Congratulations to the 2006 Building Better Communities Awards recipients! The following five library organizations were recognized in a special ceremony during the ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans on June 24, 2006:

• Calgary Public Library (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) for its Open for All project, which explores technology with underserved/excluded, special needs, at-risk users.
  
  
• Delaware County Community College Library (Media, Pennsylvania), which provides resources to nursing students via PDAs during off-campus, hands-on clinical practice.
  
  
• Hamilton Public Library (Hamilton, Ontario, Canada) for its innovative new Web site, which offers city services to residents and business people.
  
  
• Hancock County Library System (Bay St. Louis, Mississippi), which provided a vital community service by restoring Internet and telephone service for community use in Hurricane Katrina's aftermath.
  
  
• INFOhio (Columbus, Ohio), which is leading a grassroots effort to provide all Ohio students with online resources, including a new K-12 portal in conjunction with SirsiDynix.

SirsiDynix CEO Patrick Sommers (right) presented each recipient with a glass award and faux check for US$10,000. Susan Buchanan, SirsiDynix vice president for Canada and Eastern Region, accepted an award on behalf of Delaware County Community College Library.

During the ceremony in New Orleans, SirsiDynix also presented 10 finalists with a framed certificate. In all, 15 finalists were selected from a pool of more than 130 North American SirsiDynix libraries that were nominated. An independent committee of library leaders selected the finalists and the recipients. Each Building Better Communities Award recipient receives US$10,000 from SirsiDynix.

“SirsiDynix established the Building Better Communities Awards to recognize library organizations and the important roles they play in their communities,” said Patrick C. Sommers, SirsiDynix chief executive officer. “The five recipient libraries and their staff members are excellent role models to libraries and librarians everywhere. Their outstanding efforts to create better places for us to live, work, and learn should educate and inspire others to do the same. On behalf of the almost 700 employees of SirsiDynix worldwide, I congratulate these excellent institutions for their work.”