Cedar Rapids library wins Impact Award

Award comes with a $250,000 prize

The Cedar Rapids Public Library was named the fourth annual winner of the Jerry Kline Community Impact Prize.

The award, developed in partnership between the Gerald M. Kline Family Foundation and LJ, recognizes the powerful synergy that results when a library works closely with both its local government and its community.

The award carries with it a $250,000 check from the Gerald M. Kline Family Foundation and the library also is showcased in LJ’s November 2022 issue, available in print and online.

“Cedar Rapids Public Library has made a huge impact through its close connections with civic leadership and community — exactly what this prize seeks to spotlight and honor,” said Gerald (Jerry) Kline, CEO of the Gerald M. Kline Family Foundation.

Whether holding a STEM Day for more than 100 eighth grade girls, building a mobile lab to introduce community members to technology, or providing a physical and virtual presentation space that also serves as an exhibit hall for the city’s first Sustainable Economy and Transportation Conference, it is clear the Cedar Rapids library is there for its community, according to the news release.

“That is essential work, to make sure that your community leadership really do like the library,” said Cedar Rapids library Director Dara Schmidt in the news release. “At their core, they believe in the work. That’s why we’ve been able to do so much.”

What Cedar Rapids Public Library has accomplished in the four years since the setting of its 2018 goals is nothing short of remarkable. The strategic plan based on the three pillars of literacy, access, and inclusion will no doubt continue to improve the community.

The Patchogue-Medford Library in New York and Richmond Library in Columbia, South Carolina, were named as honorable mentions, and are also profiled in the November issue of Library Journal.