Sedona AZ (November 13, 2019) – Sedona Public Library is proud to announce that Karen Mack, Director of Youth Services, was recently named the recipient of the Arizona Library Association Youth Services Librarian Award for 2019.  This prestigious award recognizes an individual who serves as a model for the important role youth services plays in public libraries.

Karen was nominated for the Youth Services Award by her colleagues and library patrons. She was recognized during an awards luncheon at the Arizona Library Association Conference recently held in Tucson.

Thanks to Karen’s efforts, the children’s room at Sedona Public Library is a place of joy.  Story times, which are fun and engaging for children and parents/caregivers, focus on family learning and include action rhymes, sign language, dancing, and music.  Karen and her staff also provide a bilingual story time once a month and a craft activity on Saturdays.

In addition to organizing story times, author visits, STEAM activities, book club, chess club, and Pokemon club at the Library, Karen promotes youth services through community outreach.  She works with Head Start, shares story time at preschools, and reaches out to homeschoolers. She provides teachers with tools to enhance curriculum.  When the librarian at West Sedona School needed assistance organizing the school library, Karen recruited volunteers to help with the project. She coordinated a poetry event for 300 local schoolchildren and homeschoolers.

Karen Mack is passionate about the Library, youth services, and the community.  She was instrumental in creating a partnership with the City of Sedona to install StoryWalk at Sunset Park. She worked with the Rotary Club of Sedona in 2012 to launch Imagination Library. The program has successfully grown to serve the entire Verde Valley.

Karen has contributed her time and expertise in many areas. She helped coordinate the local AZ SciTech Festival; mentored the Camp Verde Community Library’s youth services librarian; participated in Sedona’s St. Patrick’s Day parade dressed as Mother Goose; raised funds for the Library through pledges for running in the local 5K event; and organized a solar eclipse event for over 300 community participants.

Before joining the staff at Sedona Public Library in 2010, Karen worked for 8 years in a rural public library in Ontario, Canada, and for 12 years at Flagstaff Public Library. In December 2009, she completed a Master’s Degree in Information Resources and Library Science from the University of Arizona.

The next time you see Karen, please congratulate her on her award and tell her how much you appreciate her efforts, not only for the Library but for our community and the Verde Valley. We are most fortunate to have Karen as part of our dynamic team at Sedona Public Library.

Sedona Public Library is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Please support your library by making a gift at www.sedonalibrary.org.