Idaho Capital Sun
BY: MIA MALDONADO – APRIL 27, 2023 4:30 AM
A North Idaho librarian has received a distinguished award for her work providing safe spaces for LGBTQ+ teens amid community backlash.
Denise Neujahr, a district teen librarian at the Community Library Network based in Post Falls and Hayden, is the recipient of the 2023 American Library Association’s Lemony Snicket Prize for Noble Librarians Faced with Adversity.
Established in 2014 by the American Library Association and Daniel Handler, otherwise known by the pen name Lemony Snicket, the award annually recognizes a librarian who has faced adversity with integrity while helping improve their community.
Neujahr will receive the award — a $10,000 cash award and an item from Handler’s private collection — during the American Library Association Annual Conference & Exhibition in Chicago in June.
Neujahr has worked as a librarian in North Idaho for over 12 years, and she received the prize after her coworker nominated her for her work supporting local LGBTQ+ youth.
In 2019, Neujahr began the Rainbow Squad Program, a monthly program for LGBTQ+ youth and allies to connect and participate in non-academic activities. Neujahr continued the program virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic, and she has seen the program grow from just five students in attendance to now 35 students who regularly attend the program.
“I’ve done youth services work in libraries for 24 years, and I’ve always noticed that the library seems to be a magnet for kids that are in the LGBTQ+ community,” she told the Idaho Capital Sun. “I wanted to create this program for them because I felt there was a need in northern Idaho.”
Neujahr said she splits the middle schoolers and high schoolers into different programs, and the meetings typically include a craft activity, games and a snack.
“They just get to be themselves without any judgment or bullying which they experience daily at school, church or home,” she said in a phone interview. “We just wanted a safe place where they can be themselves and make friends.”
In addition to the youth program, Neujahr said she and her coworker lead the Rainbow Squad Parent group, a program that began two years ago allowing the teen’s parents to connect and have refreshments. The parent meeting is held at the same time as the middle school program, and it often includes guest speakers to talk to the parents.
