Tuñón named Routledge Distance Learning Librarianship Conference Sponsorship Award winner

Johanna Ruth Tuñón, director of distance and instructional library services at Nova Southeastern University, has been named the recipient of the Routledge Distance Learning Librarianship Conference Sponsorship Award.

This annual award, sponsored by Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group, and administrated by the ACRL Distance Learning Section (DLS), honors an ACRL member working in the field of, or contributing to, the success of distance learning librarianship or related library service in higher education.

Johanna Ruth Tuñón

“Johanna Ruth Tuñón has devoted her career to serving distance students for over two decades,” said award cochairs Mou Chakraborty of Salisbury University and Alice Daugherty of Louisiana State University. “Tuñón has distinguished herself with a lengthy and impressive record of scholarship and service specific to distance learning.”

In addition to speaking at numerous conferences and serving on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Library and Information Services in Distance Learning, Tuñón has tirelessly served DLS for more than a decade. She has served as DLS archivist and secretary and has chaired the Research Committee, Awards Committee, Nominations Committee, and Program Committee. From 2005 to 2007, Tuñón served as vice chair and chair of DLS.

Tuñón’s publications relating to distance learning include “A Model of Library Training for Distance Doctoral Students,” with Laura Ramirez (2010) and “Expanded Assessment Study Examining the Citation Patterns from Traditional and Nontraditional Institutions and Their Effect Upon the Quality of Doctoral Reference Lists,” with Bruce Brydges (2009).

Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group will present the $1,200 award and plaque at the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim.

Walter named ACRL/EBSS Distinguished Librarian

Scott Walter, associate university librarian for services, associate dean of libraries and professor of library administration and library and information science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is the recipient of the ACRL Education and Behavioral Sciences Section (EBSS) Distinguished Education and Behavioral Sciences Librarian Award.

This award honors a distinguished academic librarian who has made an outstanding contribution as an education and/or behavioral sciences librarian through accomplishments and service to the profession.

Scott Walter

A prize of $2,500 and a citation, donated by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., will be presented to Walter during the EBSS program at the ALA Annual Conference.

“Scott Walter has provided service and leadership to EBSS, ACRL, ALA, and AERA,” said award chair Cynthia Crosser, social sciences and humanities reference librarian at the University of Maine. “He has not only published extensively, but he has served as the editor of Education Libraries and served on the editorial boards of ACRL Publications in Librarianship, College & Research Libraries, and Behavioral & Social Sciences Librarian. Scott also participated in presenting a series of pre-conference workshops on information literacy at ALA, ACRL, and LOEX conferences. EBSS wants to recognize Scott for his many contributions to our field.”

Walter has held numerous positions in EBSS, including chair of the Nominating Committee (2005–06), member of the Ad Hoc Historical Textbook and Curriculum Collections Directory Committee (2001–03), the ALA Conference Program Committee (2000–02), and the Instruction for Educators Committee (1999–2001). Walter was nominated and elected to EBSS leadership, serving as vicechair/chair-elect (2002–03), section chair (2003–04), and past chair (2004–05).

Walter’s service to ACRL also includes serving as a member of the Publications in Librarianship Editorial Board (2011–14), chair of the Excellence in Academic Libraries Award Nominating Committee (2010–11), member of the College & Research Libraries Editorial Board (2008–14), as chair of the Research Coordinating Committee (2007–09), and as cochair of the Seattle National Conference Virtual Conference Committee (2007–09).

His numerous publications include “The Expert Library: Staffing, Sustaining, and Advancing the Academic Library in the 21st century” with Karen Williams (2010); “Librarians as Teachers: A Qualitative Inquiry into Professional Identity” (2008); “Improving Instruction: What Librarians Can Learn from the Study of College Teaching” (2005); and “Information Literacy Instruction for Educators: Professional Knowledge for an Information Age” with Dawn Shinew (2003).

