Published: June 09, 2009 07:38 am      

A lifetime of achievement

Library director John D. “Danny” Hales Jr. recognized for long list of accomplishments

John D. “Danny” Hales Jr., was recognized by the Florida Library Association with its highest honor recently, the Lifetime Achievement Award at the association’s annual conference in Orlando.

The award was presented at the conference banquet by FLA President Mercedes Clement, who recognized him for his longtime dedication to the association, his success at his regional library system, his dedicated involvement in his community and his presence on the national scene as a spokesman for rural libraries.

“Hales has championed the advancement of library services for his entire 34 year career in public libraries,” his award nomination states. “His many awards and certificates are proof of his outstanding contributions to the library and community organizations. He has served on literally hundreds of committees and task forces and has been involved in the decision making process of not only library issues, but also community and governmental issues as well. He has been a mentor, to not only his employees, but also to youth in the community. He is always available to staff and the citizens. I can think of no one more deserving than Mr. Hales.”

In his years of service to FLA, he was elected and served as president and elected to several terms on the executive board of directors. He has been chair of numerous committees through the years, most notably the budget and finance and conference planning. For years he has been a leader in working with the Florida Legislature to improve funding and services for libraries statewide. He has mentored several staff, who have pursued their graduate degree in library science and who now are active leaders in FLA. He was a delegate to the Florida Governor’s Conference on Libraries and subsequently one of only six Florida librarians to be selected for the White House Conference on Libraries in Washington, D.C. Currently he serves on the Library Technology Taskforce for the State Library of Florida.

Locally in his job as director of the three-county Suwannee River Regional Library, he has built seven libraries and remodeled or converted four other buildings, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars outside of government funding.

He successfully assisted in the establishment of the Three Rivers Regional Library System in Mayo for the counties of Dixie, Gilchrist and Lafayette, former members of the SRRL.

During his tenure at SRRL he began new libraries in Greenville, Lee, Jennings and White Springs, expanding regional services to eight locations. He developed a complete new organizational and intra-local agreement organizational structure to administer the regional system, initiated a youth services department, a literacy program, automated all libraries, installed high speed Internet connections, tutoring programs and improved and enhanced several other services during his tenure.

Outside of his job, Hales is committed to his community serving with many groups and agencies. Among his activities, most notably, is his 18 years of participation in Kiwanis, where he has served as a board member, 20 years of service on the Suwannee County Historical Commission and current secretary, two terms on the chamber board, six years on the SHS School Advisory Committee, four years on the Suwannee Soccer Boosters Board, six years on Boy Scout Troop 696 Committee, three terms on the Suwannee Foundation for Excellence in Education and current vice chair, four years as a member of Students Working Against Tobacco advisory committee, four years involvement with the After Prom Party, the Youth Advocacy Partnership and others. For three years he has been a mentor for the Take Stock in Children’s Program. He has volunteered for over 15 years at the Annual Florida Folk Festival in White Springs. He was chosen as Citizen of the Year by the Chamber of Commerce in 1996 and received the Outstanding Chamber Board Member of the Year in 2000.

On the National scene Hales has represented his colleagues in Florida on the American Library Association Council, the governing body of ALA for two terms of eight years. He was elected to the Public Library Association Board of Directors for two separate terms, and was also president of the small and medium sized libraries section of ALA. He has served on many national committees by appointment of ALA presidents based upon his ability, enthusiasm and knowledge of rural libraries.

He was involved in the establishment of the Ebsco Excellence in Small and or Rural Library Services Award, given annually by ALA and has served as chair of that committee on numerous occasions. Currently he is active on the Rural, Native and Tribal Libraries Committee of ALA. He frequently speaks on rural library services at ALA. He is a member of Beta Phi Mu, the national library and information science honor society.

In 2002 Hales was selected and continues to serve on the initial advisory committee of Webjunction, a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation national project, providing an Internet based information portal for 60,000 small and rural libraries. In 2006 he was asked to serve on the Bill and Melinda Gates, U. S. Libraries Initiative Partners Advisory Council, that advises on library assistance programs, which has provided hundreds of millions of dollars for computers, software, training, and Internet connectivity to rural libraries throughout the United States.

Hales is married to Sheila M. Hiss, director of the North Florida Community College’s library. The couple has two children, Christina “Nina” Hales Heringer and John D. “J.D.” Hales III. In his spare time he enjoys his family, friends, golf, reading, travel and trivia.