American Library Association

At Miles College in Fairfield, Alabama, former student Candice Hardy directs the campus resource center. Hardy is of 10 recipients this year of an “I Love My Librarian Award." Each winner receives $5,000 and a $750 stipend for an association gathering next month in Phoenix.

The American Library Association is a nonprofit nonpartisan organization that has been pushing back against book bans nationwide. Alabama is among a number of states which are in the process of removing themselves from the ALA due to the organization’s defense of controversial books