Media Advisory – March 21, 2023
Gainesville Fla. — Recently retired High Springs Branch librarian Patricia Carr is the recipient of the Alachua County Library District Foundation’s 16th Annual Guy Hudspeth Award. The award, named for retired librarian and first recipient Guy Hudspeth, annually recognizes an outstanding Alachua County Library District staff member who has positively impacted the citizens of Alachua County. Carr retired last month after more than 20 years with the Library District.
As part of the award, the ACLD Foundation added Carr’s name to Katherine’s Tree—a ten-foot glass etching of the Tree of Knowledge, standing in the Headquarters Library, that has the names of those who have donated to the foundation over the years. The ACLD Foundation makes a donation every year in honor of the Guy Hudspeth Award winner. Katherine’s Tree is sponsored by the Kosman Foundation.
In her more than 20 years with the Library District, Carr has overseen the ACLD Conversational English Program and has taken it to a new level by helping program participants. Not only did participants learn new English skills, but they also were able to share their culture with Carr through art and food. This was truly evident in the “Celebrate! Words to Live By” Art Show.
Carr's efforts garnered her the Maria Chavez-Hernandez “Libraries Change Peoples’ Lives” Award from Florida Library Association. Carr is always willing to share with others in the libraries. She has written several articles for the Newsletter of the Learning Round Table for the American Library Association. Even during the pandemic, she kept the program going via Zoom so that the learners were able to practice English.
Carr received a $10,000 American Dream Literacy Initiative grant for the Library District to enrich its award-winning Conversational English Program for adult English language learners at the Tower Road Branch. Services included “Literacy Through the Arts” programming, such as drama and dance, “Celebrate! Words to Live By” Art Show, Train the Trainer sessions, Collaborating with Strangers workshops, technology, textbooks, workbooks, an oral history collection, ESOL Club, TALK TIME events, and social mixers designed to meet the growing demand of English Language Learners.
In learning of her award, Carr said, “I’m grateful to have worked with people who care deeply about our library’s mission, and I was delighted to have received the Guy Hudspeth Award!" "When I realized that former winners had selected me to receive this honor, I felt humbled because they had set such fine examples for me to follow,” said Carr.