May 29, 2025 Library of Congress Announces Awards for Federal Library Excellence

The Federal Library and Information Network (FEDLINK) has announced the winners of its national awards for federal librarianship. These awards celebrate the innovative ways federal libraries, librarians, and library technicians serve with distinction and meet the information demands of the government, business and scholarly communities, and the American public.

Federal libraries and staff throughout the United States and abroad competed for the awards. FEDLINK recognizes these outstanding individuals and libraries for delivering outstanding service and expertise to the federal library and information community in fiscal year 2024.

2024 Federal Librarian of the Year

Jared Nistler, Systems Program Manager, Ralph J. Bunche Library, U.S. Department of State, Washington, D.C.

Jared Nistler is recognized for creating a user-centered library experience for more than 70,000 State Department employees stationed around the world. Nistler’s commitment to improving user accessibility is evident in his management of library service platforms, setting up seamless single sign-on solutions and proxy access. He built an automated provisioning process to register new patrons and streamline workflows for the staff, resulting in a 95% increase in registered patrons over the past year. His work not only expanded access to digital resources for agency employees worldwide but also optimized the library’s limited resources by securing more competitive pricing from vendors. As a data and knowledge-management expert, Nistler pushed beyond standard usage reporting and focused on statistics that illustrate value. He captured key data and visualized it through dashboards, demonstrating the library’s value to stakeholders and ensuring a more efficient use of library funding.

2024 Federal Library Technician of the Year

Samantha Tejada, Library Technician, Digital Resources Division, Law Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Samantha Tejada is recognized for her expertise on metadata, process innovation, and efforts to expand access to library resources. As part of the Digital Resources Division of the Law Library of Congress, Tejada played a key role in inventorying 27,000 volumes in the Supreme Court Records and Briefs collection. She created workflows to prepare more than 6,300 volumes for digitization and served as a subject matter expert for the design of the webpage framework used for public display. Tejada also led monthly inventory team meetings to exchange knowledge and offer guidance and expertise to colleagues. Her contributions to the U.S. Congressional Serial Set digitization project included preparing volumes for digitization and managing the metadata to help ensure all materials met the digitization project timelines and budget goals. Tejada’s creativity and commitment to excellence as the sole library technician in the Digital Resources Division at the Law Library were essential in meeting the Library’s goals and providing outstanding service to users.

2024 Federal Libraries/Information Centers of the Year

Large library/information center (staff of 11 or more): 

Center for Library Science, Government Accountability Office, Washington, D.C.

The Center for Library Science of the Government Accountability Office is recognized for producing high-quality research, innovating new methodologies to respond to congressional inquiries, and developing efficient and economical tools and techniques for GAO researching needs. The team responded to 2,035 requests for assistance — a 17% increase from the previous year. Nearly 400 of the research activities focused on topics critical to the American people, including housing, education, energy, climate resiliency, tribal concerns, fraud, the intelligence community, and the economy. In FY 2024, the Center for Library Science team supported 297 GAO Reports, conducting high quality research spanning the full scope and breadth of GAO’s work for Congress. They also responded to an increasing volume of public inquiries related to GAO’s important work. Additionally, the Center for Library Science librarians were key in the development of major upgrades to the Data Set Catalog, moving the system in-house and customizing a new cost-effective, open-source catalog centered around the needs of users. The Center for Library Science also made major updates to the Anti-fraud Resource for federal staff to prevent fraud throughout the government, tackled a major data project to assist GAO’s Congressional Relations Office, and saved GAO more than $600,000 on major content purchases.

 

Small library/information center (staff of 10 or fewer): 

National Emergency Training Center Library, Department of Homeland Security / Federal Emergency Management Agency / U.S. Fire Administration, Emmitsburg, Maryland

National Emergency Training Center Library is recognized for its success in innovating new processes and expanding access to digital offerings for students and staff at the National Fire Academy and the National Disaster and Emergency Management University. Since the 1980s, the library has maintained one of the largest databases of literature on emergency services, with staff indexing hundreds of articles every month. To improve student access to virtual resources, the library pioneered a library card system and developed a website to connect students with the full suite of digital materials. During the year, students logged into databases over 1,200 times and accessed eBooks over 950 times. The library extended off-campus loans to students and hosted direct instructional sessions for 1,400 students. The library also provided resources for the nation’s first responder and emergency management community. First responders from around the world viewed their library guides nearly 23,000 times in FY 2024. 

The Federal Library and Information Network (FEDLINK) is an organization of federal agencies working together to achieve the optimum use of the resources and facilities of federal libraries and information centers by promoting common services, coordinating and sharing available resources, and providing continuing professional education for federal library and information staff. FEDLINK serves as a forum for the discussion of the policies, programs, procedures, and technologies that affect federal libraries and the information services they provide to their agencies, Congress, the federal courts, and the American people.

The Library of Congress is the world’s largest library, offering access to the creative record of the United States — and extensive materials from around the world — both on-site and online. It is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office. Explore collections, reference services and other programs and plan a visit at loc.gov, access the official site for U.S. federal legislative information at congress.gov and register creative works of authorship at copyright.gov.