Bryson City, NC
In rural Jackson County, North Carolina, nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains southwest of Asheville, the libraries play a central role for a community with limited access to transportation and broadband. And until recently, county librarian and Fontana Regional Library director Tracy Fitzmaurice served as a longtime pillar for the libraries.
Fitzmaurice’s focus on inclusivity has made a deep impact among her community, particularly for people with disabilities. She has created custom volunteer opportunities for patrons with autism, hosted film screenings highlighting the meaningful ways people with disabilities enhance a community, and worked to ensure all feel welcome at the library. “Tracy’s kindness and leadership in embracing my son’s disabilities and creating a volunteer job he could proudly do has brought him confidence and joy for several years now,” one nominator wrote.
In February 2026, Fitzmaurice resigned from her roles as county librarian for the Jackson County Library System and director of the Fontana Regional Library following a turbulent period of local politics and personal attacks. However, in her time at Fontana Regional Library, she implemented an array of community-focused programs, including a digital navigators program to support technology skills, cooking classes with a teaching kitchen on wheels, professional development opportunities, and more. And in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in 2024, Fitzmaurice worked with IT staff to ensure the library’s internet was available for anyone on the library’s grounds, providing a lifeline to the community when other communications were down. Under her leadership, the Jackson County Public Libraries in Sylva and Cashiers were awarded Western Carolina University’s 2025 Organizational Mountain Heritage Award, which recognizes the libraries’ commitment to preserving and promoting Southern Appalachian Culture and serving as a repository for regional literature and cultural materials.
“To our community, Tracy Fitzmaurice is far more than just our county librarian and the director of the Fontana Regional Library,” one nominator wrote. “She is an indispensable leader and a powerful advocate to the rural communities of Jackson, Macon, and Swain counties.”
Fitzmaurice 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.
