For her work bridging gaps of language and literacy at Suncrest Elementary School, Library Media Specialist Charlotte Chung is awarded this week by the American Library Association.
Charlotte Chung opened a new chapter of her life in 2022 when she took on the position of library media specialist at Suncrest Elementary School. Just three years later, she would be flying to Phoenix to accept a national award for her role. She wasn’t the only one turning a page—the school’s library was about to see a series of plot twists.
Chung’s work has been all about creating an inclusive and supportive reading environment in her very diverse school district.
“You have my alphabet!” exclaimed a second grade student during a class visit to the library. The student was excited about a collection of books in Arabic, her mother’s first language. This collection wasn’t there by coincidence—it was a product of Chung’s Diverse Language Book Collection in support of literacy development among English language learners, one of two programs she’s founded at the library.
Chung served earlier as a student teacher for North Elementary School’s library, where media specialist Amy Bailey had curated a collection of books in Arabic, Spanish, and Chinese. When she realized just how many students at Suncrest Elementary spoke languages other than English—53 languages across the district—inspiration struck.
A school librarian gets an inside look at which books are popular among students. At Suncrest Elementary, a few are series like Dog Man and Captain Underpants, books that one English-learning student consistently borrowed in English and Spanish—before Chung surprised him.
“He kept checking them out even though he couldn’t read them, so I bought some in Chinese,” she says. “Just seeing how excited he was, and so thrilled that he could finally participate with his friends who were already reading these books, gave me a good kick in the butt to really grow this collection at the school.” And grow the collection she has.
Language barriers aren’t the school’s only roadblock to reading. Chung’s latest project, Building Bridges to Literacy, aims to engage even the most reluctant of readers. How? By placing the power in their hands. To do that, she turned to what students were already reading. Graphic novels accounted for 40% of borrowings from the school library at the time, yet they made up only 8% of the total collection.
“If you meet students where they are and get the books they’re interested in, that’s the first hook to get them reading,” says Chung. “A big part of this project is asking the students, ‘What do you want to see in your library?’”
These programs have led to more than just heartwarming stories—the library’s circulation rates are on the rise, Chung has received several grants for her work, and now she’s one of just 10 librarians receiving the American Library Association’s 2025 I Love My Librarian award. Of more than 1,300 nominees, Chung was chosen for her above-and-beyond efforts to support literacy and inclusion in her community.
“There’s a lot of great work that happens in our state, so I’m proud to represent our state at that level and be able to share stories about West Virginia’s school librarians,” says Chung as she prepares for the ALA’s Friday, January 24, ceremony at its annual LibLearnX conference in Phoenix.
This award isn’t a conclusion, but rather, an inciting event. Chung says foundations have been laid for a diverse collection, and it can only go up from here as students embrace their roles as miniature librarians.
“When you put that power in students’ hands, that really motivates them to read,” she says. “They feel heard and valued in the library, so they’re going to want to be there and they’re going to want to read these books.”
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