Fayetteville — The Fayetteville Free Library (FFL) recently announced that Executive Director Sue Considine has been awarded the prestigious American Library Association (ALA), Public Library Association (PLA) Charlie Robinson Award.
The Charlie Robinson Award is a national award honoring a public library director who has consistently demonstrated themselves to be risk a taker and an innovative thinker. Former Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Director Susan Hildreth said that during her term as director, “the Fayetteville Free Library, under [Considine’s] leadership … has served as a showcase for the community and for other libraries both nationally and internationally.”
Considine’s forward thinking and commitment to impactful outcomes based service design and community engagement has built a culture of creativity that has yielded groundbreaking results. Considine said she is committed to the creation of an atmosphere of equal access; a level playing field that allows the community the opportunity to come together to connect, think, discover and create together.
Considine said, “The public library is all about liberty; freedom of choice. It is where everyone, regardless of their background, financial situation or level of education, has equal access to a world of meaningful learning, diverse resources and engaging opportunities. The public library is less about a physical space as it is about people. The facilitation of relationships, understanding and connections happens on and through our library platforms, physically and virtually. There is no other organization or place in any community that offers this kind of democratic equality. Our mission — it is a simple and elegant idea, free and open access to ideas and information, and when done right, the impact of our libraries and library workers in our communities is profound.”
Considine encourages her team to promote literacy and learning opportunities throughout our community. This literacy is not only in the form of reading and writing but 21st century literacies including media, informational, financial, digital, participatory and experiential learning through Making and STEM, entrepreneurship, invention and more.
The FFL is located at 300 Orchard Street in Fayetteville. Call 637-6374 or go to fflib.org for more information about the library.
