Ginny Moore Kruse is one of seven individuals who will be inducted into the Wisconsin Library Hall of Fame on November 3, 2011 at the Awards and Honors Banquet during the Wisconsin Library Association Conference in Milwaukee. Kruse is Director Emerita of the Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) in the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, an examination, study and research library devoted to children’s and young adult literature. She served as director of the CCBC between 1976 and 2002. While director, she founded the award-winning CCBC Intellectual Freedom Information Services. With CCBC colleagues she wrote and taught about book evaluation, especially multicultural literature and also international books for children & young adults. As an active member of the Wisconsin Library Association and the American Library Association, she chaired and also served on many book award committees. She co-founded the annual CCBC Charlotte Zolotow Award & Lecture. Ginny’s formal honors include election into Beta Phi Mu (1977); Member of the Year, Society of Children’s Book Writers (1977); Librarian of the Year, Wisconsin Library Association (1978); Alumna Honor, College of Education & Human Services, UW-Oshkosh (1985); Christopher Latham Sholes Award, Council for Wisconsin Writers (1988); Award for Outstanding Contributions to Children’s Books, Children’s Reading Round Table of Chicago (1988); Award of Excellence, Wisconsin Educational Media Association (1996); Alumna of the Year, School of Library & Information Studies, UW-Madison (1996); Distinguished Service Award, Association for Library Services to Children, American Library Association (1996); Hope S. Dean Award, Foundation for Children’s Books (1997); and the Distinguished Achievement Award, School of Education (1998). In 2003 Ginny was awarded the second Rabin Youth Arts Award for Individual Achievement given by the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras. She was named a Distinguished Alumna of the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh in 2006. In 2008 Ginny was named a “Backyard Hero” by Community Shares of Wisconsin for her leadership in the 2007 “Public Reading of Banned Books” event sponsored by ALCU/Wisconsin.
Prior to taking the position as Director at the CCBC, Ginny received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Education from Wisconsin State University – Oshkosh in 1956 and a Masters Degree in Library Science from the University of Wisconsin – Madison in 1976. She taught English and Speech at Lincoln Junior High School, 1956-1958. Between 1967 and 1969, served as Library Director at Central Junior High School in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, followed by five years during which she was the Resource Center Director at Weeks Junior High School in Newton Centre, Massachusetts. In 1974 she taught the Children’s Literature course in the Education Department at Simmons College, Boston. Between 1974 and 1975 Ginny coordinated special programs for children and families for the Children’s Department of the Brown County Public Library, Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Ginny is grateful for the mentoring and support of two previous Library Hall of Fame inductees – Elizabeth Burr and Muriel Fuller. Burr as Children’s Consultant at the Wisconsin Free Library Commission (WFLC) helped found the CCBC in 1963 as a cooperative venture between the WFLC, the UW Library School, and the UW School of Education.