Louisville Free Public Library earns national award for Courier Journal partnership
Louisville Free Public Library has been named a top innovator nationally for its role in hosting The Courier Journal's mobile newsroom, a program that sends journalists to different branches to learn how they can better cover the city's diverse communities.
The award comes from the Urban Libraries Council, which annually honors libraries that "showcase creative thinking and out-of-the-box application of library resources," according to a press release.
For 2023, LFPL was selected as an innovator for advocacy and awareness, one of eight award categories.
“We applaud Louisville Free Public Library for their visionary program, which will revolutionize their library and community and serve as a template for public libraries across North America," ULC President and CEO Brooks Rainwater said in the release.
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Courier Journal reporters and editors visited five libraries as part of its mobile newsroom in 2022, spending up to four weeks at each branch.
The program produced more than 40 stories on people, businesses and issues within the branches' neighborhoods, including a look at how Hispanic residents are revitalizing Preston Highway and why many apartments at one large complex remained vacant.
It also engaged residents civically through in-person JCPS school board candidate forums and op-ed workshops, led by opinion editor Bonnie Feldkamp.
From the mobile newsroom: How this historic neighborhood became the most diverse area in Louisville
"Louisville Free Public Library branches were the obvious choice for our mobile newsroom," Courier Journal Executive Editor Mary Irby-Jones said. "Our libraries serve all segments of our community, and we knew that the partnership would allow us to temporarily set up shop in parts of our community that we wanted to do a better job of listening to and covering. We found these residents eager to stop by and meet our journalists as well as to share their stories and offer story ideas."
The Courier Journal will resume the mobile newsroom in June at the Oldham County Public Library LaGrange Branch.
Other locations in 2023 will include libraries in Shawnee, Jeffersontown and Fairdale.
Reach reporter Bailey Loosemore at bloosemore@courier-journal.com, 502-582-4646 or on Twitter @bloosemore.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville Free Public Library earns award for Courier Journal program
