THE WOMAN BEHIND THE MISSION
Nancy’s Story
A lifelong love of books that continues through Nana’s Books Foundation
Nancy Dulniak was a librarian, a lifelong reader, a wife, mother, and grandmother. Her love of books and her belief in helping people find the information they needed became the inspiration for Nana’s Books Foundation.
Books were always part of Nancy’s story
IN HER OWN WORDS
After being diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment, Nancy participated in memory classes where she wrote about her life. In one piece, she reflected on where her love of books began and the career that grew from it.
“I spent the first eighteen years of my life in a small, picturesque valley with the foothills of the Adirondacks to the west and the Green Mountains of Vermont in Granville, NY. Because it was a small town where everybody knew everybody else, it was possible for me to get a library card at the age of 6. One whole year before the ‘legal’ age of 7!”
“Books and reading have always been an important part of my life so it was completely natural that I would choose librarianship as my career!”
— Nancy Dulniak
Helping people find what they need
A LIFE IN LIBRARIES
After college, Nancy worked at the University of Rochester, Montana State University, Ohio Wesleyan University, Piedmont Technical College, and Lander University. Her work included circulation, acquisitions, library instruction, special collections, reference, and cataloging.
Eleven years after graduating from college, Nancy returned to school and earned her Master of Librarianship from the University of South Carolina in 1987, where she was inducted into Beta Phi Mu. Her later career included the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals Library in Nashville, Austin Peay State University, Maitland Public Library, and Florida A&M University College of Law Library, where she retired as Catalog Librarian in 2014.
Nancy’s first library job began while she was still in high school at the Pember Library in her hometown of Granville, New York. From there, a lifelong career took her to libraries across the country and into many areas of the profession.
From Nancy’s love of books to a mission of giving
HER LEGACY CONTINUES
Nancy believed in the power of books and in helping people find information that could make a difference in their lives. As her family faced her journey with Early Onset Alzheimer’s, those values took on new meaning.
In December 2020, her family created Nana’s Books Foundation to honor Nancy’s lifelong connection to libraries and reading. The Foundation carries her legacy forward by placing books about Alzheimer’s, dementia, disabilities, caregiving, and other life challenges into the hands of children, families, schools, and libraries.
Nancy died on January 26, 2021, but the work created in her honor continues to grow—one book, one child, one community at a time.
Nancy reading with her son Craig and her grandchild
Her story continues on the shelves
A LEGACY CONTINUES IN ACTION
Today, books given in Nancy’s memory reach children, families, educators, and library patrons who are looking for understanding, reassurance, and information about experiences that may be difficult to explain.
Each book placed in a school or public library carries forward something Nancy valued throughout her life: helping people find the resources they need, when they need them.
Every book shared through Nana’s Books Foundation carries forward Nancy’s love of reading, libraries, and helping others.
Continue Nancy’s Legacy
Nancy’s love of books and helping others lives on through every community Nana’s Books Foundation serves.