Lillian Marrero Library, under the leadership of Branch Manager Mieka Moody, has been named the 2020 winner of ALA's Penguin Random House Library Award for Innovation!

Branch Manager Mieka Moody

The award, supported by the Penguin Random House Foundation, recognizes U.S. libraries and librarians who create lasting innovative community service programs that successfully inspire and connect with new readers.

Some highlights from Mieka and her library staff's extensive community-outreach programming include a wellness initiative featuring yoga, meditation, reiki, herbal and plant medicine, and gardening classes for youths and adults, political education programs for their neighborhood community, a spoken word program for teens, and a FEMA-assisted program that helped thousands of people who were displaced from Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.

About the honor awarded to her and the library, Mieka said,

I’m truly grateful and honored to work with such an amazing staff as well as being able to connect with the patrons and community at which Lillian Marrero Library serves and is a part of. If you really know me, you know that I want us all to live out our purpose in a joyous, creative, abundant, and powerful manner; we all deserve that!  And so, if I can encourage even one person to be their best authentic self, I’m good and this is why I do what I do! Remember to be intentional and purposeful in living your best life!

In 2017, Lillian Marrero Library was one of four neighborhood libraries to be renovated under the 21st Century Libraries Initiative, a transformational project to reshape neighborhood libraries in Philadelphia and meet the changing needs of today’s library patrons.

While in-person events and programming are still on hold at our neighborhood libraries due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we are offering virtual programming through a variety of platforms. Lillian Marrero Library is hosting online storytimes, arts and crafts, parenting classes, self-care and exercise videos, and so much more on their Facebook page!

Congratulations again to Mieka and Lillian Marrero Library staff for all of their great work!