The L.A. County Library announced it has been named as one of the recipients of the prestigious American Library Association’s John Cotton Dana Library Award for excellence in library public relations and strategic communication.

The American Library Association’s Core Division of the American Library Association (ALA) have awarded seven winners this year’s John Cotton Dana Library Public Relations Awards. Each library receives a $10,000 grant provided by the H.W. Wilson Foundation. The 2021 winners will be honored at a reception held by EBSCO Information Services at the 2022 ALA Annual Conference in Chicago.

L.A. County Library is receiving the award for its Park & Connect Free Outdoor Wi-Fi Program. In response to the widening digital divide during the pandemic, the Library implemented the new program to make technology accessible outside its walls and into its parking lots.

Park & Connect allows customers to park in branch parking lots to access free Wi-Fi at 32 locations which include the Stevenson Ranch and Castaic locations in the Santa Clarita Valley. The Library marketing team developed a comprehensive campaign around the new service that targeted residents who lacked regular internet access, developing strategies for ethnic and hyper-localized marketing efforts that spoke to the complex dynamics of a variety of diverse communities.

The campaign resulted in nearly 111,000 Wi-Fi sessions being logged in the targeted communities.

The John Cotton Dana Awards were inaugurated in 1946 by the American Library Association and the H.W. Wilson Publishing Company. The award is one of the most prestigious of the awards recognizing marketing and public relations excellence.

For more information about this year’s winners, click here.

About L.A. County Library: Founded in 1912, LA County Library is one of the largest and most innovative library systems in the US. It offers free public resources including books, music, multimedia materials, computer and internet access, and educational and recreational services to 3.4 million residents across 3,000 square miles through its 85 community libraries, 1 institutional library, and mobile fleet of 14 vehicles, including 3 Bookmobiles, 6 MākMō (maker mobiles), and 5 Reading Machines. LA County Library is dedicated to reducing barriers and increasing access to and equity of public services for all. To learn more, visit LACountyLibrary.org and follow @LACountyLibrary on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.