Jefferson County Public Library Association Announces Its 2016 Library Champion Award Recipients

BPL honorees (l-r): Marco Morosini, owner of Silvertron Cafe';

Birmingham City Councilwoman Sheila Tyson;
Sam Rumore, former BPL Board of Trustee member;
Pat Rumore, former president of the Friends of the Birmingham Public Library;
and Payton Dobbs, Pet Supplies Plus Store.

The Jefferson County Public Library Association (JCPLA) awarded 11 recipients with its 2016 Library Champion Award during its annual holiday luncheon at the Florentine Building in downtown Birmingham, Alabama, on Tuesday, December 6, 2016.

The purpose of the luncheon is to recognize the outstanding achievements of volunteers and community partners. The Library Champion Award is presented annually by JCPLA. The award recognizes an individual or organization that has made a significant contribution(s) to libraries and/or librarianship in Jefferson County, Alabama.

The honorees are as follows:

Birmingham Public Library

• Eastern Region: Sam Rumore, former BPL Board of Trustee member
• Avondale Regional Branch Library: Marco Morosini, owner of Silvertron Cafe
• West End Regional Branch Library: Birmingham City Councilwoman Sheila Tyson
• North Birmingham and Springville Road Regional Branch Libraries: Pet Supplies Plus Store # 8009 in Roebuck.
• Central Library: Pat Rumore

Municipal Libraries

• Homewood Public Library: Fran Jones
• Hoover Public Library: Former Hoover Council President Jack Wright
• Leeds Public Library: Martha Hurst
• Emmet O'Neal Public Library: Lynda Weaver
• Pinson Public Library: Stanley Moss
• Vestavia Hills Library in the Forest: Virginia A. Procter

George Stewart and Mary Anne Ellis, librarian in the Southern
History Department at the Central Library

The JCPLA also presented a special award to George R. Stewart, who in October received one of the highest honors in the library profession in Alabama when he was inducted into the University of Alabama College of Communication and Information Sciences Hall of Fame. Stewart was featured in an article on the University of Alabama website. See link below:
https://slis.ua.edu/2016/09/29/longtime-patron-of-slis-education-george-r-stewart-to-be-inducted-into-hall-of-fame/

Stewart's career spanned 33 years with the Birmingham Public Library System and an additional four years as director of the Jefferson County Library Cooperative. He was a mentor to many at BPL and remains active at BPL as a map consultant in the Southern History Department in the Linn-Henley Research Library.