Allison Wheeler – Recipient
2010 SLSA Distinguished Service Award

The Distinguished Service Award is presented to a School Library System Director whose work exemplifies six areas of consideration: professional leadership, professional service, information sharing, collaboration, quality programs and creative service.

Jennifer Henry, SLSA President-Elect, made the following remarks during the award presentation. “Allison is the definition of the consummate professional. Her level of thoughtfulness in presentation, her constant and unwavering professional manner and her demonstrated commitment to excellence have earned her the respect of her peers and colleagues throughout New York State at the local, regional and state levels. Among her accomplishments are the establishment of the annual “Boot Camp” for new school librarians, her continued partnership with the North Country Public Library System and North Country Public Radio on the successful “North Country Reads” program, a one-community, one-book project for the North Country, and being the first School Library System Director to offer e-books to every student in every district in her System by expanding her Coordinated Cooperative Collection Development co-ser agreement.”

Allison’s professional leadership is demonstrated by the many offices she has held for SLSA and the Northern Area School Library Media Specialists (NASLMS), an affiliate of the New York Library Association/School Library Media Section. Regionally, she serves on the automation committee of the Northern New York Library Network, the local 3R’s, and previously was a member of their Board of Trustees.

As one of her colleagues put it, because of Allison, “the light of leadership has shined consistently at a higher level and the beams of light have been among the brightest at the St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES School Library System.”