In just four years Amy Dawley has built the teen and young adult specialty at the Prince George Public Library into an award-winning department.
Earlier this month Dawley shared the second annual Young Adult and Children's Service award at the British Columbia Library Association conference in Richmond.
"It was an honour for me to be given something like this because I've only been in the profession for just over four years is pretty unique," she said. "The fact that it was given to someone in the north as well is a real big deal."
Dawley was hired as the first teen and young adult librarian in Prince George in 2009. Working as an advocate for library users aged 12 to 18, Dawley's job is to ensure the library provides appropriate programming and information services for that cohort. She also engages in public outreach and community partnership.
"I try to improve the lives of young people in Prince George," she said. "Whether it's providing fun things for them to do in their free time or providing opportunities for them to gain skills and knowledge and learning new things, or gain job experience through volunteering or reaching out and partnering with other service agencies in the community to make sure that the programs and services and support for youth is that much stronger because community groups are talking to each other."
Libraries have long been known to provide services for children, but Dawley said it's just as important to have programming for young people as they grow up.
"I think that it's all about maintaining a continuity of service," she said. "It's about not letting those kids drop off the map."
With young adult fiction among the fastest growing genres in the publishing industry, Dawley said her specialty is more important than ever.
"Libraries are making lots of headway in terms of serving this group but it's really important to have specialists, no matter what group you're serving," she said. "Whether it's children or teens or adults or seniors or people with disabilities, I think that service to different groups of people will only be strengthened by having people who are really passionate about that the work that they do and having advocates for those specific user groups."
Dawley was nominated for the award by Prince George chief librarian Allan Wilson and public service manager Janet Marren.
She said the award was special because it was presented at luncheon at the conference on May 11 attended by many of the luminaries in her profession.
"The who's-who of the library community in B.C. was there with lots of people who I studied the work of in library school," Dawley said. "It was very cool to be recognized that way."
There were other Prince George connections at the awards. Former Prince George Public Library board chairman Philip Mantler won the Nancy Bennett Merit Award for his work as chairman of the North Central Library Federation. Edel Toner-Rogala, a former chief librarian in Prince George, won the Achievement in Library Service award and current Prince George Public Library Board member Donovan Unruh was named as a director of the British Columbia Library Trustees Association.
Librarians are often portrayed in the media as stodgy and traditional, but Dawley said that's hardly the case in reality.
"If anything we need to have our finger more on the pulse of what the future is bringing because in a profession where what we do is providing access to information to people, we have to be on the cutting edge of whatever that information and however that information travels," she said. "Whether it's through a traditional print form or whether it's through electronic devices and electronic media."
