Jennifer Boettcher, business librarian at Georgetown University, is this year’s recipient of  the Reference and User Services Association’s (RUSA) BRASS Emerald Research Grant Award.

Administered by the Business Reference and Services Section (BRASS) of the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), the grant gives $5,000 to support research in the field of business librarianship. The award is generously funded by Emerald Group Publishing, Ltd. Previous award winners’ research projects include a study of business librarians’ involvement in the evaluation and approval of new academic programs (i.e. courses, tracks, graduate degrees or certificates) in business, and an exploration of collaborations among academic libraries, public libraries and community organizations in jointly serving the business information needs of their local entrepreneurs.

With this financial research support, Boettcher will create a Web-based finding aid that will help both business librarians and patrons who do not regularly track business information sources use core business titles that have been discounted, sold or recreated into new formats, which Boettcher calls the “Zombie List”. The database will track these sources and provide a list of where to find similar information that these seminal works provided. Funds will support the work of a programmer who will construct and adjust the database accordingly. As the Zombie List grows, Boettcher will recruit volunteers to test and manage the website as it develops. If interested please contact Jennifer Boettcher (boettcher -at-georgetown.edu).

As a former chair of the BRASS section of RUSA, co-author of the book, “Industry Research Using the Economic Census” (Greenwood Press), a past winner of RUSA BRASS ’s Gale Cengage Learning Award for Excellence in Business Librarianship and former professor of Catholic University of America’s “Information Sources & Services: Business Information” class, Boettcher is well-versed in the field of business reference and is prepared for a project of this scale. In selecting Boettcher’s proposal for this year’s award, the committee highlighted the thorough and detailed methodology, scope, timetable and projected outcomes for the project.

The award will be presented at the RUSA Achievement Awards Ceremony and Reception, scheduled for 5-6:30pm on Sunday, June 30, Hyatt Regency McCormick Place, Prairie Room, as a part of RUSA’s events at the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago. Add the reception to your schedule (ALA Connect login required). For more information, visit RUSA’s website or the Annual Conference website.

With decades of experience, Emerald Group Publishing, Ltd. chooses to facilitate the global production and dissemination of research focusing on issues with social importance.  In total, Emerald manages a portfolio of more than 280 journals, more than 2,000 books and book series volumes, as well as an extensive range of online products and services that provide meaningful impact in business, society, the environment, public policy and education.

CHICAGO-The American Library Association (ALA) today announced six books as finalists for the 2013 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction, awarded for the previous year’s best fiction and nonfiction books written for adult readers and published in the U.S.  Along with a medal presentation at ALA’s annual conference in Chicago, IL, on June 30, each winning author will receive $5,000 and the four finalists will each receive $1,500.

The 2013 shortlisted titles are:

Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction:

The Mansion of Happiness: A History of Life and Death, by Jill Lepore. Published by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc.
From board games, including one called The Mansion of Happiness, to public-library children’s rooms to cryogenics, historian Lepore’s episodic inquiry into our evolving perceptions of life and death is full of surprises, irreverent wit, and arresting perceptions.

Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis, by Timothy Egan. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Popular historian Egan turns the life and work of master photographer Edward Curtis into a gripping and heroic story of one man’s commitment to the three-decade project that ultimately resulted in The North American Indian, a 20-volume collection of words and pictures documenting the Native American peoples of the American West.

Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic, by David Quammen. Published by W. W. Norton & Company.
Science writer Quammen schools readers in the fascinating if alarming facts about zoonotic diseases—animal infections that sicken humans, such as rabies and Ebola. Drawing on the dramatic history of virology, he profiles brave viral sleuths and recounts his own hair-raising field adventures. A vital, in-depth account offered in the hope that knowledge will engender preparedness.

Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction:

Canada, by Richard Ford. Published by Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
“First, I’ll tell you about the robbery our parents committed.”  So begins Ford’s riveting novel, an atmospheric and haunting tale of family, folly, exile, and endurance told in the precise and searching voice of Dell Parsons, a young man forced to navigate a harsh world.

The Round House, by Louise Erdrich. Published by Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
In her fourteenth novel, Erdrich writes in the voice of a man reliving the fateful summer of his thirteenth year. Erdrich’s intimacy with her characters energizes this tale of hate crimes and vengeance, her latest immersion in the Ojibwe and white community she has been writing about for more than two decades.

This Is How You Lose Her, by Junot Díaz. Published by Riverhead Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA), Inc.
Fast paced and street-talking tough, Díaz’s stories unveil lives shadowed by prejudice and poverty and bereft of reliable love and trust. These are precarious, unappreciated lives in which intimacy is a lost art, masculinity a parody, and kindness, reason, and hope struggle to survive like seedlings in a war zone.

