you all
the best and I certainly join Mrs Obama in her sentiments and add my sincere
congratulations to our medal winners it is my tremendous honor to introduce our
guest of honor Cecilia Munoz director of the domestic policy Council prior to
this role Cecilia served as Deputy assistant to the president and director
of intergovernmental Affairs where she oversaw the Obama administration's
relationship with state and local governments before joining the Obama
Administration she served as senior vice president for the office of research
advocacy and legislation at the National Council of lza the nation's largest
Latino civil rights organization she supervised policy staff covering a iety
of issues of importance to Latinos including civil rights employment
poverty Farm worker issues Education Health housing and immigration her
particular area of expertise is immigration policy which she covered at
the council for 20 years please join me in welcoming Cecilia
[Applause] Munoz welcome to the White House
everybody um I'm so excited to be here with all of you um and I guess it's
fitting That We Gather in this space this is known as the Indian treaty room
um I don't think there were any actual treaties signed here um but it's a
fitting space because it served as a library um and it while it is you know
elaborate and pretty snazzy it occurred to me as I was watching the video that
it doesn't begin to serve as the kind of community Hub uh as the places that
we're honoring today um and as somebody who is the daughter of immigrants uh
grew up in one of those wonderful big messy extended immigr
families um I am just extremely grateful for the role that the kinds of
Institutions you represent play in making us one nation in connecting
people in connecting communities uh in connecting people to ideas it is an
extraordinary contribution that you make um and just as a personal matter I'm
very grateful for it so that's one of many reasons I'm excited to be here
today to welcome you and congratulate you all um all across the country
institutions like the ones we're honoring today are opening up young eyes
to Passion understanding and opportunity um our nation's
123,000 libraries and 17,500 museums help level the playing
field you break down Geographic language economic or physical barriers that make
it difficult for people to get the information that they need and to get
connected to each other you serve as beacons of knowledge and Community
Development in the cities and towns where you reside uh and nearly every
Community across the country has a library or Museum to call their own and
with robust online networks and dedicated staff and volunteers that keep
them moving forward these museums and libraries connect people to ideas and
very importantly to one another um but I should say and you all know that these
are also times of real challenge for libraries and museums across the country
economic strains are causing reductions and budgets that support the great work
that you do um and you're not immune to the tough e economic conditions that all
of us as as a nation have been enduring and at the same time for in some ways
for the very same reason public demand for libraries and museums continues to
be strong communities are looking to libraries and museums as full Partners
in education Workforce Development adoption of new technologies integration
of immigrants we really need you um and you're not only filling the Gap you're
helping communities imagine new ways to leverage your assets and support of core
Citizen Services and really to do more with less fulfilling a really special
Civic educational and Cultural Mission without museums and libraries it would
be more difficult maybe impossible for many people to pursue their education
seek employment and lead the kind of lives they Envision for themselves and
we all have so much rioting on their ability to do that you all are
fundamental institutions in our communities um you support really some
of the the fundamental values of our democracy the tools which make our
democracy possible and should say that the institute for Museum and library of
science plays a unique role and I just would like to take a second to commend
Susan on her remarkable leadership of the organization we're living at a time
when strategic use of resources could not be more important and imls is role
to provide leadership funding data research has been essential in helping
libraries and museums navigate change and evolve their services and you know
perhaps better than anybody we are living in a moment of extraordinary
change um so this is an incredibly important
service and over the past several years imls has worked across governmental
agencies to encourage collaboration on a host of goals including using libraries
museums as centers for Workforce Development the advancement of
highquality learning experience for our youngest Americans and the adoption of
broadband technology in ever more communities so across the country
creative libraries and museums are helping people strengthen communities
and bringing people together for a better future and the connections that
you all are making uh to new ideas connecting people to each other fortify
the Civic and educational fabric of the nation um I'm it really gives me great
pride to be here today to celebrate all of you and especially to thank you for
what you do I should say that uh I have a daughter a high daughter who's getting
ready to go to college and the thing she wants to do uh and to prepare for is to
