Nicole Turner is progressive and shows initiative in making sure the Cowell community does not miss out on library activities that often do not happen in regional locations.
That is according to State Library of South Australia director Geoff Strempel, who was one of the judges for the inaugural South Australian Library and Information Awards.
He presented Ms Turner with second place at the awards – which cover all libraries in the state – not just those in schools – in Adelaide on November 14.
Mr Strempel said in his role overseeing all libraries in SA he was aware that she had done a lot to engage the community with Cowell School Community Library.
“I think it is worth saying that there is a significant disadvantage of having such a distant location and few staff and how difficult it is to set up different speakers,” Mr Strempel said.
“The fact that she showed initiative and she was so committed to making sure they didn’t miss out.”
In addition to applying for grants to bring events and speakers to Cowell, he said Ms Turner showed generosity in managing to get funding for other EP libraries to also host them as well.
Mr Strempel said the community library manager also revived early childhood literacy programs, “and then to take it one step further and say how can we make our facilities more inclusive and more attractive”.
“Nicole has found a way … with the sensory garden” which will be planted outside the library in the new school year.
He said she was all about getting the community more aware and more involved with the library and improving community participation.
In the past two years Ms Turner has brought opportunities for engagement to the community.
She was successful in gaining numerous grants in 2022 which have enabled the library to host talks and workshops with authors, scientists and other leading speakers in the community.
After winning a recent award, Ms Turner said an important aspect to her role was to ensure that “just because we are where we are and we are away from Adelaide doesn’t mean the community should miss out on purposeful events”.
She also relaunched the library’s Storytime and Baby Bounce programs.
Running now is a Techknow program – designed to bridge the digital gap in the community.
