The Rhode Island Library Association (RILA) held its annual conference on June 1 and 2 at the George E. Bello Center for Information Technology at Bryant University in North Smithfield. At the annual business meeting on June 2, RILA President Cindy Lunghofer presented the Lifelong Achievement Award to Rhode Island Chief of Library Services, Anne T. Parent. William J. Allen, a member of the Cumberland Public Library Board of Trustees and the Library Board of Rhode Island, was also honored as Trustee of the Year.

For the past five years Anne has headed Rhode Island’s state library agency, the Office of Library and Information Services (OLIS), located in the Rhode Island Department of Administration. As the Chief of Library Services, Anne oversees state and federal funding and programs for libraries of all types. She is also a member of the LibFutures Steering Committee that is crafting a vision of multitype library service that will serve Rhode Island residents for many years to come.

A native Rhode Islander, Anne has had a library career that spans nearly four decades, including twenty-eight years as an administrator. She began her career as a children's librarian at Pawtucket Public Library, moving on to become branch librarian and then assistant director at Cranston Public Library and director of Fall River Public Library. She was Administrator of the Central Massachusetts Library System for 10 years before coming to OLIS in 2001.

Anne has held library leadership positions at state, regional and national levels. She is a past president of RILA and has served on the Executive Boards of the New England and Massachusetts Library Associations as well as numerous committees of the American Library Association. She was president of two library automation networks while in Massachusetts, and served on the Steering Committee of Rhode Island's Cooperating Libraries Automated Network (CLAN) for the past five years. She was elected three times and served a total of nine years as a New England delegate to the Members Council of the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC), a computer library service and research organization that serves more than 50,000 libraries worldwide.

Anne received an undergraduate degree in English literature from McGill University in Montreal and earned her Master of Library Science degree at the University of Rhode Island (URI) in 1974. In 2005 URI's Graduate School of Library and Information Studies named Anne recipient of its “Distinguished Graduate of the Year” award. Anne is retiring from state service in June 2006, but plans to stay active in library organizations and in the Rhode Island library scene. "You haven't seen the last of me," she promised as she accepted RILA's Lifelong Achievement Award.

RILA Trustee of the Year Bill Allen served as Chair of the Cumberland Public Library Board of Trustees for twenty years, leading the library through a major building renovation. He chaired the 1991 RI Governor’s Conference on Library and Information Services and served as a delegate to the White House Conference in 1991. Bill is a long-time member of the Rhode Island Coalition of Library Advocates (COLA) and served as COLA chairperson from 2004 to 2006. He also serves as a member of the Library Board of Rhode Island.

Bill is a former Executive Vice-President for the United Way, where he headed the Department of Community Service. He now teaches public policy at Brown University, Providence College and Boston College. He has also served as President of the Board of Overseers of Lincoln School, chairman of the Cumberland School Committee, and is currently the chairman of the board of Amos House, which serves men, women and children in need. Bill has also been active with Youth in Action, City Year, and America’s Promise, organizations that encourage young people who are at risk.