[Applause] well good morning everyone nice and cool
in here um thank you for joining us for the 2016 National medal for Museum and
Library Services award ceremony the national medal is our nation's highest
honor for libraries and museums and today we recognize the extraordinary
work of 10 outstanding museums and libraries from across the nation and we
also celebrate the valuable role that these institutions and all museums and
all libraries play in our communities they are true catalysts and in their own
way each of these 10 have made a difference leaving their surrounding
neighborhoods and communities better because of their presence and
Outreach this year's medalists include a museum dedicated to sharing the history
and culture of indigenous people a library that has transformed its
services to meet the needs of large immigrant
populations so much so that it's been dubbed La bibla Milagro hasser the
miracle making Library I love that phrase an academic library that has
become a gateway to knowledge for its community and its partners and a science
museum that has promoted Hands-On science interaction as part of a country
play Ed by high poverty low achievement scores and dwindling
resources we are honored to be able to work with all of our medal winners and
we salute them each and every one of you for the services that they provide every
day this 22nd this is the 22nd year of the national medal ceremony and we are
proud to have the members of the National Museum and Library Services
board with us today our board members are unique in that they bring passion
and Leadership to The Institute of Museum and Library Services Mission and
they help strengthen the educational and cultural life of our country they play
an integral role in helping us to select our national medal winners and we're
very grateful for their service could I ask our board members to stand
please
thank you thank you so much for your dedication and support we also know that
behind our winners behind each one of them as a dedicated team some of whom
are here today with us I'd like to recognize the board members and public
officials who have traveled here in support of Our Winning institutions
would you please stand any board members and public thank
you [Applause]
I'd also like to recognize our partner in chronicling the story of our medalist
story Corp story Corp is a national nonprofit dedicated to recording
preserving and sharing the stories Across America they will visit each
winning institution to document the stories from the community since 2010
story Corp has conducted more than a thousand National medal interviews in
communities across the country and all of the interviews are preserved at the
American folk Life Center at the Library of Congress today we have with us Miss
Robert Sparkman the CEO of story Corp Robin are
[Applause]
you finally I'd like to recognize a group of people who have worked very
hard to make this day possible through many many hours of hard work reviewing
nominations setting up review panels and then liaising with our finalists and our
winners this fall imls will kick off celebrations for its 20th anniversary
and we have been able to support museums and libraries for so many years because
of a hardworking lean and mean contingent of employees so please join
me in thanking and recognizing our dedicated employees at
[Applause] [Music]
imls so my final thought I'd like to leave you with today is this this year's
winners represent all the libraries and museums around the country who are
committed to providing truly engaging experiences for their communities
however you define Community they are in many cases our community's Anon heroes
in preparing for today's ceremony we encourage community members from
locations representing our 30 30 finalists to share their story stories
on social media of how their local institutions have impacted their lives
the results were heartwarming and astounding hundreds of stories poured in
from Americans young and old all eager to share the story of how a local
library or Museum had opened doors to powerful and even life-changing
experiences so today we honor these 10 institutions but I encourage you all to
continue to support the work of libraries and museums across the country
just like those we recognize today and now our next guest has been a true
champion of museums and library and the critical role that they play as
catalysts for Community engagement revitalization and
sustainability she has also graciously hosted this ceremony for many years and
so it's my distinct pleasure and honor to introduce Mrs Michelle Obama the
first lady of the United States [Applause]
[Music]
thank you all thanks so
much you all rest yourselves thank you welcome welcome to the White House um as
we award for the 2016 National medals for Museum and Library Service uh I want
to start by thanking Katherine uh for that wonderful introduction and for her
extraordinary leadership as well as everyone from The Institute of Museum
and Library Services uh I know she gave out all the accolades before I came out
but I want to join in uh and and thank everyone for their hard work their
continuous hard work their dedication and their passion for this issue
