News & Features

Amanda Chacon ensures a relevant, engaging collection and a welcoming library for her predominantly bilingual students and their families.

"It doesn’t really matter what they did out there,” says the teacher librarian, who serves youth from age 10 to their early 20s at El Centro Junior/Sr. High School in the Sacramento County Youth Detention Facility.

From testifying before the state legislature’s education committee to creating a library refuge that helps kids love books, Cox personifies leadership.

The librarian at H. M. Carroll Elementary in Houston, TX, is committed to her students and community with programming that set her apart from her peers. In addition to Chacon, two finalists were named: Tamara Cox, librarian at Wren High School, Piedmont, SC; and Jessie Storrs, teacher librarian at El Centro Jr/Sr High School, Sacramento (CA) Youth Detention Facility.

The 2025 conference scheduled to be held in Phoenix will continue as planned, according to ALA's announcement, which said the organization was working toward the best way to continue to present certain events during that conference, including the Youth Media Awards.

When kids read engaging stories about math, they learn to love it. That’s the idea behind the Mathical Collection Development Awards, and school librarians who have received the award say that’s exactly what happens.