The Gunnedah shire librarian fell headlong into reading as a child when German, not English was her first language.

"Books became my escape ... I became an avid reader," she said.

Mrs Birkett love of reading grew to a love of public libraries, and it is her passion that captured the attention of judges in this year's Local Government Week Awards.

The Gunnedah Shire Council employee was chosen for her "outstanding individual contribution" as the head of the local library team.

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In her seven years at the library, Mrs Birkett and her fellow staff have introduced 14 programs, some of them award-winning, including Bookends.

"I felt really pleased and happy [about the award] and they highlighted a lot of the special programs we've instigated here in Gunnedah," she said.

"I'd like to say getting an idea for a program is the easy part but you actually need the staff to carry those ideas and turn them into a successful ongoing program.

"I'd like to thank staff for their commitment in all the programs we carry out because without them it wouldn't happen."

Mrs Birkett has been a librarian for 45 years and her first gig was in the Hornsby shire.

"When I left school, there was a toss-up between journalism and libraries," she said.

She went on to earn a diploma in travel writing and photography and was a freelance travel writer in Budapest from 1990-2009.

"I was really fortunate because I was able to do both the things I really like and when I got the position here, I was also offered a position at the same time at the Southbank Institute of Technology being a liaison librarian," she said.

"This is my 10th or 11th library."

Mrs Birkett has worked in university and private libraries but it's public libraries that hold a place in her heart.

"I like public libraries because of the vast variety of people we get - people from age zero to 99 - and also the range of materials we deal with, and the programs that we run," she said.

"You can engage with every facet and level of society, while other libraries I've worked at, they specialise in a particular or personal kind of subject.

"You can help such a huge range of people in a public library and one big difference between a public library and another library is that people are here because they want to be here."