Birmingham’s Baldwin Public Library has earned a statewide honor as the first-ever winner of the Michigan Library Association’s LEAD award.
The award is new. Established in 2026, it stands for Library Excellence in Access and Diversity. It recognizes a Michigan library for demonstrated progress during the previous year in making library services more equitable, accessible and inclusive, according to the MLA’s awards page.
Downtown Publications reported the honor for the library at 300 W. Merrill St. in downtown Birmingham.
The LEAD award specifically honors libraries that help people feel welcome and remove barriers to using their collections, services and other offerings, according to the MLA.
The Michigan Library Association, a network of more than 2,500 organizations and individuals, presents its awards each year at a gala held during the MLA Annual Conference. The association lists Oct. 28 as the date of its 2026 gala in Novi.
The recognition comes alongside strong local support for the library. Bloomfield Hills voters approved a library millage replacement with 69.70% of the vote, according to unofficial results reported by C & G Newspapers. The millage funds a contract between Bloomfield Hills and Baldwin Public Library that gives Bloomfield Hills residents full access to library services.
Bloomfield Hills City Manager David Hendrickson called the result a sign of residents’ confidence in the library, C & G reported.
Baldwin Public Library Director Rebekah Craft also received a personal honor from the MLA in 2025, when the association named her Public Librarian of the Year at its Oct. 29, 2025, gala in Lansing. That award recognized her leadership in inclusion, equity and library governance. The 2026 LEAD award goes to the library as an institution.
On its website, the library says it aims to create an inclusive space and that it uses programming, its collection and staff training to serve a broad range of patrons.
The millage authorization covers six years beginning with the July 2027 levy, according to the county’s ballot language. It funds library privileges for Bloomfield Hills residents on the same basis as Birmingham residents.