The awards, established in 2012, recognize the best of the best in fiction and nonfiction books for adult readers published in the U.S. the previous year and serve as a guide to help adults select quality reading material. They are the first single-book awards for adult books given by the American Library Association and reflect the expert judgment and insight of library professionals who work closely with adult readers. Nancy Pearl, librarian, literature expert, NPR commentator, and best-selling author of “Booklust” serves as chair of the awards’ selection committee.

The awards are made possible by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York in recognition of Andrew Carnegie’s deep belief in the power of books and learning to change the world, and are co-sponsored by ALA’s Booklist publications and the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA).

Annotations and more information on the finalists and the awards can be found at http://www.ala.org/carnegieadult.

About Carnegie Corporation of New York
Carnegie Corporation of New York was created by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding. In keeping with this mandate, the corporation’s work focuses on the issues that Andrew Carnegie considered of paramount importance: international peace, the advancement of education and knowledge, and the strength of our democracy.

About Booklist
Booklist is the book review magazine of the American Library Association, considered an essential collection development and readers’ advisory tool by thousands of librarians for more than 100 years. Booklist Online includes a growing archive of 135,000+ reviews available to subscribers as well as a wealth of free content offering the latest news and views on books and media.

About Reference and User Services Association (RUSA)
The Reference and User Services Association is responsible for stimulating and supporting excellence in the delivery of general library services and materials, and the provision of reference and information services, collection development, readers’ advisory, and resource sharing for adults, in every type of library.

About ALA
Established in 1876, the American Library Association (ALA) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization created to provide leadership for the development, promotion, and improvement of library and information services and the profession of librarianship in order to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all.

Contact: Macey Morales, Manager Media Relations, ALA 312-280-4393, or mmorales@ala.org.

Additional contact: Katherine Kelly,630-200-8023, kkellyyma@gmail.com.

Be the first to know!

Booklist, in partnership with RUSA, is announcing the finalists for the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction Finalists live online with Nancy Pearl and ALA President Maureen Sullivan!

Listen in to the live announcement of the 2013 finalists for the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence. Join Nancy Pearl, selection committee chair, and Maureen Sullivan, ALA President, as they divulge this year’s three best adult books in both fiction and nonfiction.

Don’t miss this exciting 15 minutes of book award history!

Sign up for this free event: https://alapublishing.webex.com/alapublishing/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=660212357

EVENT DETAILS:
Monday, April 22
12:00 PM Eastern // 11:00 AM Central // 10:00 AM Mountain // 9:00 AM Pacific

REGISTER NOW. (It’s free!)

Questions? E-mail webinars@booklistonline.com for assistance.

CHICAGO—Neal Wyatt, doctoral candidate in the media, art and text program at Virginia Commonwealth University, is the distinguished recipient of the 2013 Isadore Gilbert Mudge Award — the highest honor for significant contributions to the field of reference librarianship presented by the Reference & User Services Association (RUSA).

The award, which is generously sponsored by Gale Cengage Learning, is bestowed annually upon an individual for his or her excellence in reference services. Wyatt was selected for her multiple influences and contributions to the field through her writing, teaching, service to and leadership in RUSA. As a direct result of her work, readers’ advisory services have been re-established as an important component of current reference work.

Wyatt launched the Readers’ Advisory Research and Trends Forum in 2009 — a recurring conference program that brings together theorists and practitioners from disparate fields to explore the expansion of RA boundaries. Her writing includes the “Library Journal” series “Reinventing RA,” her influential book “The Readers’ Advisory Guide to Nonfiction,” (ALA, 2007) and her monthly “Library Journal” column “Crossroads.” As a teacher and presenter, she demonstrates and passionately shares creative uses of technology for librarians across the RA spectrum. Her efforts have rekindled the passionate fire of RA service, elevating it to a prominent role in the public library setting, as well as other library environments. Wyatt has served as chair of the Collection Development and Evaluation Section (CODES) and President of RUSA where, as a tireless and effective leader, she left a significant legacy of creativity and inclusivity.

The Mudge Award, a citation and $5,000 cash prize, will be presented at the RUSA Awards Reception, scheduled for 5 – 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 30 as a part of RUSA’s events at the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago. The exact location of this event will be announced in late spring. For more information, visit the RUSA website or the Annual Conference website.

The Reference and User Services Association, a division of the American Library Association, represents librarians and library staff in the fields of reference, specialized reference, collection development, readers’ advisory and resource sharing. RUSA is the foremost organization of reference and information professionals who make the connections between people and the information sources, services, and collection materials they need. Learn more about the association at www.ala.org/rusa.