Yesterday ACRL issued press releases about two of its most notable awards – the Academic/Research Librarian of the Year and the Excellence in Academic Libraries. Who won?
If you had asked me to predict who I thought would be this year’s Academic/Research Librarian of the Year, Peter Hernon would not have been my pick. If you’ve opened just about any of this profession’s top scholarly journals in the last decade, you recognize the name. Hernon, professor in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Simmons College, is a prolific researcher and author. Selecting as the winner someone who is primarily an educator and researcher is a significantly different choice from the awardees of the past several years – mostly library directors and significant contributors to ACRL’s leadership. According to the press release “Dr. Peter Hernon was selected because of his substantive body of research over a career of more than 30 years. His research, publications and presentations significantly impact the library profession”. I think this is a bold choice, and communicates that academic librarians still value what research and scholarly publication bring to our profession. If you’d like to explore some of Hernon’s latest research, take a look at Making a Difference: Leadership and Academic Libraries (co-written with Nancy Rossiter). He writes, “The twenty-first century librarian needs to be a leader and a follower, and the librarian who has managerial responsibilities and roles must also be an effective manager…Organizations must move beyond “managerial noise” and create a vision-driven organization in which the culture of leadership is inspirational, motivational, and transformational and displays emotional intelligence.” ACRLog congratulates Dr. Peter Hernon.
This year’s recipients of the Excellence in Academic Libraries award are:
* Shatford Library at Pasadena City College, Pasadena, Calif. (community college category)
* Laurence McKinley Gould Library at Carleton College, Northfield, Minn. (college library category);
* McMaster University Libraries, Hamilton, Ontario. (university category)
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. The press release provides more details on each library organization. If you are familiar with any of the librarians at these institutions or know of the great work they do for their academic communities, you know they are deserving of the award. ACRLog extends its congratulations to all of the winners. They will continue to be a model for other academic libraries that seek to achieve excellence.