Friday March 15th, the American Public Library Association announced the winners of its 2019 awards and grants, honouring the best in public library service, innovation and outreach. Mark Williams, Chief Librarian and Milton Public Library were awarded the 2019 John Iliff Award for Innovation for the development and success of the Quest Milton app.
Launched in February 2018 and the brainchild of MPL’s Chief Librarian, the gaming app is the first of its kind for a Canadian Public Library. The development of the app was completely funded through a provincial grant from the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport and uses gaming technologies to engage new users in connecting with MPL and its partners.
“The committee was impressed with not just the app itself but what you were able to do in bringing together a wide array of partners and creating something that is fun and also helps people get to know the community and library better. The app would be impressive coming from a library of any size and knowing that you pulled it together with a smaller budget and resources makes it all the better,” stated the John Iliff Award Jury Chair.
The award is granted annually to only one public library across North America and MPL’s win will mark the second time in its history that a Canadian Library has received the award.
To say we are delighted with the announcement that we are the recipients of this year’s John Ilff award for innovation would be an understatement, particularly as only one public library, per year, is selected as the recipient. Our selection by the Public Library arm of the American Library Association re-affirms Milton Public Library’s commitment to the provision of customer service excellence, in this instance applying the best uses of technology. We really are thrilled,” shares Mark Williams, Chief Librarian.
To learn more about the John Iliff Award for Innovation, visit: http://www.ala.org/pla/awards/johniliffaward