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Maryland State Library Agency Youth Services Coordinator Earns National Honor
Carrie Sanders was named a 2025 Library Journal Mover & Shaker for her work with Maryland libraries
BALTIMORE — The Maryland State Library Agency (MSLA) is pleased to announce that Youth Services Coordinator Carrie Sanders today was honored as a 2025 Library Journal Mover & Shaker. She joins 49 others from across the country who earned this prestigious award. They are being recognized for their innovation and creativity, advocacy, and for helping improve their libraries and communities.
“It is truly an honor to be acknowledged as a 2025 Mover & Shaker for work that I love to do,” Sanders said. “Throughout my career as a public and school librarian, it has been my passion to help children and teens develop a love of reading and learning and to support teachers or library colleagues in their engagement with youth and families. I am so grateful to be a part of an amazing team of colleagues at the Maryland State Library Agency and a network of dedicated library staff across the state of Maryland, collaborating together to provide engaging, relevant programs and services for all ages and populations of youth that further literacy and lifelong learning.”
Library Journal serves librarians and library workers with news and perspectives that shape the field, including best practices, innovations, emerging leaders, guidance on purchasing decisions and advocacy. The 2025 class of Movers & Shakers, showcased in Library Journal’s May 2025 edition, includes 50 leaders who have demonstrated 50 different ways to move libraries forward. Their work supports students, families and others as they help customers learn, connect with their communities and engage with reading.
"Library Journal’s 2025 Movers and Shakers represent the best of the creative, inspiring, visionary and committed individuals who are advancing the library field,” said Hallie Rich, Library Journal Editor-in-Chief.
Sanders leads year-round coordination efforts that support public library summer reading programs, which encourage active reading and learning for students during summer break. Through that work, Sanders developed a partnership with the Maryland State Fair and helped deliver the Barnyard Bedtime Tales early childhood literacy program, which won first place in the Agricultural Program/Exhibit Category from the International Association of Fairs and Expositions in 2023.
Sanders adapted an Institute of Museum and Library Services-funded early learning calendar, the Maryland Day by Day Calendar, which provides daily reading and learning activities. She also launched the annual Teen Connect Conference, an event that helps public and school library professionals develop and deliver teen-driven services.
Among her many other duties, Sanders coordinates and leads professional development training for library staff throughout the year. She also has developed partnerships and leads training for library staff to better serve service members, veterans and military families — work that earned MSLA and the Maryland Department of Veterans and Military Families (formerly the Maryland Department of Veterans Affairs) an Abraham Lincoln Pillars of Excellence Award in 2022.
Sanders has led a distinguished career. She spent a decade serving as a public school librarian in Indiana and 15 years working as a public library children’s librarian in Illinois. Since arriving at MSLA in 2016, Sanders has spearheaded numerous programs and initiatives, including the Hatchlings program for expectant families and families of newborns, which helps them develop literacy and communications skills that are pivotal to academic and professional success.
With Sanders’ Library Journal recognition, MSLA is proud to have among its ranks three Movers & Shakers. LaShawn Myles (2024) and Nini Beegan (2021) were named Movers & Shakers for supporting and leading Maryland’s libraries with innovative services, training opportunities and other statewide initiatives. State Librarian Morgan Lehr Miller is proud to see MSLA’s dedicated staff once again receive recognition on the national stage.
“Some say it’s possible to be good at many things, yet only great at one, but Carrie proves that isn’t always true,” Miller said. “She is an expert in so many areas, and I’m thrilled that Library Journal is honoring her for the incredible impact she has had on Maryland libraries and people across the state.”
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