RUSA’s Business Reference and Services Section selects achievement award and grant winners

The Business Reference and Services Section (BRASS) of RUSA has selected the winners of the 2015 achievement awards, research and travel grants that recognize the profession’s most exceptional librarians, libraries and projects involving business reference services today.

The Academic Business Librarianship Travel Award, which consists of a citation and $1,250, is awarded to an individual new to the field of academic business librarianship in order to support attendance to the ALA Annual Conference. Grace Liu, business reference librarian at the University of Maine, was selected as this year’s recipient.

The Emerald Research Grant Award, sponsored by Emerald Group Publishing, consists of one $5,000 grant awarded to an individual or team seeking funding support to conduct research in business librarianship. Jason Dewland, assistant librarian and Cindy Elliott, engineering and innovation librarian, University of Arizona were selected for their study, “Review of Research Methods Employed by Start-Ups,” which will identify networks of new businesses that can be targeted for data collection and to identify the research practices and information needs of new start-up businesses.

The Gale Cengage Learning Excellence in Business Librarianship Award, sponsored by Gale Cengage Learning, offers $3,000 to a librarian providing outstanding business reference services. Peter Z. McKay, business librarian, University of Florida is this year’s winner for his innovative development of online business collection development, instructional resources, service to BRASS and his invaluable contributions to the profession.

The Gale Cengage Learning Student Travel Award, sponsored by Gale Cengage Learning, offers $1,250 in travel funds to the ALA Annual Conference and a one year BRASS membership to a student in an accredited MLIS program. Sara F. Hess, MLIS candidate, University of Michigan School of Information, was named as this year’s recipient.

The Morningstar Public Librarian Support Award, sponsored by Morningstar, offers $1,250 to a public librarian providing business reference services so they may attend the ALA Annual Conference. Barbara Alvarez, business liaison librarian, Barrington Area Library (Illinois) was selected for her extensive range of activities in support of the local business community, including one-on-one appointments to assist business professionals and entrepreneurs, podcasts, as well as maintaining a business blog and a SlideShare account with business database tutorials.

“Congratulations to this year’s BRASS award winners. We look forward to celebrating with them in June at the RUSA Awards Reception. I would like to sincerely thank the members of our award committees for their hard work in selecting the winners and to all of our generous sponsors for their support,” said BRASS Chair Todd Hines. “We know that vendors have many options for spending their outreach money and we are extremely appreciative to the BRASS award sponsors: Gale Cengage Learning, Emerald Group Publishing and Morningstar.”

RUSA’s History Section names winners of projects for excellence in historical and genealogical research

The History Section of the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) has named the winners of three achievement awards which honor outstanding service and contributions to the fields of historical and genealogical research.

“Quality historical research takes many forms in this modern age. The History Section’s achievement awards seek to identify and promote the authors, researchers and projects of some of the best historical collections and bibliographies on the Internet and in print,” said Jenny Presnell, Chair of the History Section. “Congratulations to this year’s winners and thank you to the members of the award committees for your hard work and to our sponsors, for their generous and continued support.”

The Gale Cengage Learning History Research and Innovation Award, sponsored by Gale Cengage Learning, offers $2,500 and a citation to a librarian in need of funds to facilitate and/or further research in history or historical librarianship. David J. Gary, Kaplanoff Librarian for American History, Yale University Library was selected as this year’s winner for his project “Toward a Sociology of Knowledge: The History of Acknowledgment Pages in American History Monographs,” which will “take thousands of acknowledgement pages from e-books and hand-selected acknowledgements since 2000 and use the methodology of the digital humanities to analyze them en masse,” said Gary.

The ABC-CLIO Online History Award, a bi-annual award of $2,500 sponsored by ABC-CLIO, recognizes the accomplishments of a person or a group of people producing (1) a freely available online historical collection, or (2) an online tool tailored for the purpose of finding historical materials, or (3) an online teaching aid stimulating creative historical scholarship. Joanne Murray,Historian and Director, The Legacy Center, Drexel University College of Medicine, was selected for her work as Principal Investigator of the online history project called “Doctor or Doctress?: Explore American history through the eyes of women physicians.”
The first runner up was Jason Roe for “The Civil War on the Western Frontier”; the second runner up was Robin Katz for TeachArchives.org.

