Greetings Michigan Library Community, We all enjoy the feeling of being recognized by our peers for a job well done. This is your opportunity to take a few hours between now and January 8th to put together a nomination packet for one of four awards being given at RLC 2016 on Mackinac Island. Please consider who you know that meets the quality of excellence in the profession. Do you know someone at a small or rural library who is a leader in our profession? How about someone who goes the extra mile when working with children and teens? Do you have Trustee or Friend who goes above and beyond the call of duty to promote and advance your library? Do you know a small or rural library that truly excels (and that library could be you!) We want to hear from you! It's time again to nominate libraries, directors, librarians, employees, trustees, and friends of rural libraries for a Loleta Fyan Small and Rural Libraries Conference Awards. The conference will be held at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island May 4-6, 2016. Nominations are due by Friday, January 8, 2016. There will be four awards in 2016 (the same number as 2014). The categories are: * Outstanding Small/Rural Librarian Award * Trustee/Friend Award * Outstanding Youth/Children Award * The June B. Mendel Award for Excellence in Rural Library Service (this award goes to a small/rural library) Please note that Library Cooperative staff and conference planning committee chairs are not eligible for conference awards. To qualify for the award the library must serve a population of 25,000 or less. Branch locations of larger libraries do not qualify for nomination. The nomination may come from another library, a library user, a community business or organization, a library cooperative or a library may self-nominate for the June B. Mendel Award for Excellence in Rural Library Service. The award nomination form is attached and can also be found at this link: Award Nomination Form<http://www.michigan.gov/documents/libraryofmichigan/Call_for_Nominations_2016_RLC_500088_7.docx>. Nominations are due by January 8, 2016. Sonya Schryer Norris Library Consultant Library of Michigan 702 W. Kalamazoo St. P.O. Box 30007 Lansing, MI 48909-7507 Ph: 517-373-4457 Fax: 517-373-5700 Check out the curated content on the LM homepage including state and national CE offerings, LM events, stats reports, headlines from around the library world and research help from LM librarians at http://michigan.gov/libraryofmichigan http://mel.org<http://mel.org/> http://michlibrary.org<http://michlibrary.org/> Customer Service is a priority at the Michigan Department of Education - helping Michigan schools, families, and communities improve the achievement and well-being of ALL our children. [http://inside.michigan.gov/mde/docs/Docs%20and%20Templates/MDE%20-%20Color%2...]