uh and of course I want to recognize our 10 incredible awardees and community
members who've come here today from all across the country uh you all are doing
such inspiring Innovative and impactful work and we are incredibly proud of
everything you all have been doing so uh enjoy enjoy this moment and don't be
nervous I know it's hard to be in this room and hear that but yeah they're all
like yeah yeah you can do it you're going to make it up these stairs just
fine uh and I have to tell you someone who lives in a mum and whose husband
will soon be opening uh a m a library himself as you all have heard uh I've
been thinking a lot about uh what you all do and I've celebrated this event
with you uh a number of times over the years and ALT together since 2009 imls
has recognized 80 museums and libraries in 32 states and as we honor your
accomplishments today during my family's last year in the white house uh when
we're just beginning to reflect back on our time here uh I am struck by how
important your work has been for so many of our efforts these past seven and a
half years um as I've said time and time again when we first got to the White
House one of our goals was to make sure that we opened up the doors to this
house as wide as possible to folks from all different backgrounds particularly
to young people who would normally have the chance to come into a space like
this and we've tried to uh showcase as many Great American art forms and
cultural legacies as possible if you've been keeping up uh over the years we've
hosted performances and workshops on everything from Broadway musicals this
room has been converted in so many ways we've had a Broadway stage here with uh
kids and performers singing and dancing everything to Jazz and and country music
to spoken word poetry uh not just Hamilton yes they performed right here
but other spoken word artists as well and the fact is that your work and the
work of libraries and museums across the country has actually help make so many
of these events possible whether you understand how you've done that or not
time and time again it's our nation's libraries and museums who've sparked the
imaginations and encouraged the interest of so many of our nation's most
accomplished authors and performers and I'm thinking of the great writers who
basically took up residence in their Library when they were growing up or the
great artists who were inspired by an amazing exhibit they saw when they were
a kid uh and this isn't just true for the kinds of folks who perform at the
white house uh we've heard this from so many people whose lives have been
affected uh by a great book or a powerful piece of art M included uh that
has transformed the way they see the world and the way they see themselves
that's how we know that in so many communities our libraries and museums
don't just preserve and promote our cultural Treasures they also enrich uh
and enlarge our lives uh and that's really one of the most powerful things
that you all do each and every day this year's incredible awardees are a
testament to that truth uh just take the example of a Lynn Meadows Discovery
Center for Children in gulport Mississippi I understand that when local
leaders and community members came together almost 20 years ago to create
their State's very first Children's Museum they were determined to directly
engage every kid and family in the region so they restored a vacant School
building and after they opened the exhibits they also set up Summer acting
camps and music workshops and family cooking classes and anything that would
bring the community in uh and when Hurricane Katrina washed away the entire
first floor they didn't get discouraged uh because they knew that their
Community needed them more than ever uh instead they rolled up their sleeves and
they cleaned up the damage and reopened even more determined to carry out that
mission and if you want to know the kind of impact they're having on young people
in their Community I just want you to consider the story of a young man who I
just met briefly uh Brandon span um Brandon where are you oh there you are
you're right before my very eyes the handsome young Brandon first
showed up to the Discovery Center as part of a summer Boys and Girls Club
program and he was a shy I understand sixth grader uh who wasn't that excited
about school at the time but then they got him on stage and
everything changed all of a sudden you couldn't help but notice
Brandon because he was a star in the theater I wish you were performing today
but we're not going to force you to do that and then he turned that stardom
into being a star in the classroom and last week Brandon became the first
member of his family to graduate from high school
[Applause] [Music]
congratulations and he's going to be the first member of his family to attend
college as he pursues a degree in drama
[Music]
yeah I just love those stories and there's a story like that uh with every
one of these uh awardees that's the kind of impact our museums can have and
that's the story of so many of our libraries as well um another one of
today's award is the Brooklyn Public Library is a perfect
