Deadline: September 15, 2025
The Jerry Kline Community Impact Prize, developed in partnership between the Gerald M. Kline Family Foundation and Library Journal, was created in 2019 to recognize the public library as a vital community asset. "When libraries, civic entities, organizations, and the people they serve become close partners, their communities thrive."
One winning library will receive $250,000 in unfettered grant monies from the Gerald M. Kline Family Foundation and be profiled in the November issue of Library Journal and online. Honorable mentions may also be named. All U.S. Public Libraries are eligible for the prize. Three letters of support from community partners and/or civic leaders are required, with at least one from an elected official.
The winning library will be identified based on the degree of its impact on the community in the following key areas:
- Engagement with local government to support the service area's defined goals
- Engagement with the community to develop library services
- Community recognition
- Inclusive service that supports broad community interests
- Leadership development to perpetuate the library's organizational strength and dynamism
- Environmental sustainability and leadership in sustainable thinking
- Inventiveness as exemplified by one of the library's services which is particularly original, both strategically and tactically
- Resilience in the face of challenges