The Wood County District Public Library has awarded the John M. Gibson Award for 2020 and 2022.
The winners of the 2020 award are the Children’s Place staff: Maria Simon, Cassie Greenlee, Ali Hultz, and Bailee Sigman. The winner of the 2022 award is Administrative Coordinator Angie Babcock.
Since being established in 2005, the Gibson Award has been presented to 16 library employees: Mandy Hackley (2005), Mary Boone (2006), AJ Heilman and Donna Mertz (2007), Debra Born (2008), Kristin Wetzel (2009), Linda Conrad (2010), Maria Simon (2011), Nancy Weiland (2012), Katherine Lawn (2013), Anne Render (2014), Matt Mehling (2015), Victoria Forgette (2016), Tara Bahnsen (2017), JJ Hofner (2018), and Kevin Puffer (2019). It is a tradition, and is given to library staff to recognize excellence in their work and in customer service.
Babcock was nominated and described as being a “steadfast team player, a dependable coworker, and an empathetic communicator.” Nominators also said that Babcock excels at supporting the WCDPL team, anticipates the needs of the library and the Bowling Green community before anyone else, and is an essential part of operations at the library.
Both the Children’s Place and Babcock were given their award at the WCDPL Staff Retreat on Oct. 7.
