INFOhio Hugh Durbin Leadership Award, 2012
Paula Baco, Library Media Specialist, Trumbull Career & Technical Center.
Paula Baco is a "five star educator" according to the 125 staff members of the Trumbull Career and Technical Center where she is Library Media Specialist.
And that is only one of the reasons Paula is this year's Hugh Durbin Award winner, an award that recognizes outstanding leadership in using INFOhio resources to meet the needs of students and teachers. Hugh Durbin, who served for 19 years as the Director of Library Media Services for the Columbus Public Schools and was President of OELMA in 1978, was a mentor and friend to a generation of library media specialists across Ohio. His vision and leadership are celebrated in this annual award.
Paula embodies his passion for libraries. This National Board Certified Teacher is "the hub of the academic wheel," according to Charmayne Polen, English Teacher, and Larry Crawford, Academic Supervisor, at TCTC who submitted the nomination. "She has transformed our library/media center into a multi-dimensional, kid friendly, eye catching resource location," they wrote. Her success is measured in the increasing percentage of students who check out books from TCTC's library every year.
In addition, she manages a monthly literature contest for students to express their feelings about books. She enlisted Barnes & Noble to provide the monthly winners with $25 gift certificates.
She also shares her innovative ideas with her peers. For example, she presented a session on using the Tools for Real-Time Assessment of Information Literacy Skills (TRAILS) for formative assessment as part of INFOhio's first-ever online conference in August 2012. Paula will receive her award during the Awards Dinner at the 2012 OELMA Annual Conference held in Sandusky, October 17-19, 2012.