work in a museum and we have lots of conversations around the dinner table
you could do the wave for that right we have lots of dinner table T
conversations about how the things that we're reading the things that we that
that she's interested in that connect us to our own history um how important they
are to what drives us forward in the future and so I look forward to going
home today and telling her that I got a chance to be here with all of you and
celebrate the the work that you do couldn't be more important really so
congratulations but especially thank you so I am now very honored to
introduce today's MC C NPR senior National correspondent Linda worth
Heimer we're very excited and honored for Linda to join us this year she has
been with NPR since the Network's Inception her award-winning coverage has
captured pivotal moments in history and she has achieved many firsts including
being the first person to broadcast live from inside the United States Senate
chamber as well as being the first woman to Anchor network coverage of a
presidential nomination convention and of election night Linda has served as a
senior National correspondent since 2002 she previously spent 13 years hosting
NPR's news magazine All Things Considered ladies and Gentlemen please
welcome this year's MC Linda worth Heimer good afternoon it's a great
pleasure for me to uh have a small part in the ceremony to bestow this
prestigious award on the nation's best libraries and museums I'm a big fan of
libraries I remember with great affection and respect the public library
of carlbad New Mexico where I grew up my favorite memory of the library is the
day my friend Mary and I found some odd-looking bugs that nobody knew what
they were on my mother's roses so we we put a few of them in a peanut butter jar
hopped on our bicycles and went to the library to ask the librarian Mrs Milton
what they were and like Mrs Milton Mrs Helen Milton didn't even BL Link at bugs
coming into the library uh and she also didn't answer the question like the good
library in that she was she pointed she introduced us to a new word entomology
and she pointed us at books and she said uh she said once you think you know what
it is then these there are other books that have big plates of pictures so you
can identify your creature and it didn't even take very long for us to do it we
identified the little insect is something that would shortly develop
into a ladybug so we felt it was good for the
roses and uh we were glad to we had not destroyed them all um I've remembered
that day for 60 years at least because um because Mrs Milton made me feel so
smart and so powerful to have all of the library at my disposal now
I am going to uh to read the names of the institutions and the leaders of
those institutions and each Medal winner has brought with them someone on whom
their institution has had a positive impact um I will read the names of the
honores and I will and the representatives who will accept the
award and include a little bit about each of these community members when we
call your names please come forward to accept the national medal for Museum and
Library service from director Susan hrth booill youth Museum of Malden
Missouri pany ruin as the executive director and she comes with Community
member Lauren Collins as a little girl Lauren was a frequent visitor to the
booill youth Museum and then she signed up to volunteer to fill part of her
curriculum at Southeast Missouri State University and she has maintained this
connection over the years now she embodies the spirit Spirit of
volunteerism that makes communi strong she is amazing with kids and at the
Museum she's found a place where those skills could be developed according to
the director she is the face of the
museum the cont Costa County Library of Pleasant Hill California the director is
Barbara Flynn and Mary pipo chairman of the board comes as well and the
Community member is gladus Lee glattus never stops learning never gives
up she is a leader former business owner Storyteller World traveler at age 67 she
learned to read through contracosta County Library's adult literacy program
which is called project second chance she said of the program all the facets
of my life have been enhanced by the growth of my reading skills I no longer
have to look at pictures to understand movies or menus I can now read to my
grandchildren
and now the Cumberland County Public Library of fville North
Carolina jod risher is the library director Sarah Vander Clute member of
the Board of Trustees and the Community member and board chair is Willie Wright
Willie has volunteered at the Cumberland County Public Library since
1995 as an army veteran he understands the support the Cumberland County Public
Library offers military families facing Transitions and difficult separations
Willie says the local library is always a place where service members can feel
at
home next the Garfield Park Conservatory of Chicago president Unita rushing Margo
moris is the chairman of the board of directors and the Community member is
Tiara Livingston 19-year-old Tiara has part has participated with the Garfield
Park conservatory's green teens program since a freshman year in high school
growing up on Chicago's West Side Tiara saw firsthand the challenges and
troubles her neighborhood was facing through the green teens program Tiara
gained job Readiness skills participated in resume and cover letter workshops and
