Enoch Pratt Free Library

Heidi Daniel couldn’t have guessed that after spearheading a $115-million renovation of the Pratt Central Library that helped it attract record usage in 2019, the pandemic would hit.

But it was just a new challenge: Daniel has led efforts to develop Sidewalk Service for contact-free book pickup and is working to bring connectivity to households without internet by lending tablets and hot spots, providing Drive-In Wi-Fi, and working with partners to provide free neighborhood internet connections.

Daniel fell in love with libraries at a young age, and they helped her become the first in her immediate family to go to college, then earning her Master’s in Library Science from Texas Woman’s University. Prior to joining the Pratt in 2017, she led Ohio’s Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County.

And she’s kept the Pratt on the library map: It was named one of the Nicest Places in America by Reader’s Digest and Good Morning America in 2018.