Jerry Kline Community Impact Prize

The Jerry Kline Community Impact Prize, developed in partnership between the Gerald M. Kline Family Foundation and Library Journal, was created in 2019 to recognize the public library as a vital community asset. When libraries, civic entities, organizations, and the people they serve become close partners, their communities thrive.

The winning library will be identified based on the degree of its impact on the community in the following key areas:

• Engagement with local government to support the service area's defined goals
• Engagement with the community to develop library services
• Community recognition
• Inclusion, meeting the needs of underserved populations as well as promoting social cohesion and connection across differences
• Leadership development to perpetuate the library's organizational strength and dynamism
• Environmental sustainability and leadership in sustainable thinking
• Inventiveness as exemplified by one of the library's services which is particularly original, both strategically and tactically

• Others (see text field entitled "Additional Eligibility Criteria" for clarification)