learned more about the opportunities that a college education would provide
today Tiara is a sophomore at depal University
and next the Long Island children's museum of Garden City New York Susan
lank the president Robert Lemley the board co-chair and community members
Francisco kihala and his daughter Ruth together to kindergarten is a community
focused Initiative for Spanish and Haitian speaking immigrant families
Francisco and his wife Anna praised the program for preparing their children to
start their future the program helped Ruth become so comfortable with English
that she did not need an ESL classroom setting for kindergarten Francisco felt
at ease because everyone spoke the same language and everyone was there to help
the children he says we're better prepared to play a role in our
children's education congratulations and next the Museum of
Contemporary Art in North Miami Florida the executive director and chief curator
Bonnie Clearwater uh North Miami's mayor The
Honorable Andre Pierre and Community member Cassandra Timothy Cassandra's
parents were raised in Haiti and moved to Miami before she was born for the
last seven years Cassandra has been actively involved in mocha with ever
increasing responsibility she says anyone at any age can relate and learn
to appreciate art if it had not been for the people at the Museum I know I would
not be where I am in life today from thinking CR critically to analyzing
carefully the mocha experience Cassandra says is one that will change your life
Cassandra says her first job her mentors her scholarships and even her college
roommate came as a result of her involvement at
mocha the natur Community Library of nachita Colorado Paul Paladino is the
director Scott shine is the president of the Board of Trustees and Community
member Jamie Fulbright is also here Jamie is a wife the mother of young boys
she's overcome many challenges she started volunteering at the library in
2006 where she developed confidence and new skills she found that drawing on her
own experience she was able to be empathetic which enabled her to Be an
Effective resource and guide for others last summer Jaimie was hired to
coordinate the library's early literacy activities now she's taking classes with
the ultimate goal of receiving her master's degree in library
science the Pacific Science Center of Seattle Washington the president and CEO
Bryce cidell is here Christopher ay who's a member of the board of directors
and the community member who is here is Andrea Nichols 21-year-old Andrea began
volunteering at Pacific Science Center in high school as part of the discovery
Corp she began with little interest in science all that turned around when she
found herself at a science center weekend event holding a snake for the
first time in that moment she overcame her fear of reptiles and discovered a
passion for science she recently graduated from the University of
Washington where a senior project focused on reptiles and involved a study
of snakes on Orca Island she's now part of the Education team at the science
[Applause] center Parkview High School library
media center of Sterling Virginia Candace main rush and Jennifer fiser
library media Specialists are here Park View High School principal Virginia muu
and Community member Pablo Rivera this this High School senior was selected by
the Park viw High School library media center Librarians for exemplifying the
impact the Lowden County Virginia library has on student achievement Pablo
who is student council Association president frequents the library before
and after school to complete his homework he performs in the library's
morning concert series as a member of the Multicultural Ensemble and he
interacts frequently with staff to find information and asks for suggestions
about what he ought to read next
[Applause] congratulations and finally the shayer
North Hills library of Glenn Shaw Pennsylvania the director Sharon McCrae
is here with Community member Janet Miller when Janet's husband died in 2007
it was a difficult time she was happy to have a job and continue to work she's a
people person she knew it was best to keep busy when she retired from her job
2 years later she needed a place where she could put her talents to work and 3
weeks later she found that place at the shayer North Hills Library she says she
sees teens in the afternoons after school she participates in the book club
and helps with the book sale the library considers Janet a treasure and Janet
says she feels good and is enjoying life and the
library and of course the other gentleman here is
the so today we have heard stories of 10 people with diverse interests and
aspirations who found that libraries and museums can provide incredible
opportunities to grow each is a story of transformation for these individuals and
you know it really helps me uh believe that every day when I go to that office
building in Washington DC and TR away at my job that I am making a difference we
are making a difference when we hear these great stories of the impacts we
have on individuals lives these special libraries and museums help people to
fulfill to follow their follow their passions explore talents and build
skills that lead to personal and professional fulfillment this year's
winners represent the best of our nation's libraries and museums there are
countless stories across the country of Americans young and old learning
enjoying and opening doors to new and deeply powerful experiences at their
local Museum or Library