Library Awards

Congratulations to Virginia Johnson, CRRL's Web Content Librarian, for winning Virginia Press Women’s 2013 first-place and second-place communications awards for her library blog entries! Read her award winning entries here:

1st place: Blogs: Non-profit, government, or educational
"The Seventeenth Child" and "Natalie Babbitt: Truth in Fairy Tales"

2nd Place: Specialty articles: Reviews
"The English Monster" and "The Uninvited Guests"

Congrats also to other local women who won awards:  Marty van Duyne, Falmouth writer and photographer; Cathy Jett, assistant business editor at The Free Lance-Star; K.J. Mushung, Stafford County writer and photographer; and Donna Harter Raab, executive director of the University of Mary Washington’s Advancement Campaign Initiative.

Virginia Johnson, CRRL's talented Web content librarian, brought home two awards from the recent Virginia Press Women conference. She placed first in the "Writing for the Web, Feature Article" category with her piece "On the Road to Lake Anna."

She also placed first in the "Blogs: Web Content Written for Not-for-profit, Government or Educational Organization" category with these two posts from the popular Shelf Life Blog: "The Testimony of Two Men" and "The Succession: A Novel of Elizabeth and James."

These pieces will now advance to the national competition. Congratulations, Virginia!

Hennen's American Public Library Rankings (the HAPLR Index) recently ranked the CRRL fifth nationally and first in the state of Virginia amongst libraries serving 250,000 to 500,000 people. This ranking underscores the CRRL's cost-effective use of tax dollars in the provision of quality library service.

This year marks the 10th edition of the HAPLR Index, and the CRRL has been rated a Top Ten Library in five of those editions.

The 2010 HAPLR ratings are based on data collected from nearly 8,000 public libraries and focus on a library's circulation, checkouts, visits, staffing levels, funding and reference desk questions.

Virginia Johnson, CRRL's Web Content Librarian, has won the following awards in the 2010 Virginia Press Women Communications Contest for these LibraryPoint.org articles:

1st Place: Writing for the Web: Feature Articles
"Marlborough Point: In the Stream of History"
Judge's comments: "This article is appropriate for the audience and is virtually tailored to their needs. Images and bold text highlight information and links lead to sources."

2nd Place: Writing for the Web: Educational or Nonprofit
"The Good Doctor Was a Spy: The Lively Times of Robert Wellford"
Judge's comments: "Impressive research/fascinating story about an important Revolutionary War figure whose influence might easily be ignored or forgotten. Nicely done."

At the CRRL we have known for a long time that we are lucky to have such a talented writer on staff, who can handle emerging technologies with ease and adapt texts to different audiences. Congratulations, Virginia!

The Stafford County Board of Supervisors, at their December 15, 2009, meeting awarded the CRRL a proclamation commending the library's recognition as a national Star Library.

CRRL's most recent honor is a Star Rating. We've been ranked tops among Virginia libraries of our size, among the stellar libraries in the nation, in a recent ranking. Read all about it in Library Journal. STAR STATUS: “It is about what libraries deliver to their users with the money they have, based not only on circulation and visits, two typically standard measurements, but on program attendance and public Internet computer use, two statistics that more clearly define libraries' increasingly crucial role in their communities, especially in these tough economic times.” ~Library Journal 

Martha Baden will be serving on the American Library Association's Best Books for Young Adults Committee for the years 2009-2011.

The Free Lance-Star recently published a wonderful article on the library, especially touting CRRL's #4 placement on Hennen's American Public Library Rankings:

"The Central Rappahannock Regional Library, which has branches in Stafford, Spotsylvania and Westmoreland counties, is the best library in Virginia that serves 250,000 to 500,000 people, according to Hennen's American Public Library Rankings.

The CRRL ranked fourth nationwide in the same category. In 2001, the library ranked eighth nationally.

Virginia Johnson, CRRL's Web content librarian, was awarded 1st place at the state level and 3rd place at the National level in the "Writing for the Web" category of the National Federation of Press Women's 2007 competition.

Tutor.com awarded CRRL the Live Homework Help Innovator Award in October 2006 for its unique custom-designed candy wrappers. "What do teachers need most during the school year? Chocolate! The Central Rappahannock Regional Library sends a candy bar to almost 8,000 teachers in more than 70 schools in their service area every August.