After 20 years with the North Grenville Public Library, Dr. Kerry Badgley is being recognized by his peers for his work.
Badgley, the Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors, has received the “Larry Moore Distinguished Service Award” from the Ontario Library Association (OLA), an organization that helps librarians and others in the industry with things like networking. The award is presented once a year to someone within the OLA, to recognize their “significant contribution to the libraries of Ontario through their work.”
In his acceptance speech, Badgley says his passion for working at libraries comes from his childhood. “I experienced deep poverty during my childhood, and my family was treated as trash by many within our community,” he says. “But every two weeks, when my mother took my brother and I to the Whitby Public Library, I knew I would be treated with respect, and with dignity.”
Badgley has been a member of the OLA since he began working at the North Grenville Public Library 20 years ago, including a term as its president in 2018. In 2002, he and his wife established the “Sarah Badgley Student Literacy Fund for Rural Ontario Children,” which helps fund public libraries in small communities.
Badgley says receiving the award means a lot to him. “It is axiomatic, at least to me,” he says, “that libraries are essential to any healthy society, and I’ve been fortunate to have been able to play a small role in advocating for them.”
