Windham librarian Alvino to be honored with Greenaway Award

Jenn Alvino, Windham Public Library
director, is this year's recipient of the
Emerson Greenaway Award for
distinguished library service awarded
by the New England Library Association.
COURTESY PHOTO 

 By Ed Pierce

Patrons of the Windham Public Library have known for a while that their librarian is among the best in the business and soon many in New England are about to learn that too. Jenn Alvino, who’s led the Windham Public Library for more than seven years, is this year’s recipient of the Emerson Greenaway Award for distinguished library service.

As the library’s top staff member, Alvino has guided the Windham library through some difficult challenges, including a significant renovation in 2017-2018, finding solutions to be relevant during the COVID-19 pandemic and exploring new ways to connect with the community based upon the needs of Windham residents.    

She was nominated for the honor by a friend who also is a librarian and members of her staff in Windham.

“I was nominated by one of my colleagues that I’ve worked closely with over the last few years in the Maine Library Association,” Alvino said. “She received letters of support from a few other individuals that I’ve worked with as well.”

The Greenaway Award is the New England Library Association’s top annual award for distinguished service in librarianship. In 1988, the association’s president, Christine Kardokas, established the “Great Librarian Award” and intended for the distinction to recognize the contributions of exceptional librarians.

The very first recipient to be honored for his outstanding achievements was Emerson Greenaway, an innovator in library organization and practice in the 20^th century. As the director of the American Library Association in the 1950s, Greenaway championed access to library’s nationwide for all races, despite living in an age of segregation.

Several years after the award’s creation by the New England Library Association, this regional tribute was renamed the Emerson Greenaway Award to honor the memory of its first recipient.

“It is really special to me to not only be receiving the award but to have the support of some amazing individuals that I’ve had the pleasure of working with,” Alvino said. “What I like most about leading the staff at the Windham Public Library is to be able to support the ideas and work that they do each day to meet the needs of the community. The staff does a phenomenal job listening and responding to our library patrons with programming, resources, information, and materials of all types.”

She’s extremely proud of the library’s staff, telling The Windham Eagle in March that those who work at the library are highly approachable and dedicated to helping library patrons.

“My staff is really, really amazing in terms of being flexible, especially this last year. They’ve really done an outstanding job keeping things running. I’m very proud of that,” she said. “I think we do strive to be all things to all people. When people walk through that door, they have a certain expectation of what they’re going to find. We’re always trying to meet that need. As expectations change, we need to make sure we’re flexible enough to do that.”

The Emerson Greenaway Award is presented annually, whenever there is a worthy candidate, at New England Library Association’s Annual Conference.

Alvino was honored for her achievement during Tuesday’s Windham Town Council meeting and will be presented with the award during the upcoming New England Library Association Conference at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts on Oct. 18. <