Carver inducted into hall of fame

SANDUSKY — Apparently, Erie County has pretty good libraries. The Ohio Library Council announced its top awards for public libraries in the state, and three of the five awards were for library employees or libraries in Erie County. Molly Carver, the recently retired executive director of Sandusky Library, was named a Ohio Library Council Hall of Fame Librarian. Awards were also announced for libraries in Huron, Vermilion, Findlay and Wayne County. All of the Ohio Library Council's award winners will be honored when the Ohio Library Council hosts its convention in Cleveland on Nov. 19. Sandusky Carver, who became the executive director of Sandusky Library in January 2015, retired on June 1: • Before that, she was director of Bellevue Public Library for 20 years: from 1995 to 2014. • Before her stint in Bellevue, Carver also worked for Sandusky Library, rising to assistant director before she left to run Bellevue's library. Carver said her award from the Ohio Library Council was a "humbling experience" and "quite a surprise." As for her retirement, she said she is enjoying her new free time. "As I told a number of people, I haven't had a summer off since I was a kid," Carver said. Katie Corcoran, who was Sandusky Library's assistant director, is serving as interim director. The library board met Wednesday to discuss naming a new library director. There has been no announcement yet on a new director. "Nothing is official yet," said Martha Murray, the library board's vice president. Corcoran could not be reached for comment. Vermilion The Ohio Library Council gave its Emerging Leader Award to Collin Kuhn of Ritter Public Library in Vermilion. Kuhn, 32, is a youth services associate at Ritter, running story time, dealing with programming for kids and maintaining the kids' book collection. He's been with the library for just over three years. His passion for the job was recognized by his immediate supervisor, Aimee Adams, Ritter's services manager, who nominated Kuhn. Kuhn is a Vermilion native and 2011 graduate of the local high school. He has a bachelor's degree in history from the University of Akron. He was a Ritter library patron since childhood. The children's section of the library features a large boat. "I have pictures of me playing on it when I was little," he said. Huron The Ohio Library Council gave its Library Innovation Award to Huron Public Library for the library's "Huron Beacon" podcast. The "Huron Beacon" podcast is a monthly podcast focusing on local community organizations. Topics have included Erie MetroParks, Serving Our Seniors, the Erie County Health Department, the library itself and the library's friends group. It's available at the library's website, from Spotify, the podcast's host, and from Apple, Amazon and Castbox. Segments have ranged from 7 minutes to 20 minutes. The show's creator and host is Rebekah Hire-Santoro, Huron Public Library's head of marketing and emerging technology. "I'm a library kid at heart," said Hire-Santoro, who was born in Lorain and grew up in Columbus. Hire-Santoro also has penned two novels, including "Regret and Romance," about a young woman who has taken her first library job. Here is the first sentence of the blurb: "Melody Haden is excited to begin her dream job at a local public library, but her dream turns into a nightmare when her college ex-boyfriend Jamie Washington starts at the library the same day."