The National School Library Media Program of the Year Award was presented by the American Association of School Libraries (AASL) at the AASL Awards Ceremony and Brunch on July 10, 2000. The brunch was held during the American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference in Chicago.

The award, $7,000 in each of three categories, recognizes a large and small school district and a single school for exemplary school library media programs that are fully integrated into the schools' curriculum.

The Irving (Texas) Independent School District was presented the award in the large school district category.

In the small school district category, the award was presented to the Londonderry (N.H.) School District. This fully developed program with library media specialists and support staff has developed benchmarks for information literacy and all 5,179 students in 5 schools have the opportunity to utilize information literacy skills imbedded in the curriculum. A strong district administrative direction helps collaboration with teachers via a structured information literacy curriculum rubric. Solid, up-to-date collections complement the program.

"The Londonderry School District is bursting with pride to be the recipient of this prestigious award. We are particularly pleased that the collaborative efforts of our elected officials, administrators, teachers, staff and community members, to ensure that our school library media program and services are an essential element of the institutional process, have been recognized," says Susan Ballard, director of library, media and technology.

The single school category award was presented to the New Trier Township High School (Winnetka, Ill). AASL's National School Library Media Program of the Year Award, sponsored by Follett Library Resources, emphasizes the importance of the school library media program as an integral part of the instructional process, vital to the curriculum for quality education; demonstrates the fundamental value of excellent school library programs in the personal and social development of the future leaders, our youth; identifies positive models which, though their approaches may be unique to the specific school community, still share the common goals and principles of meeting the information needs of users; and encourages the development of library media programs that are the result of the collaborative efforts of all those who are responsible for student learning.