Tom Stagg Selected as 2024 Recipient of the Illinois Library Association Trustee of the Year Award

Tom Stagg, Treasurer of the Board of Trustees for the Alpha Park Public Library in Bartonville, Illinois, is the 2024 Illinois Library Association (ILA) Trustee of the Year Award recipient. This annual citation is awarded to public library trustees for contributions to their local library and involvement in libraries at the state and national levels. The award recognizes library trustees for their notable leadership qualities, years of service, offices, positions, and accomplishments.

Stagg has served on the Alpha Park Public Library Board for seven years, holding various roles and seeing the library through the pandemic, renovation, and the creation of a strategic plan. He has been instrumental in bringing new programs to the library and building fundraising efforts. He also volunteers at another smaller library, helping it build its programs and resources.

While serving on the Alpha Park Public Library Board, Stagg concurrently serves in library leadership roles at the state and regional levels. He has served as president of the ILA Library Trustee Forum Board and is now entering a new term as president-elect of that body. As a member of the ILA Library Trustee Forum Board, he has been a strong advocate for the educational programs offered to trustees through ILA. He also has stayed well-versed in state-wide issues and has been active in legislative advocacy that benefits all libraries.

In addition to those significant contributions, Stagg is ending his second three-year term on the Reaching Across Illinois Library System (RAILS) Board this year. During those six years, he has served on nearly every RAILS committee, chairing several, including Advocacy, Consortia, Nominating, and Policy. He has served on the Executive Committee of RAILS as both president and treasurer. Stagg's enthusiasm for ongoing professional development and library advocacy is further demonstrated by his concurrent enrollement in the MLIS program at Chicago State University. His tireless work at all levels shows his true passion and dedication to the welfare of libraries everywhere. 

By serving on the boards of his home library, the ILA Library Trustee Forum Board, and RAILS, Stagg has generously shared his leadership and guidance with other trustees across Illinois. In all these roles, he brings wisdom, patience, good humor, and initiative. He fosters an inclusive environment where all perspectives are valued. By spending years educating and guiding trustees and librarians throughout the state to be more informed and better equipped, Stagg has made a positive impact that reverberates beyond one term or one library and makes him an outstanding trustee and one worthy of ILA’s prestigious Trustee of the Year Award.

The Illinois Library Association Trustee of the Year Award will be presented at an awards ceremony during the 2024 Illinois Library Association Annual Conference. The conference will take place October 8-10, 2024, in Peoria, Illinois. For more information, contact the Illinois Library Association.