Library Journal announced on May 1 recipients of the 2024 Movers & Shakers awards — a cohort of advocates, community builders, change agents, innovators, educators and ban battlers from all corners of the field.

Hazel Onsrud, adult services librarian at Curtis Memorial Library, was selected as a 2024 Mover & Shaker in the educators category.

Librarian Hazel Onsrud in the Library of Things at Curtis Memorial Library. Courtesy of Curtis Memorial Library

In 2018, Onsrud established the Library of Things collection to encourage waste reduction through resource sharing — to borrow, instead of buying. Likewise, Onsrud’s community programming empowers library patrons to create a more sustainable, equitable world through their everyday choices. By partnering with local nonprofit organizations such as Tedford Housing, Midcoast Indigenous Awareness Group, Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program and the Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust, Onsrud has curated a catalog of expert-led programming that confronts social and environmental issues with responsible, effective solutions.

“Together, our amazing communities recognize the importance of sustainability and how our collections and programming can support our local needs and global goals,” Onsrud said in a prepared release. “I’m so excited to continue learning alongside them, striving towards improvement and work towards a better world.”

The new class of Movers & Shakers, showcased in LJ’s May print 2024 issue and online, represent a sample of the work being done in and around libraries today. They are developing programming for patrons with disabilities, providing a place to land after school for teens, creating and restoring balance to their boards, connecting libraries with federal funding, helping design sustainable facilities, teaching community members how to archive their collections, battling censorship attempts, and more. The 50 individuals profiled here demonstrate 50 different ways to move library values forward.

“Our 2024 Movers represent a range of innovative, proactive and supportive work; they are imaginative and kind and brave in a world that needs those qualities — and the results they produce — very much,” said Library Journal Executive Editor Lisa Peet.