Walter served as education librarian at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, Ohio State University, and Washington State University prior to pursuing his career in library administration. On April 30, 2012, he will assume the position of university librarian at DePaul University.

Mann wins ACRL/IS Miriam Dudley Instruction Librarian Award

Barbara J. Mann, assistant director for public services and instruction and information literacy librarian at the University of Maryland University College (UMUC), is the winner of the ACRL Instruction Section’s (IS) Miriam Dudley Instruction Librarian Award. The award honors Miriam Dudley, whose efforts in the field of information literacy led to the formation of IS. The honor recognizes a librarian who has made a significant contribution to the advancement of instruction in a college or research library environment.

Barbara J. Mann

Mann will receive her $1,000 award, along with a plaque, at the IS program during the ALA Annual Conference.

“The award acknowledges Ms. Mann’s significant contributions to academic library instruction, particularly in the area of online learning, an increasingly important component of information literacy instruction,” said IS Miriam Dudley Award Chair Polly D. Boruff-Jones, director of library and information services at Drury University. “As part of a robust online information literacy program, Mann successfully created engaging tutorials and developed synchronous instruction via Web conferencing for University of Maryland University College students, who may be taking classes almost anywhere, from Adelphi, Maryland, to Baghdad, Iraq. The Miriam Dudley Award committee congratulates Mann on her accomplishments and strongly agrees with the praise offered by her nominators: she is a committed advocate for information literacy, an innovative leader, and a commendable professional.”

Mann’s nominator lauded her commitment to student success, evidenced by the robust information literacy program she leads. Of particular note is her success in providing information literacy instruction through the UMUC distance education program. Not only has she created engaging online tutorials and linked instruction modules with the UMUC course management system, but also conducts synchronous instruction sessions using Web conferencing. Her work serves as a model for other programs nationally and internationally.

Eaton named Marta Lange/CQ Press Award winner

John Eaton, law librarian and associate professor at the E. K. Williams Law Library of the University of Manitoba, has been awarded the ACRL Law and Political Science Section (LPSS) Marta Lange/CQ Press Award. The award, established in 1996 by LPSS, honors an academic or law librarian who has made distinguished contributions to bibliography and information service in law or political science.

John Eaton. Photograph by J. Chlopecki.

CQ Press, sponsor of the award, will present the $1,000 award and plaque to Eaton during the ALA Annual Conference.

“John Eaton’s accomplishments to service and scholarship in law librarianship are exemplary,” said award chair Nadine R. Hoffman, natural resources, energy and environmental law librarian at the University of Calgary. “In particular, we recognize his dedication to the Canadian Association of Law Libraries/Association Canadienne des Bibliothèques de Droit in a variety of capacities, including president. The most notable scholarly work includes two recent legal bibliography monographs serving new and experienced researchers in the structure of legal research for Canada and the United Kingdom.”

Excellence in Academic Libraries Award winners announced

ACRL’s Excellence in Academic Libraries Award winners are the Seattle Central Community College (SCCC) Library; the Champlain College Library in Burlington, Vermont and the Grand Valley State University (GVSU) Libraries in Allendale, Michigan. Sponsored by ACRL and YBP Library Services, the award recognizes the staff of a college, university, and community college library for programs that deliver exemplary services and resources to further the educational mission of the institution.

Staff of the Seattle Central Community College Library.

“This year’s award recipients exemplify the commitment of today’s academic and research librarians to providing quality, innovative student learning experiences,” said ACRL Executive Director Mary Ellen K. Davis. “Receiving an Excellence in Academic Libraries Award is a national tribute to each library and its staff for outstanding services, programs and leadership.”

The Seattle Central Community College Library, winner in the community college category, was chosen for its team support for student learning through innovative information literacy offerings.

“The award committee was impressed with SCCC’s online course, Research for the 21st Century, which is now part of the state’s online learning consortium, Washington Online,” said Lori Goetsch, chair of the Excellence in Academic Libraries Committee and dean of libraries at Kansas State University. “Recognizing that community college students are often juggling busy schedules between school and work, they are making innovative use of the campus courseware system to provide ‘Info in Action’ one-credit courses that allow students to take advantage of information literacy instruction in smaller segments.”

