(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.