Friends of the Georgetown Public Library Award First Eric Lashley Trailblazer Award

The Friends of the Georgetown Public Library have awarded the first Eric Lashley Trailblazer Award!

Eric Lashley previously served as the Georgetown Public Library’s director before retiring last year d starting a new job as the Executive Directory of the Partners Library Action Network (PLAN). This award honors his work and legacy at the Georgetown Public Library by awarding up to $1,000 towards a project that will help the community.

“The Eric Lashley Trailblazer Award has been established as an annual award to honor Eric Lashley, the trailblazing and forward-thinking Director of the Georgetown Public Library for 20 years,” the Friends of the Georgetown Public Library told Hello Georgetown. “Among his multitude of accomplishments, Eric led the library in winning the National Medal for Museum and Library Service (2018) and was named Texas Librarian of the Year in 2019 by the Texas Library Association.”

Friends of the Georgetown Public Library said the award is intended to support and encourage innovative and creative project ideas generated by library staff members that would not be funded as part of the regular library budget.

Library staff members submit eligible project proposals to be considered by a committee with the Friends of the Georgetown Public Library. This first year, two projects won the award, Supplies for Sensory Story Time and History Harvest Workshops

Supplies for Sensory Storytime

“Children with sensory processing disorders (SPDs) and related issues, such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), often find the traditional storytime environment challenging for a number of reasons,” the proposal read. “By creating and incorporating Sensory StoryTime into our programming lineup, we will signal to these children and their families that they are seen, appreciated, and welcome at Georgetown Public Library. This program will increase access for these members of our community while better meeting our professional mission to engage, enlighten, and empower the residents of Georgetown.”

Margaret Lange, who proposed the Sensory Storytime project, told Hello Georgetown her passion for Sensory Storytime stems from personal experience both as a librarian and in her personal life.

“On a personal note, it’s exciting for me, just because I want to see all of the children who live in Georgetown be able to feel welcome in storytime, and not that they’re not welcome at any of the other ones,” Lange said. “But, sometimes the elements of regular, traditional storytime can be so overwhelming for children with sensory processing issues, that a more controlled, smaller, quieter environment might be more conducive to them being able to fully participate and fully enjoy the storytime experience.”

With the awarded funds, the library will purchase supplies for a visual schedule, a variety of fidget toys, seat placeholders, earmuffs and sunglasses to limit visual and auditory stimulus, and a wide variety of free play items including, but not limited to, blocks, cars, stuffed animals, play clothes, puzzles, and life skills toys.

After acquiring these supplies, the program is projected to be launched as a regular part of storytime no later than December 31, 2021.

History Harvest Workshops

“In line with Georgetown Public Library’s mission to engage, enlighten and empower the community, the Adult Services team proposes to host a series of history harvest workshops beginning in October 2021 to serve residents of Georgetown’s historic Track-Ridge-Grasshopper and San Jose neighborhoods,” the proposal said. “The project, which would be patterned in part after the successful Archivist in a Backpack project launched in 2018 at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, aims to empower these neighbors to record and preserve their own histories for future generations. Our hope is that it would also establish community connections that would pave the way for a larger collaborative project to create a public archive of visual images and sound recordings documenting life in these historically Black and Hispanic neighborhoods.”

The project stemmed from a collective of ideas, Joyce May, the Adult Services Team member who submitted the proposal, told Hello Georgetown.

“I’d like to thank…Robert Barber, who’s also in the Adult Services Team, and then Ann Evans for helping spark ideas,” May said. “Robert Barber helped find the Backpack Archive project in another library. I was trying to find another way, I’ve always sort of had an interest in collecting oral history. I was a journalist for many years, and so, I wanted a way to kind of be able to have an oral history project as the the neighborhood is changing around the library. We were all kind of looking for ways to capture some of that history and partner with neighborhood[s].”

With the awarded funds, the library will purchase a hand recorder bundle, digital storage devices, a backpack, archival sleeves, archival folders, cotton gloves, pencils, archival pens, photo and document scanners and a hard shell roller bag.

The projects were named recipients of the award during a ceremony on Tuesday, October 26. Eric Lashley, Executive Director of the Partners Library Action Network (PLAN) and former Director for the Georgetown Public Library, applauded the Friends of the Georgetown Public Library and the library’s staff continued innovation and creativity.

“Georgetown has the best Friends group ever,” Lashley said. “For them to do something like this doesn’t surprise me and for the staff to come up with such innovative projects doesn’t surprise me. I think it was just a great way of recognizing what they do and then funding it.”

Sally Miculek, Director of the Georgetown Public Library, told Hello Georgetown she is excited to see both projects expand accessibility to and collections of the library.

“I think in both cases, they’re looking to find ways to serve patrons who haven’t been able to take advantage of some of our services as much as we would like, and looking for ways to include more people in the stories of Georgetown and looking for ways to make sure that more people have access to the library and its collections,” Miculek said. “And that’s the best thing possible.”

Learn more about the Friends of the Georgetown Public Library at their website or their Facebook page.