example they're one of the largest Library systems in America with 60
branches uh almost 4 million books and periodicals and nearly 9 million guests
last year alone uh and they have hosted tens of thousands of public events to
reach Folks at local senior centers and homeless shelters to provide literacy
programs for new readers and young children and to mobilize a network of
2,000 volunteers who provide everything from computer courses to citizenship
classes now some of us might not think of a library as a place to take a course
on citizenship uh but luckily for a woman
named Kim best someone else who I met very giggly Kim
right there that's exactly how the Brooklyn Library System uh worked for
her see Kim's family arrived in this country from Guyana in
1981 the year I went to college but uh it took over 30 years for
her to realize that even after her mother was naturalized Kim wasn't a
citizen herself fortunately Kim had grown up in the Brooklyn Public Library
system so as soon as she found out they offered classes she signed right up she
spent weeks drilling the questions with her teacher and classmates and last
October Kim became one of our newest Americans and she is here with us today
proud
beautiful Kim is also the mother of a 10-year-old son named Ibrahim who wants
to be an engineer when he grows up I understand and Kim knows that he can't
achieve that because these are her words this is what she said she said I know
the library is here for him just like it's always been there for me good
stuff day after day year after year our Nations libraries and museums are here
for our communities and at the end of the day you all don't measure your
impact by the number of books on your shelves or pieces in your exhibits by by
the young people you inspire uh the lives you transform and the impact you
have every single day on your communities so to all of our awardees
here today and to libraries and museums across the country uh I again and for
the last time in this official role I thank you all I thank you all so very
much for everything you do uh I am proud of you all individually I'm proud of the
work that these Institution tions do in our country uh and I can't wait to see
everything else you continue to achieve in the years ahead so don't get
tired we need you working so with that let's get to the awards thank you all so
much and God
bless first we have Brooklyn Public Library of Brooklyn New York the fifth
largest library system in the United States serving 2.5 million residents
accepting the award for Brooklyn Public life Library are president and chief
executive officer Linda E Johnson and Community member Kim
[Music] best Brooklyn Public Library is known
for its robust Outreach Services for all ages and stages of life including new
Americans today 46% of brooklynites over age five speak a language other than
English and 50% of Brooklyn households speak speak a foreign language to best
serve the changing Community the library has become focused on transitional
programs targeted at these populations materials about citizenship are
available in all 60 branches as well as services to Aid with test preparation
for citizenship courses collections can be found in over 126 languages and
English as a second language classes serves some 650 students annually these
offerings are what Community member Kim best credits for her successful
completion of the official citizenship test saying that Brooklyn Public Library
gave her the confidence to
excel Columbia Museum of Art of Colombia South Carolina is revitalizing the city
center and redefining the art museum as a bustling Social Hub of its Community
accepting the award for the Columbia Museum of Art are executive director
Karen broches and Community member Joyce Rose
Harris poet and social political activist Joyce Rose Harris joined the
Columbia Museum of Art the first day she walked in for Joyce the museum spoke to
her immediately and F avoid it offered a connection to a poet community that she
had struggled to find since moving 7 years earlier and a source of
inspiration for her writing in fact her first two published poems were responses
to the Columbia Museum of Art Exhibit chemistry of color she loves attending
the Museum's wide- ranging collections programs and exhibitions and has shared
her poems at the Museum standing next to the work that inspired them Joyce says
there hasn't been another place artistically within South Carolina that
has had as much of an impact on me and my
art when Lyn Meadow's Discovery Center for
Children of gulport Mississippi opened its doors in 1998 it was Mississippi's
first Children's Museum since then the institution has remained dedicated to
expanding a child's world through shared learning experiences accepting the award
for the ly medals Discovery Center for Children Are executive director Cindy
def Francis and Community member Brandon
span
keeping in mind the significant high school dropout rate in Mississippi the
ly medals Discovery Center for Children developed the wings performing arts
program in order to extend reach beyond the center and into the local schools as
part of the program the staff works with families to draw up contracts that work