Staff of the Champlain College Library.

“SCCC librarians have employed creative marketing and communication techniques such as posters and bookmarks that reflect their ‘Reflect-Learn-Connect’ research model that has been used by other libraries locally and nationally,” continued Goetsch. “Through these initiatives and others, they have built a shared, collaborative culture with teaching faculty for student learning.”

“We are surprised and thrilled to receive this honor,” said Wai-Fong Lee, executive dean for instructional resources at SCCC. “Our library is a key resource to the college and our staff is passionate about providing the best library possible. Although we don’t have an excellent library facility, we make up for it with quality service, strong support for innovative teaching and learning and promotion of information literacy across the curriculum. We’ve also benefited from working closely with other libraries in the Washington state community and technical college system. We are humbled to share company with the great academic libraries that have received this award.”

The Champlain College Library, winner of this year’s award in the college category, impressed the selection committee with its nontraditional approach to instruction and positive student-driven environment.

“The library’s small but mighty staff have a big impact on campus, and they have fun as well, fostering community through inventive social and cultural events,” Goetsch noted. “The campus has adopted technology and information literacy as a core competency, and the library provides leadership through an information literacy program that is incremental, inquiry-based, embedded in the core curriculum and assessed through established rubrics. Surveys indicate that students have come to recognize the technology and information literacy core competency as most important to their academic success. It is clear that these librarians love what they do and spark creativity by working as team.”

Staff of the Grand Valley State University Libraries.

“The Champlain College Library is deeply honored to receive this award,” said Janet Cottrell, director of the library at Champlain College. “This recognition from ACRL is a tribute to the enthusiasm, creativity and hard work of everyone in the library, and to the collaborative spirit of our campus. Our work is—and will remain—challenging, and this honor is a testament to what a small group of people can accomplish through innovation and dedication as we aspire to embody Champlain College’s motto: ‘Audeamus—Let us dare!’ We are deeply grateful to ACRL and YBP.”

Grand Valley State University Libraries, winner in the university category, was selected for the collaborative and effective approach taken to restructuring the library organization and build an innovative, agile, and flexible team-based organization that is responsive to changing user needs.

“Rather than succumbing to the very difficult economic conditions in Michigan, this ‘reinvented’ library has been successful in garnering the strong support of university administration for a $70 million project to build a new library and information commons that will open in 2013,” Goetsch noted. “Reorganization has also enabled librarians to focus on information literacy initiatives that have led to the development of core competencies and scalable rubrics for assessment. One of these rubrics, ‘Research Guidance Rubric,’ is directed at faculty to assist them in developing effective research assignments for their students. Based in its success at GVSU, this rubric has been adopted by other libraries.”

“When we first began to talk about applying for the ACRL Excellence in Academic Libraries Award, we considered whether to wait until our new building opens in 2013,” said Lee VanOrsdel, GVSU dean of university libraries. “But we didn’t want our application to be about a building—as fabulous as that is going to be. We wanted it to be about our organization and our staff and the ways we have learned to work together to serve our university in exceptional ways. We are honored to be recognized by our academic library colleagues for the work we are doing here at GVSU. We are proud to bring this award to the university that gave us the support and resources to dream big.”

Each winning library will receive $3,000 and a plaque, to be presented at an award ceremony held on each recipient’s campus.

Pendse named ACRL WESS De Gruyter Grant Winner

Liladhar R. Pendse, librarian for Slavic and Eastern European and Eurasian Studies (Central Asian Studies) at Princeton University, has been selected to receive the ACRL Western European Studies Section (WESS) De Gruyter European Librarianship Study Grant.

