Congratulations Priscilla!

We are pleased to announce that Priscilla Berggren-Thomas of the Phillips Free Library in Homer has won our FLLS scholarship to attend the Association for Rural and Small Libraries Conference.

The ARSL Conference is taking place October 27 – October 29th in Fargo, North Dakota and is a unique conference for library staff from rural and small communities that discusses the practicalities of running a small library while also giving librarians a chance to see what other small and rural libraries are doing and dealing with.

When speaking about small libraries, Priscilla was able to truly embody the role of a small public library.  She stated in her application: “A small public library is a little band of hard working people that touch all sorts of lives.  Whether it’s someone looking for help filling out an online job application, someone straight from the doctor’s office that needs information about a new diagnosis, or a third grader in one of our book clubs, we need to be available and present to the member of our community.”  Attending the conference will help her to “grow my library as a part of my community.  A third place.  A safe place.  A place that makes a difference for everyone.  Attending this conference will allow me better reach that goal by learning from others who are doing the same thing.”

We had many great applications for this conference.  We will be offering a chance to attend this conference next year also, so if you are interested in attending a conference in Utah, stay tuned!

Congratulations to Priscilla and we hope you enjoy the conference!