FRANKFORT, KY - The Kentucky Library Association has recognized the state's top librarian for a lifetime of service.
 
KLA recently gave a Lifetime Achievement Award to Wayne Onkst, who is Kentucky's state librarian and commissioner of the department for libraries and archives.
 
A news release Monday says since Onkst became state librarian in 2006, public library use in the state has increased to a record 20 million visits recorded last year. Onkst was also instrumental in ensuring every county has public library service, a first for Kentucky.
 
The London, Ky., native began his 40-year library career shelving books at the Laurel County Public Library.