The Genealogical Publishing Company Award, sponsored by Genealogical Publishing Company, offers $1,500 and a citation to a librarian or library in recognition of their professional achievement in historical or genealogical reference, service or research. Michael Kirley, retired librarian from Los Angeles Public Library History & Genealogy Department after 39 years of service (1970-2009) was chosen for single-handedly building the Genealogy Collection at the Los Angeles Public Library, which consists of more than 50,000 volumes of individual family histories in addition to more than 2,500 circulating books about genealogical research, heraldry and related subjects.

Reference Services Section names Liane Taylor winner of outstanding service award

The RSS Service Achievement Award consists of a citation that recognizes a member who has made exceptional contributions to the Reference Services Section of RUSA. Liane Taylor, head of acquisitions, Texas State University, was selected for continuously playing a vital role in RSS, both in leadership and as chair, but also by representing RSS to RUSA and beyond throughout the library profession.

“The RSS Service Achievement Award honors people who have gone above and beyond in their support and advocacy for RSS. This support can be more visible with proposing new initiatives to add value to our members or more behind the scenes in providing support to committees and chairs to help them move their work forward,” said Section Chair Qiana Johnson. “No matter what form it takes, RSS Service Achievement Award honorees are those who have helped move the section forward.”

RUSA division level awards honor individuals, institutions and projects for excellence in reference services

RUSA has selected the winners of the 2015 achievement awards.Winners receive research and travel grants that recognize the profession’s most exceptional librarians, libraries and projects involving reference services today.

“RUSA’s Achievement Awards provide us the very special opportunity to recognize the most outstanding librarians, libraries and projects in the field. At this event we also highlight the successes of our future leaders on what they’ve worked so hard to achieve. These awards recognize important contributions and allow our next generation of leaders to gain further experience through attendance at the ALA Annual Conference and conduct further research,” said RUSA President Joseph Thompson. “I want to congratulate this year’s award recipients on their accomplishments. We look forward to celebrating with everyone in June at the RUSA Achievement Awards Reception in San Francisco — one of the signature events of the ALA Annual Conference. I would like to sincerely thank the members of our award committees for their invaluable volunteer work through the selection processes and our generous sponsors for their support.”

The RUSA division level achievement award winners are:

Isadore Gilbert Mudge Award, RUSA’s highest honor, sponsored by Gale Cengage Learning, offers $5,000 and a citation to an individual who has made a distinguished contribution to reference librarianship. Denise Beaubien Bennett, engineering librarian, University of Florida, was selected for her instrumental shaping of the instructional program for thousands of students in many disciplines, with a reputation for inspired teaching and creation of many online and video tutorials and presentation of workshops nationwide.

Gale Cengage Learning Award for Excellence in Reference and Adult Services, sponsored by Gale Cengage Learning, offers $3,000 and a citation to a library or library system for developing an imaginative and unique resource to meet patrons’ reference needs. Lauren Comito was selected for the development of the interactive database “Where in Queens?,” which uses GPS technology to help users connect to social services that are closest to where they are located at any given time.

NoveList’s Margaret E. Monroe Library Adult Services Award, sponsored by NoveList, which offers $1,250 and a citation to a librarian who has made significant contributions to library adult services. Neil Hollands, adult services librarian, Williamsburg Regional Library, was selected for being a leader in the Readers’ Advisory (RA) world. Holland’s development and advocacy of form-based RA has been a tremendous advancement in RA services.

Reference Service Press Award, sponsored by Reference Service Press, consists of $2,500 and a plaque which recognizes an author(s) of the most outstanding article published in Reference and User Services Quarterly (RUSQ), RUSA’s research journal, during the preceding two-volume year. Pauline Dewan, Laurier/Nipissing liaison librarian for the Brantford, Ontario campuses of Wilfrid Laurier University and Nipissing University was selected for her article, “Reading Matters in the Academic Library: Taking the Lead from Public Librarians.” Summer 2013, Volume 52, Issue 4. This article explores the idea of revitalizing academic libraries by reconsidering the place of pleasure reading in them.

John Sessions Memorial Award, consists of a plaque sponsored by the Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO, and recognizes a library or library system that has made a significant effort to work with the labor community and by doing so has brought recognition to the history and contribution of the labor movement to the development of the United States. The Calcasieu Parish Library System was selected for its Southwest Louisiana (SWLA) Workforce Resource Guide. The guide offers essential step-by-step instructions for job seekers and providing contact information and guidance for where to go, who to call and what to say.

The RUSA Achievement Awards Ceremony and Reception will be held from 5-6:30 p.m. Sunday, June 28 at the ALA Annual Conference in San Francisco. All conference attendees are invited to the event. Additional event details will be available on the conference website in April.