Cranford, NJ
Between overseeing the school’s newspaper and literary magazine and advising student council and podcast club, Christine Szeluga stays busy supporting the 1,200 students at Cranford High School in New Jersey. And under her leadership as the school’s librarian, the library has flourished as a dynamic hub for academic support and student engagement.
Since joining Cranford High School in 2019, Szeluga has transformed learning and engagement in the library, securing grant funding to support the addition of a makerspace, local history archive, and podcast studio—spaces that encourage students to explore new technologies, engage in creative projects, and develop digital skills. Her efforts to modernize the library have also increased circulation rates in the library by 300%.
In 2024, Szeluga spearheaded the Cranford Dixie Giants project, a local history initiative where students researched Cranford’s semi-professional, all-Black baseball team that played in the early 20th century. What began as a simple research project bloomed into a community-wide effort to honor the team and uncover its hidden history. Guided by Szeluga, students wrote articles and produced podcasts for the school’s news platform, raising awareness of the team’s historic legacy and laying the groundwork for a larger commemoration honoring their resilience and talent in the face of racial discrimination. The project was recognized nationally with the Roald Dahl’s Miss Honey Social Justice Award from the American Association of School Librarians in 2025.
“The library is the heart of our school community,” one of her nominators wrote, “and Mrs. Szeluga is at the center. As a leader in the school, she inspires students through her love of learning, and her infectious enthusiasm for reading often helps to see themselves as lifelong readers.”
Szeluga was selected from more than 1,300 nominations from library users nationwide for the 2026 award. As part of her award, she will receive a $5,000 cash prize as well as complimentary registration and a travel stipend to attend ALA’s Annual Conference in Chicago.
The I Love My Librarian Award is sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, with additional support from the New York Public Library, and is administered by the American Library Association. Since 2008, library users have shared more than 25,000 nominations detailing how librarians have gone above and beyond to promote literacy, expand access to technology, and support diversity and inclusion in their communities.