Liladhar R. Pendse

Sponsored by the Walter de Gruyter Foundation for Scholarship and Research, the grant provides $3,000 to support a trip to Europe. The primary criterion for awarding the grant is the significance and utility of the proposed project as a contribution to the study of the acquisition, organization, or use of library resources from or relating to Europe.

Pendse will receive the award check during the ALA Annual Conference.

“A comprehensive bibliography and subject analysis of Indo-Portuguese periodicals held by the National Library of Portugal and other libraries in Lisbon will open up an as of yet untapped trove of resources on the Portuguese colonies of India,” said award committee chair Brian Vetruba of Washington University in St. Louis. “Pendse’s finished project will be an asset not only to West European and South Asian Studies scholars but also those examining questions of national identity and intercultural exchanges.”

This research will result in a peer reviewed research paper and further the project of an online searchable version of the bibliography of Indo-Portuguese periodicals.

Kaufman named Academic/Research Librarian of the Year

Paula T. Kaufman, Juanita J. and Robert E. Simpson dean of libraries and university librarian and professor of library administration at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is the ACRL Academic/Research Librarian of the Year. The award, sponsored by YBP Library Services, recognizes an outstanding member of the library profession who has made a significant national or international contribution to academic/research librarianship and library development.

Kaufman will receive a $5,000 award during the joint ACRL/ALCTS President’s Program at the ALA Annual Conference.

“Paula Kaufman’s record of accomplishments is exemplary in many ways,” said John M. Budd, chair of the ACRL Academic/Research Librarian of the Year Award Committee and professor in the University of Missouri School of Information Science and Learning Technologies. “She has been a distinct leader at several organizations and has been influential in every venue in which she has worked. Nominees and supporters uniformly extol her abilities to build consensus, to develop multi-institutional groups and to work with diverse and sometimes opposing bodies. She also has an outstanding record of publications and presentations through which she clearly communicated managerial, organizational and development topics.”

Paula T. Kaufman

“News of having won this award came as a total surprise,” said Kaufman. “Being recognized by my colleagues is the greatest honor I can imagine. In turn, I must recognize that any success I have achieved is due to the privilege I’ve had to work with talented and caring people. I am very humbled to be joining the list of my many outstanding colleagues who have received this prestigious award in the past.”

Over the course of her career, Kaufman has made a significant impact on the profession through her extraordinary leadership abilities, vision and strategic thinking for the future of libraries, along with the generosity with which she shares her inspirations and insights. Her leadership of some of the largest academic research libraries in the United States has positioned her to engage directly with a wide range of issues facing libraries of all sizes and missions. Her positive and energetic approach to problem solving has benefited not only the libraries in which she has worked, but also the larger library community.

Kaufman’s distinguished record of service to the profession includes serving as a member of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Board of Directors (1997–2003), including a term as president (2001–02); founding board member of the Consortium of Academic Libraries in Illinois (CARLI) since 2005; member of the Center for Research Libraries Board of Directors from (1994–2000), including a term as president in 1996; and as a member of the HATHI Trust executive committee since 2008. She has additionally been honored with the Illinois Library Association Illinois Academic Librarian of the Year Award (2011) and the Hugh C. Atkinson Award (2010), which is jointly sponsored by ACRL/ALCTS/LLAMA/LITA.

Her publications include seminal articles such as “Library Value (Return on Investment, ROI) and the Challenge of Placing a Value on Public Services” in Reference Services Review (with Sarah Watstein, 2008); “The Library as Strategic Investment: Results of the Illinois Return on Investment Study” in LIBER Quarterly (2008); “It’s Not Your Parent’s Library Anymore: Challenges and Opportunities in the New Webs of Complexity” in the Journal of Library Administration (2007), and “Professional Diversity in Libraries” in Library Trends (1992). She has served on the Journal of Library Administration editorial board since 1995.

Prior to joining Illinois as university librarian in 1999, Kaufman served as dean of libraries at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (1988–99) and in a variety of positions, including director of the Academic Information Services Group, acting head of the East Asian Library, and business and economics librarian at Columbia University (1979–88).