Sue Tracy, associate librarian for the Children?s Readmobile at the Hennepin County Library, has been selected as the recipient of the 2003 Sandy Berman Award for Social Responsibility in Library Services.

When she joined the Hennepin County Library staff three years ago, Tracy?s background as an early childhood educator invigorated all of Youth Services and specifically the Readmobile outreach to childcare and early childhood sites, according to her colleagues at the library. She has worked closely on services for pregnant and parenting teens and for families whose first language is not English.

Tracy has spearheaded Readmobile service development to meet the unique cultural and language needs of Somali and Hmong parents and childcare providers. She is the library?s lead person on the Public Library Association/Association of Library Service to Children Early Literary Pilot Project.

?Best of all, Sue is always cheerful, is extraordinarily flexible and never says no to working on a project that contributes to children?s literacy development,? her colleagues said in announcing the award. ?Her energy levels rival Sandy Berman?s, too!?

The award was created in 1999 to honor Sandy Berman, who served as head cataloger at the Hennepin County Library system for 26 years. It is presented annually by AFSCME Locals 2864 (librarians) and 2822 (clerical and related employees, including associate librarians) to an employee who has made a unique contribution to humanity through his or her work. Nominations are made by library staff and this year, the winner was chosen by a committee made up of previous recipients of the award.

The Berman Award party is July 19, from 4 to 7 p.m. at the home of Sandy Berman, 4400 Morningside Road, Edina. Contact Lynn Stetler, 952-847-8569 or Jan DeSirey, 952-847-5906, for more information.