Bluford Branch librarian wins national award

The director of the Lucile H. Bluford Branch of the Kansas City Public Library was in New York on Thursday to accept an I Love My Librarian Award from the American Library Association.

Library patrons across the country nominated more than 1,300 librarians for the award to recognize them for their service to the community. There were 10 recipients.

The Bluford Branch, 3050 Prospect Ave., has more than 50 computers for public use, a post office branch, meeting rooms and free fitness classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

“I am a librarian because I love it,” April Roy said in a statement from the Kansas City Public Library. “So to win an award with ‘love’ in the title is perfect for me.”

Roy was nominated by library patron Christine Taylor-Butler.

“Once April transferred to Bluford, the library blossomed,” Taylor-Butler said.

In her nomination, Taylor-Butler wrote that Roy “turned the Bluford library into an oasis for a community that has little else to claim as its own.”

Roy has been working for the Kansas City Public Library for 10 years and has managed the Bluford Branch for more than three years. She receives a $5,000 cash prize along with the award.

This story was originally published December 3, 2015 at 3:20 PM.