The Mad Hatter Award recognizes an individual in the Nebraska library profession who has made an outstanding contribution to librarianship and library development for young people. It is co-sponsored by the School, Children's, and Young People’s section of NLA and Child’s World Publishers. Previous recipients of this award are as follows:

	1983		Connie Champlin
	1984		Virginia Opocensky
	1985		Honey Lou Bonar
	1986		Donna Peterson Ewoldt
	1987		Betty Keefe
	1988		Kay Paulsen
	1989		Ardys Hansum
	1990		Carolyn Baker
	1991		Deb Carlson
	1992		Glee Nelson
	1993		Barbara Fawl
	1994		Delores Feeken
	1995		Beth Trupp
	1996		Karen Drevo
	1997		Becky Pasco
	1998		Verne Haselwood
	1999		Karla Wendelin
	2000		Pat Leach
	2001		Glenda Willnerd
	2002		Joan Chesley
	2003		Nancy Larimer
	2004		Judy Andrews
	2005		Kathy Schultz
	2006		Patty Birch
	2007		Marci Retzlaff

Seeking nominations for 2008

The Mad Hatter Committee is once again seeking nominations for the Mad Hatter Award, presented each fall at the NEMA/NLA Convention, to a children's librarian in the state of Nebraska who has made an outstanding contribution to children and librarianship. The nominee must exhibit the qualities listed in the nomination form and be a member of the SCYP section of NLA. A copy of the nomination form may be viewed here.

Mad Hatter nomination form in pdf format.
Mad Hatter nomination form in Word document format.

     Marci Retzlaff, Youth Services Assistant Librarian for the Norfolk Public Library, has been named the Mad Hatter Youth Services Award winner for 2007. The School, Children's and Young People's section of the Nebraska Library Association, Duane Munson, and Child's World Publishers sponsor this award. The award recognizes a librarian who has demonstrated outstanding service to children through innovative programming, service to the community, and professional contributions to the field of librarianship. Retzlaff is dedicated to her profession and to providing library services to children of all ages. She has been very involved with the Golden Sower program, Nebraska's Children's Choice Award for Literature. She reads for, nominates titles to, and helps select all three of the Golden Sower reading lists each year. In addition, she helped completely revise the Golden Sower Manual. Ted Smith, director of the Norfolk Public Library, said, "Marci brings excitement and enthusiasm to every aspect of her work with children, young adults and their parents. Marci exemplifies the spirit of a youth service librarian." Retzlaff leads the S.M.A.R.T. (Start Making A Reader Today) program, in which parents of newborn children receive one free book from the library. She is also involved in the After School Book Club. She volunteers with the Nebraska Library Association, the Youth Advisory Board, and is the chair-elect of the School, Children's and Young People's Section of the Nebraska Library Association.

last updated - 01/02/08 kw
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