Palatine librarian in running for state group's leader

Melissa Gardner, assistant director for Public Services at the Palatine Public Library, has been nominated for president-elect of the Illinois Library Association. ILA members will vote in the spring to seat a president-elect from July 1, 2016 through June 30, 2019. The association represents all Illinois libraries. Gardner has worked in Illinois libraries for 15 years, seven of them as a library director. She also has been president of the System Wide Automated Network board. SWAN is a membership organization designed for libraries in the Chicago area that provides library collections and data in a shared, collaborative environment.

• Leyden High School District 212 staff member Hilda Marshall has been named the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Volunteer of the Year. For 19 years Marshall has volunteered as a mentor in the Y-PALS program at the Kelly Hall YMCA in Chicago. Three to five times a week Marshall makes the 35-mile trip from her home to lead the mentoring program that meets the needs of young people growing up in high-risk environments. In December, Marshall and six other IMRF member-volunteers were honored during a ceremony at IMRF headquarters in Oak Brook. In honor of Marshall's recognition, the IMRF donated $1,000 in her name to the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago.

• Mount Prospect resident Brian Gilligan, a business and accounting instructor at Morton College in Cicero, has been awarded three professional certificates in accounting and human resources. Gilligan, who is the Department of Business Technologies chairman as well as a full-time faculty member at Morton, is now certified as a Certified Management Accountant, a Society of Human Resources Management Certified Professional and a Professional in Human Resources. Gilligan also is a Commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve, and a Mount Prospect Public Library trustee.

• Two Buffalo Grove employees were honored at the Chicago Metropolitan Chapter of the American Public Works Association, Lake Branch meeting on Jan. 19. Mike Skibbe, deputy director of Public Works, was given the Young Leader Award, which recognizes active members of the association who are 35 or younger and have demonstrated commitment to their profession and the association. Additionally, the Samuel A. Greeley Award, presented to individuals who have served a public agency for 30 years or more and have displayed good character, was given to civil engineer Mark Biederwolf, a 31-year employee of the village.