Lina Osho-Williams, center, accepts the Faith Hektoen Award at the Connecticut Library Associations annual conference in Hartford last week. Standing with her, from left to right, are HPL Director of Public Services Marie Jarry, former HPL Assistant Director of Youth and Family Services Denise Martens, HPL Branch Services Coordinator Bonnie Solberg and HPL children’s librarian Linda Montanez.
Hartford Public Library Youth and Family Services Manager Lina Osho-Williams has been selected as the 2022 recipient of the Connecticut Library Association’s Faith Hektoen Award for her work serving children.
Osho-Williams, who received the award at the CLA’s annual conference in Hartford last week, has worked at HPL for 17 years and can often be found leading story times and other activities in the children’s room at the Downtown Library.
“My passion is with teaching the little ones,” says Osho-Williams. “There is something just precious about working with the little ones. I love the continuum — working with them as small children and then seeing them grow and come back as adults, seeing their beautiful potential being realized.”
Born in Sierra Leone, Osho-Williams left the country in 1997 in the midst of civil war and settled in Gambia for two years before arriving in the U.S. and eventually Hartford in 1999. Prior to working at Hartford Public Library Osho-Williams taught preschool in the early childhood education department with the Community Renewal Team.
The Faith Hekteon Award is presently annually to recognize the efforts of an individual or group that has made an impact on library services to children in Connecticut at the local, regional or state level. Developed in 1979, the award is named for Faith Hektoen, who served as a consultant for children’s services at the Connecticut State Library for more than 20 years. Osho-Williams was nominated for the award by a fellow children’s librarian at HPL.