to ensure the students commitment to education the contract's goal is to
prioritize schoolwork through the wings Performing Arts program if grades drop
or problems arise the child must take a temporary break from the program Brandon
span has been a part of this program since he was 11 years old and credits it
for his successful graduation from high school last
[Music] week Madison Public Library of Madison
Wisconsin has been a steward for Education literacy and Community
involvement for more than 140 years connecting visitors to programs and
services Community Resources and each other accepting the award for the
Madison Public Library are Library director Greg Michaels and Community
member Rob
Franklin rapper and spoken word hipop artist Rob Franklin left his job and
moved to Madison to focus on his music but it didn't take long for him to
exhaust all Financial cial options he took odd jobs and spent full days at
Madison Public Library searching for ways to continue pursuing his passion
the library's artists and residents introduced him to the free classes and
equipment at the libraries media lab where Rob was able to make his dream a
reality recording music creating music videos and designing posters in album
artwork after mastering the offerings of the media lab he began volunteering to
provide media instruction to local students and expanding Outreach to an
atrisk youth at nearby Juvenile Detention Center he taught audio
engineering and video production classes providing access to technology that
otherwise would be unavailable to the children Rob says being able to bring
joy and self-expression to kids who've lived tough lives is bigger than any
record I could ever
[Music] sell Mid America Science Museum of Hot
Springs Arkansas is an award-winning state-of-the-arts Science Museum and
home to over 100 Hands-On science installations it is Arkansas's only
Smithsonian affiliate accepting the award for the mid- America Science
Museum are executive director Diane lafallet and Community member Casey
Wy after graduating college Casey Wy took a position at mid- America Science
Museum where she had volunteered in her youth at the Museum she brought
Innovative science programming to children at 15 schools across Arkansas
including low-income schools where children had experienced minimal
exposure to science until joining the museum staff Casey had been
disillusioned by the education system but she credits working at Mid America
science museum with reigniting her passion for teaching she is now a fifth
grade science teacher pursuing a master's degree in teaching and she has
brought the museum s approach to teaching science in the classroom with
her her every day Casey shares if I hadn't been at the mid America Science
Museum I never would have become a teacher the experience of being a
Hands-On educator at the Museum reawakened my passion for working with
children and helping them make
[Music] discoveries North Carolina State
University libraries of Raleigh North Carolina serves as a gateway to
knowledge for the local community and its Partners accepting the award for
North Carolina State University libraries are Vice provos and executive
director of libraries Susan Nutter and Community member Mara
Gordon after 14 years of teaching at North Carolina State University Mara
Gordon was able to breathe new life into her approach to class research projects
by pairing with NCSU libraries in their cuttingedge technology such as their
large-scale digital interactive displays NCSU new Hunt Library resources and
staff emboldened her to begin assigning multimedia projects to her film studies
graduate classes for the shooting Wars project students brought moving images
archival material audio and text to the screen for an engaging presentation
about the nature of American military conflicts the project provided an
amazing learning experience for the great University and public audiences
she is now on her fifth multimedia project working with the librarian and
its resources Marsha says the North Carolina State University libraries have
really thought about what it means to be a 21st century Library it's a perfect
combination of offerings that help students learn and express intellectual
and creative
[Applause] [Music]
flexibility founded in 1850 Otis library of Norwich Connecticut sits in the heart
of downtown serving as a community center and a collaborative engaged
partner accepting the award for Otis Library are executive director Bob
Farwell and Community member Bassam
gayed when Bassam GED moved to the United States from Egypt to be with his
wife wife he began frequenting the library learning everything he could
about American culture and history he credits the library's free comprehensive
citizenship Resources with preparing him for the test to become a US citizen
Bassam also took a reference test job at the library working with people a few
hours a week and after several years was appointed the Multicultural services
coordinator because he was the sole Spanish speaking employee and understood
the Immigrant experience he was able to develop targeted programs services and
materials to help other immigrants adjust to life in the US and flourish
