J.D. Simons Award: Lisa Bragg-Hurlburt and Jolene Albricht

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By LeAnn R. Ralph

COLFAX  — The 2024 J.D. Simons Community Volunteer Award has been presented to Lisa Bragg-Hurlburt, director of the Colfax Public Library, and Jolene Albricht, youth services librarian.

The Colfax Commercial Club presented the awards at the Colfax Public Library on March 27.

The 2024 J.D. Simons Award marks the ninth presentation to community members.

The J.D. Simons Award reads, “In honor of your dedication to ‘all things Colfax’ and your outstanding community involvement, your willingness to volunteer your time across many organizations and for many individuals, and most importantly — for making Colfax a better place to live.”

According to the nomination, Bragg-Hurlburt and Albricht — described as our “Lovely Librarian Ladies” — “provide a friendly, welcoming environment to everyone; a safe place for children, teens, young adults, adults and elderly community members; offer caring and understanding for all who come in; [provide] outstanding children’s programming.”

“They are both open-minded, kind-hearted and willing to help others in any situation,” the nomination form states.

When Mark Johnson, president of the Colfax Commercial Club, finished reading from the nomination form, Albricht exclaimed, “But that’s our job!”

While it is true that Bragg-Hurlburt and Albricht are employed at the Colfax Public Library, many library patrons would likely agree that the two librarians go above and beyond to provide a safe, warm, welcoming and educational environment.

Jolene Albricht’s Story Time presentations have become so well attended that the library has had to split them into two sessions, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Sometimes there is an evening session as well.

Summer Reading

The Summer Reading programs also have become so well attended that instead of holding them in Tower Park, next to the Colfax Public Library, Bragg-Hurlburt and Albricht have moved Summer Reading programs to the Colfax Fairgrounds.

Tower Park is much more convenient for Summer Reading because it is located right next to the library.

Initially, the Summer Reading programs were moved to the Colfax Fairgrounds because of the Covid pandemic.

The fairgrounds provided more space for people to spread out, but eventually, so many children, parents, grandparents and other family members began attending the Summer Reading programs that Tower Park would not be able to accommodate all of them.

While it is wonderful to see Tower Park so well used, it also can present a safety hazard when there are many small children running around in a crowded location, since the park is located right on state Highway 40/Main Street.

Bragg-Hurlburt and Albricht have been the architects of children’s Halloween and Christmas parties at the library, too.

Both parties have been so well attended that the main floor of the municipal building, the library and the auditorium upstairs have been crowded with children, parents and grandparents.

25 things

And then there is the list of “25 Things the Library Does Besides Checking Out Books.”

Bragg-Hurlburt compiled the list to present to the Dunn County Community Resources and Tourism Committee earlier this year as part of her presentation to ask Dunn County for an additional $5,000 to help fill a funding gap for the library.

The funding gap resulted from a shift in usage, so that more people from the village used the library. The funding formula that the county uses to calculate county funding for the libraries resulted in an $18,000 deficit in the Colfax Public Library’s budget for 2025.

Bragg-Hurlburt rolled up her sleeves, and with help and encouragement from Albricht, was able to fund raise enough to fill all but $5,000 of the gap.

While the list Bragg-Hurlburt presented to the CR&T committee contains 25 items, the truth is that the list could probably be 50 items or more.

Bragg-Hurlburt said the 25 items “were just off the top of my head when I had a couple of minutes to work on it.”

Bragg-Hurlburt was successful, by the way, in obtaining the additional $5,000. 

The CR&T committee agreed to supply the money from the county’s contingency fund.

$20,000

Bragg-Hurlburt also was successful in obtaining a $10,000 grant from the American Library Association for making the door on the south side of the building automated and, therefore, more handicapped accessible.

Bragg-Hurlburt recently learned that a second grant application she submitted to the American Library Association for an additional $10,000 in funding to improve the handicapped accessible ramp at the municipal building also has been awarded.

Colfax was one of 300 libraries that received the funding from the ALA, Bragg-Hurlburt said in the weekly library video posted on Facebook March 20.

And that’s another thing. 

Albricht cheerfully participates in recording the library’s video updates — even though being recorded in a video might not necessarily be her favorite thing in the whole wide world.

The ALA grants are part of a federal effort to bring accessibility to small towns and rural areas, Bragg-Hurlburt said.

Bragg-Hurlburt is a member of the Colfax Elevator Commission as well, which has raised $183,000 so far for installing an elevator in the municipal building and renovating the basement. 

An elevator in the building, along with a renovated basement, would help expand the space available for library programming.

Bragg-Hurlburt keeps track of the donors and the donations for the elevator commission. She also attends monthly meetings, keeps the minutes for the meetings and works on fund raisers.

Anyone who has visited the Colfax Public Library knows that Bragg-Hurlburt and Albricht have made the most of the space available to them.

The Colfax Public Library has about 1,800 square feet available.

Space needs studies have indicated the library could use another 8,000 square feet. 

Past awards

The first J.D. Simons Award was presented in 2016 to Troy Knutson.

The second award in 2017 was presented to Ernie and Geri Bates.

The third award in 2018 was presented to Mona Thorson.

The fourth award in 2019 was presented to Claudia and Kyle Kressin.

The fifth award in 2020 went to Susan Hill.

The sixth award in 2021 was presented to Anne Jenson.

The seventh award in 2022 went to Michelle Knutson.

The eighth award in 2023 was presented to Jeanna Berge and Heather Logslett.