Home ACRL honors the 2004 award winners

ACRL honors the 2004 award winners: The final installment

C&RL News, April 2004
Vol. 65, No. 4

by Megan Bielefeld

This year’s Atkinson winner announced
Jerome Yavarkovsky, university librarian at Boston College, has been named the 2004 winner of the Hugh C. Atkinson Memorial Award. Yavarkovsky will receive $2,000 and a citation during the ALA Annual Conference in Orlando at the LITA President’s Program on June 28, 2004, at 2 p.m.

Named in honor of one of the pioneers of library automation, the Atkinson Award recognizes an academic librarian who has made significant contributions in the area of library automation or management, and has made notable improvements in library services or research.

"Mr. Yavarkovsky has made a significant impact on academic librarianship in several areas since the 1970s," said Committee Chair Russell Bailey. "He did important work as an early planning management officer at the Columbia University libraries, and while at the New York State Library in the 1980s, he brought the insights of scientists from Bell Labs, IBM, Xerox, Kodak, NASA, and the input of numerous academic scholars, to bear on library potential for providing faster access to more and better information for patrons. Mr. Yavarkovsky’s work on the Coalition for Networked Information Steering Committee in the 1990s influenced changes in scholarly publishing and the Open Archive Initiative.

"In the Association of Research Libraries, he has contributed to the digital publishing and scholar’s portal initiatives since Boston College joined in 2000," said Bailey. "And in the Research Libraries Group, Mr. Yavarkovsky has been instrumental in furthering the concept of a nationwide online research library processing system."

Yavarkovsky received his B.M.E. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1960, and his M.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1962. He received his M.S.L.S. in 1971 from Columbia University.

The Hugh C. Atkinson Award is jointly sponsored by four divisions of ALA: ACRL, the Library Administration and Management Association (LAMA), the Library and Information Technology Association (LITA), and the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS). The award is funded from an endowment established to honor Hugh C. Atkinson. Donations to the endowment may be sent to Megan Bielefeld, 50 East Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611.

IS Publication Award winners named
Esther Stampfer Grassian, information literacy outreach coordinator at UCLA College Library, and Joan Kaplowitz, assistant head of the reference department at UCLA Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library, have been chosen as winners of the ACRL Instruction Section (IS) Publication Award for their book, Information Literacy Instruction: Theory and Practice.

"Grassian and Kaplowitz’s book is a seminal work that pulls together information about information literacy instruction that heretofore has had to be gleaned from a myriad of resources," said Abbie Loomis and Kristin Strohmeyer, IS awards committee chairs. "The broad scope of the book’s coverage including the history of information literacy, pedagogical and instructional design theories, methods of assessment, instructional technology, and its knowledgeable grasp of ‘real life’ issues related to these topics, will be useful to any librarian seeking to develop a solid understanding of our field.

"Written by practitioners in the field, the book approaches each issue from both a theoretical and a practical perspective, offering exercises and sources for further reading at the end of each chapter. This book will serve as a foundation stone for aspiring instruction librarians in graduate programs, as well as for those who are already teaching but who never have had formal training in instruction."

Ann J. Grafstein, coordinator of library instruction at Hofstra University has been chosen as the winner of the 2004 ACRL Instruction Section (IS) Publication Award for her article, "A Discipline-Based Approach to Information Literacy."

"Grafstein’s article is a hallmark in our field that should be required reading for all campus administrators and faculty, as well as librarians," said Loomis and Strohmeyer. "It proposes a discipline-based approach to teaching information literacy, one that persuasively articulates what it is that a discipline needs in order to nurture lifelong learning. Succinctly written, this article breathes fresh life into the notion of faculty/librarian collaboration by explicitly delineating the complementary roles of faculty and librarians in teaching information literacy."

All winners will receive a citation at the IS program during the 2004 ALA Annual Conference, Sunday, June 27 at 1:30 p.m.

Letarte and Samples awarded Lazerow Fellowship
Karen M. Letarte and Jacqueline P. Samples, both of North Carolina State University, have been selected to receive the 2004 ACRL Samuel Lazerow Fellowship Award for their research proposal entitled "Looking at FRBR Through Users’ Eyes: Toward Improved Catalog Displays for Electronic Serials." Sponsored by Thomson Scientific, the award fosters advances in collection development and technical services by providing fellowships to librarians for travel or writing in those fields. "While this important project will contribute to the emerging study of the [Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records] in technical services departments, it also has a broader scope that will lead to improved library service to users," said  committee chair George Abbott.

^{Karen M. Letarte  and Jacqueline P. Samples}

The award of $1,000 and plaques will be presented during the ALA Annual Conference at the ACRL President’s Program, Monday, June 28, at 1:30 p.m.

Norman, Peyton, and Beers win CJCLS awards
Carolyn Norman, formerly the coordinator of Library and Learning Resources Programs in the Chancellor’s Office at California Community Colleges, has been selected as the 2004 winner of the Community and Junior College Libraries Section (CJCLS) EBSCO Community College Learning Resources Award. The award honors significant achievement in the advocacy of learning resources, as well as leadership in professional organizations that support the missions of community, junior, and technical colleges.

"Carolyn has demonstrated leadership at all levels of library science," said committee chair Paula Asch. "In particular, the committee noted her work in the areas of information literacy and the development of information competencies, as well as her efforts with the National Center for Education Statistics, impact on all community college libraries. Carolyn’s efforts and commitment in the advancement of community college library services made her the unanimous choice of the committee for this award."

Janice Peyton, director of the Montgomery College Library, and Lonna Beers, reference librarian at the University Center Library, have been chosen to receive the CJCLS/EBSCO Community College Learning Resources Program Achievement Award for the development of Project LEAD (Librarians Entering A new Dimension). Both institutions are part of the North Harris Montgomery Community College District.

"Through the development of Project LEAD, Dr. Peyton and Ms. Beers have created an impressive program of professional development for librarians and library paraprofessionals," said Asch. "The committee was particularly impressed with the outreach to paraprofessionals, the emphasis on current topics such as distance learning, and the depth of content."

A citation and $500, donated by EBSCO Information Services, will be presented to each recipient during the ALA Annual Conference at the CJCLS Membership Meeting, Saturday, June 26, 2004, at 8:30 a.m.

Zaporozhetz named EBSS Distinguished Librarian
Laurene E. Zaporozhetz, dean of university libraries at Murray State University, has been chosen to receive the 2004 ACRL/EBSS Distinguished Education and Behavioral Sciences Librarian Award.

"To quote from a nomination letter, ‘Dr. Zaporozhetz has contributed to the education and behavioral sciences in service to the profession (both librarianship and education) by developing and teaching courses, by completing research with publications in both librarianship and education, by being active in accreditation (both SACS and NCATE), and in serving in positions with increasing administrative responsibility within libraries and always remembering that an importance role of a library is to educate,’" said committee chair Charles Thurston.

A prize of $1,000 and a plaque, donated by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., will be presented to Zaporozhetz during the ALA Annual Conference at the EBSS Program, Saturday, June 26, at 1:30 p.m.

About the Author
Megan Bielefeld is ACRL program coordinator, e-mail: mbielefeld@ala.org