Elisabeth Grove, Nederland.  Vailey Oehlke, President of the Public Library Association (PLA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), has appointed Larry Grieco, director of the Gilpin County Public Library, to the “EBSCO Excellence in Small/Rural Public Library Service Award Jury.” The EBSCO Award provides recognition and a $1,000 honorarium to a public library serving a population of 10,000 or less that demonstrates excellence of service to its community as exemplified by an overall service program or a special program of significant accomplishment. “It feels like this has come full circle,” Grieco said, “since the recipient of the award in 2010 was the Gilpin Library.” Grieco will be part of a small committee that will review nominations in January and select a library to be the 2016 EBSCO Award winner.

This kind of volunteer work at the national level is nothing new to Grieco. He has been chair of ALA’s Loleta D. Fyan Award Jury for the last five years. Loleta Fyan, 1951-52 ALA President, bequeathed funds to ALA with the intent that “these funds be used for the development and improvement of public libraries and the services they provide.” There was a special place in Fyan’s heart for rural libraries, which have often been recipients of the award of $5,000. Grieco has put together a committee of top library professionals from around the country to work on the Fyan Award Jury. Prior to this Grieco was an advisor on the National Science Foundation five-year project out of Dartmouth College, called “Pushing the Limits,” which placed viewing, reading, and discussion programs on science topics in over 100 rural libraries, nationwide. Currently Grieco is an advisor on another project, NILPPA, funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which aims to measure the impact of public programs in libraries of all kinds in the United States.

The Gilpin County Public Library has received national recognition and attention over the years, and this is due in large part to the involvement of its director in programs and projects that affect library services everywhere. “It feels great to give back in some way to the profession that has been so kind to me,” says Grieco, “and much of what I learn on the national level, I can bring back to Gilpin County to affect library services here.”