the way he had he made foreign language material easily accessible for children
and adults expanded the library offerings and focused on helping
American Born Library users better understand World cultures Bassam notes
at the library if we teach kids from a young age about other cultures that
there are other people who think live and worship this way it makes a
difference it makes a better world
[Music] Santa Ana public library of Santa Ana
California has served the community for 125 years supporting the area's large
immigrant population and Bridging the digital divide accepting the award for
the Santa Ana public library are director Heather fulmar and Community
member Victor
goodel
when his family was homeless Victor gel's trip to Santa Ana public library
for a youth group introduced him to a special Community from that night on he
was hooked on the library soon going almost every day after school
befriending the kind Library staff and taking a part-time job there for the
duration of high school the library encouraged him to try new things helped
with his homework and was vital in showing him how to apply for college and
financial aid participating in the library C to trees digital media which
teaches digital literacy Victor discovered his passion for Film
Production he is now studying production at UC Santa Cruz Victor says I didn't
think I was going to go to college that wasn't a reality until I started coming
to the library it exposed me to a lot of things and what I want to do with my
life the Chicago History Museum of Chicago Illinois is the city's oldest
cultural institution and has served as a hub of scholarship and learning
inspiration and Civic engagement for more than a century accepting the award
for the Chicago History Museum are president Gary T Johnson and Community
member Joyce
[Music]
Chu Joyce Chu a first generation American in college graduate spent as
long as she can remember in her father's local bakery in Chicago's Chinatown
neighborhood watching the community come together share stories and talk Politics
the culture of Chinatown particularly the strong connection between the
Chinese community and food was brought to life when the Chicago History Museum
interviewed her and her father for the my Chinatown exhibit spotlighting local
Chinese Chicagoans the exhibit gave her a unique lens into her own family's
history while helping others in Chicago better understand the culture and
Heritage of the Chinese Community the project was conducted around the time of
a devastating fire at a local Chinese Museum so the exhibit not only reached a
new audience but it also filled an unfortunate Gap like left by the
destroyed artifacts Joyce says it's meaningful that the my Chinatown exhibit
is able to preserve the stories of our parents and grandparents for future
Generations so they can get a glimpse of what it was like to be one of the first
groups of Chinese Americans to immigrate to the
[Applause] [Music]
city tomama quag Museum of exitor Rhode Island is the state's only Native
American Museum empowering indigenous people and serving as a bridge to
promote better understanding of the Native community's needs history and
culture accepting the award for Tama quag Museum are executive director
Lauren Spears and Community member Christian Hopkins
[Music]
recent college graduate Christian Hopkins found his Direction at tomaquag
Museum growing up he worked as a dosent attended classes tutored Youth and
became heavily involved in an narran at performance art Farms including flute
drums and dance christien was empowered by the educ ational programming and
cultural dialogue the museum offered learning about his Naran culture and
getting involved inspired him to embrace his identity as a member of the tribe he
credits the museum for helping him find acceptance and pride in his cultural
heritage and helping him to flourish he grew to be a champion Eastern War dancer
and became invested in the history of his tribe he hopes one day to make films
that Spotlight and share the narraganset culture and history with the public
Chris Christian says tomama quag played a huge role in my life it instilled a
strong sense of Pride and without it I wouldn't be on the course I am graduated
from college and looking at graduate [Applause]
[Music]
school
well I think that's all we
have but uh for my my final uh ceremony with you all uh it is uh just been a
great pleasure uh to get to know you to get to know your
institutions uh to be able to shine a big bright light on the work that you do
uh and the amazing community members whose stories uh really bring home uh
the Imp impact and relevance that that you have on so many uh so I I just urge
you all to keep up the great work uh it is so desperately needed your
institutions are a place for people to come and as I said find their voices to
find inspiration and sometimes it's the only institutions they have in a
community so uh uh please please keep up the great work and to everyone out there
continue to support these institutions they are the lifeblood of this country
so with that I'm going to leave you um I wish you all a wonderful day stay cool
uh and and again God bless you all take [Music]
you