The Metropolitan Library System and The Library Endowment Trust are pleased and honored to announce that Library Commissioner Nancy Anthony will be the recipient of the second Lee B. Brawner Lifetime Achievement Award for her years of work on behalf of Oklahoma County public libraries.

Anthony will accept the award at the second annual Literary Voices dinner, which is sold out, on April 17 at 7 p.m. at the Quail Creek Golf & Country Club in Oklahoma City. Beck Weathers, author of Left for Dead - My Journey Home from Everest , will be the featured author.

The Lee B. Brawner Lifetime Achievement Award was created to acknowledge "those who have made an important difference on the community through their dedication to achieving and enhancing excellence in libraries," according to MLS Director of Development Ernestine Clark.

In September of 2000, Library Endowment trustees Karleen Krywucki and John Paschal, the current and past presidents of the Trust, agreed they wanted to create an award that would focus attention on citizens who have demonstrated inspired and devoted leadership or volunteer hours t owards the advancement of libraries, library-related events, library programs or library support organizations. Potential recipients, they decided, should also possess certain qualities, including:

• an awareness of the importance public libraries play in the education of a community.
• an ability to lead, encourage, motivate and enjoy the respect of their peers.
• an innovative and progressive approach to their life's work and/or volunteer service.
• a strong support of literacy for all age groups.
• an appreciation for diversity.
• an ethical spirit and character.

In the end, they believed the people who would one day be awarded the Lee B. Brawner Lifetime Achievement Award would be true champions of libraries, and indeed no one in our community has done more to advance the cause of public libraries than Nancy Anthony.

The executive director of the Oklahoma City Community Foundation, Anthony has for 27 years volunteered her free time to serve as a Metropolitan Library System Commissioner, and her work on behalf of libraries in Oklahoma County have garnered her local appreciation and national recognition.

In 2000, she was named an "Extraordinary Library Advocate of the 20 th Century," a national library honor given rarely and only to a limited number of people from each state. Her accomplishments on behalf of Oklahoma County 's public libraries run the gamut:

• She developed an election strategy that resulted in the first successful mill levy increase for the Metropolitan Library System since the System was organized in 1965. Libraries were suffering greatly for lack of funding at the time, and library users benefited as a result of Anthony taking on the challenge.
• She spearheaded the group that formed Citizens for Library Support, a political action committee that gathered 20,000 signatures in a short amount of time to bring about the first of many elections they've supported on behalf of the library since 1981.
• She was instrumental in convening a citizens advisory committee to study and explore development options for the library. Those efforts resulted in the formation of The Library Endowment Trust, which some 16 years later has assets of nearly $1 million, the interest from which benefits libraries yearly.
• In 1983, Anthony was the key factor in securing approval for a major capital expenditure to upgrade the library system's computerized circulation and management information systems, putting each library online. Because of her foresight, the library was using barcodes to check out books before some local grocery stores used them.
• Anthony has also taken strong stands on behalf of intellectual freedom, and she has consistently upheld libraries as one of the last sources of information for all no matter race, creed or income.
• Anthony also served six terms as Chair of the Library Commission, the board that sets policies for the 17 libraries that comprise the Metropolitan Library System. It's a no pay -- and sometimes no-win -- volunteer position, difficult yet vitally important to the local community.

"This woman has been of so much help to the Metropolitan Library System over the past 27 years," said MLS Executive Director Donna Morris, "that there were times when libraries would have literally been closed - and services would have been drastically reduced - without her help."

A graduate of Vanderbilt University, Anthony received M.A. and M.Phil degrees in mathematical statistics from Yale University and a doctorate in biostatistics from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. When she joined the Oklahoma City Community Foundation in 1985 as executive director, the Foundation had assets of $20 million and one other full-time employee. In her tenure, the Foundation has grown to include assets of more than $400 million as of 2001, 19 full-time employees and annual distributions to the local community of $15 million.

Anthony has also taught at Vanderbilt and Oklahoma City University , and she has served on a number of community boards and as a volunteer coach for several girl athletic teams.

She and her husband, Robert H. Anthony, are parents of four daughters, Elizabeth, Christine, Suzanne and Katherine. The Anthonys reside in Oklahoma City .

Proceeds from Literary Voices benefit the materials and programs of the Metropolitan Library System of Oklahoma County.