(Image: MBLC Commissioner Kemarah Sika (left) accepting the Henry Nourse Stedman Commissioner Award on behalf of Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell at the MA State House next to MBLC Vice Chair Tim Cherubini on November 6, 2025.)

Henry Stedman Nourse was a Civil War Veteran, Professor of Ancient Languages at Phillips Exeter Academy, State Legislator for the town of Lancaster and one of the five founding members of the Free Public Library Commission of Massachusetts established in 1890, now known as the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC).  Nourse was instrumental in establishing libraries across the Commonwealth and advocated for public libraries to provide free access to books and learning for everyone, regardless of socioeconomic background or geography. This was a shift from elitist norms of the time, as he supported literacy and education as universal rights, laying the groundwork for intellectual freedom.

The Henry Stedman Nourse Commissioner Award honors a Massachusetts public official whose work has helped to create groundbreaking change for Commonwealth public libraries.  On November 6, 2025, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell was awarded the 2025 Henry Stedman Nourse Commissioner Award as part of the MBLC’s 135^th Anniversary Celebration.  Her dedication to protecting our libraries, intellectual freedom and right to read against censorship and book banning nationwide and in Massachusetts ensures that libraries are key to a free democracy and here to stay open as doors of opportunity open to everyone.

When federal library funding was under threat as a result of the Trump administration’s Executive Order 14238, Andrea Joy Campbell’s office took action. Working with attorney generals from 21 other states, her office filed a lawsuit and requested a preliminary injunction to stop the dismantling of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the only federal agency dedicated to funding museums and libraries in the United States. There’s no doubt her efforts contributed to IMLS funding being reinstated in December of 2025, protecting libraries in Massachusetts and across the nation, ensuring a better future with strong and secure library services for us all.

(Image: Kim Charlson (left) accepting the Anna Eliot Ticknor Commissioner Award at the MA State House with her guide dog Idabelle next to MBLC Commissioner Joyce Linehan on November 6, 2025.)

At the MBLC’s Commissioner Awards ceremony, Kim Charlson Executive Director of the Perkins Braille & Talking Book Library was awarded the Anna Eliot Ticknor award which recognizes a Massachusetts librarian whose work has increased residents’ access to the wealth of resources held at libraries across the Commonwealth.

Let’s take a look at Kim’s impressive career that spans over two decades and impacted countless individuals.This year alone Perkins Library will circulate more than 900,000 items to 20,000 patrons with print disabilities.

Kim has been on the forefront of new technology, piloting eBooks, adaptive devices such as Braille eReaders, tactile maps, 3D printers, and online services so that people with disabilities can participate equally in the digital revolution.

Her influence extends to policies and initiatives that have strengthened accessible library services across the Commonwealth. Kim’s wise guidance has equipped libraries of all sizes to welcome residents who might otherwise be left out. She serves on the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Braille Literacy Council, advising on how students across the state can access the materials they need to learn.

Kim helped author the Standards and Guidelines of Service for the Library of Congress Network of Libraries for the Blind and Print Disabled as well as an American with Disabilities Act Handbook that serves as a guide for establishing accessible libraries.  Her work on the Marrakesh Treaty has allowed unique items that are digitized at Perkins Library to be shared freely anywhere in the world. Because of Kim Charlson, libraries are a place where everyone belongs.