Official Announcement of McKay as Illinois Librarian of the Year

Amanda McKay, Director of the Helen Matthes Library in Effingham, has been named the recipient of the 2015 Illinois Library Association’s Librarian of the Year Award.

The award recognizes a librarian’s distinguished service and leadership in Illinois libraries.The award is presented by the Illinois Library Association and Sikich.

McKay has succesfully navigated many challenges in her four years as director of the Helen Matthes Library, from completing the new Effingham Public Library project that has been two decades in the making to managing continued exponential circulation growth. When funding for the Library renovation project didn’t allow her to fill the critical Project Manager position, McKay took on the Project Manager position as well as leading the fundraising efforts, which so far have raised over $1.5 million. Also, while many libraries are seeing a decline in use of print and visual materials, McKay’s library is experiencing exponential circulation growth. Over the past five years, circulation has grown over 44%. During the past year alone, more than 190,000 items were checked out, an increase of 8.7% from the year before.

McKay has served on both the Illinois Library Association’s nominating committee and the conference programming committee.

The Librarian of the Year Award will be presented at the Illinois Library Association's Annual Conference Awards Luncheon in October in Peoria.