ACRL honors the 2016 award winners, part 2


C&RL News April 2016 174

Chase Ollis

ACRL honors the 2016 award
winners, part 2
A recognition of professional development

Chase Ollis is ACRL program coordinator, email: collis@
ala.org
 
© 2016 Chase Ollis

James L. Mullins wins Hugh C. 
Atkinson Memorial Award
James L. Mullins, dean of libraries and Esther 
Ellis Norton professor at Purdue University, 
has been named the winner of the Hugh 
C. Atkinson Memorial Award. Mullins will 
receive a cash award and citation during 

the 2016 ALA An-
nual Conference in 
Orlando, Florida.

Named in hon-
or of one of the 
pioneers of library 
automation, the 
Atkinson Award 
recognizes an ac-
ademic librarian 
who has made sig-
nificant contribu-
tions in the area of 
library automation 

or management and has made notable im-
provements in library services or research.

“Through his pioneering vision and drive 
for innovation, Dr. James (Jim) Mullins has 
led the transformation of Purdue University 
Libraries into a premier, profession leading 
21st-century academic and research library,” 
said Colby Riggs, Hugh C. Atkinson Memo-
rial Award committee chair and project 
coordinator at the University of California-
Irvine. “He is internationally recognized as a 
risk-taking, creative, and visionary leader in 
the academic and research library profession 
with a demonstrated commitment to infor-

mation literacy, data research services, digi-
tal scholarship, scholarly communication, 
diversity, and innovation and collaboration 
with the university and library community.

“Dr. Mullins is a passionate believer in 
information literacy and staunch advocate 
for its integration into curriculum and re-
search,” continued Riggs. “At Purdue, he 
was able to establish the W. Wayne Booker 
Endowed Chair in Information Literacy, a 
first in the nation.

“It was Dr. Mullins’ initiative that a new 
building was conceived and designed which 
embraced the active learning concept,” Riggs 
added. “The Wilmeth Active Learning Center, 
a 164,000 square foot facility is under con-
struction in the center of campus. The space 
blends teaching spaces, library/information 
services, formal study spaces, collaborative 
work areas, and informal learning spaces 
and will be the site of 27 collaborative active 
learning classrooms and six consolidated 
engineering and science libraries when it 
opens in 2017.

“Dr. Mullins was at the forefront of 
identifying the need for data management 
and preservation services, having played a 
pivotal role in positioning the libraries to 
partner with researchers to create a data 
repository known as the Purdue University 
Research Repository. This resulted in the 

James L. Mullins



April 2016 175 C&RL News

libraries developing a suite of data ser-
vices, including Data Curation Profiles and 
consultations for Data Management Plans,” 
said Riggs. “Additionally, advancing schol-
arly communication is one of Dr. Mullins’ 
top priorities. To this end he has created a 
Libraries Scholarly Publishing Services divi-
sion, which includes the institutional reposi-
tory, and strategically combined it with the 
Purdue University Press, another first in the 
nation. He has helped foster innovation in 
publishing as a founding member of the Li-
brary Publishing Coalition, an independent, 
community-led membership association led 
by college and university libraries to support 
the creation, dissemination, and curation of 
scholarly works.”

Under Mullins’s leadership, Purdue Uni-
versity Libraries was named the recipient 
of the 2015 ACRL Excellence in Academic 
Libraries Award in the university category.

The Hugh C. Atkinson Award is jointly 
sponsored by four ALA divisions: ACRL, 
Association for Library Collections and Tech-
nical Services, the Library Leadership and 
Management Association, and the Library 
and Information Technology Association. 
The award is funded from an endowment 
established to honor Hugh C. Atkinson.

Donations to the endowment may be 
sent to Chase Ollis, ACRL, 50 East Huron 
St., Chicago, Illinois 60611.

Pearl Ly receives CJCLS EBSCO 
Community College Learning 
Resources Leadership Award
Pearl Ly, director of the learning commons 
at Skyline College in San Bruno, California, 
has been chosen to receive the Community 
and Junior College Libraries Section (CJCLS) 
EBSCO Community College Learning Re-
sources Leadership Award.

The $750 award and plaque, donated by 
EBSCO Information Services, will be pre-
sented to Ly at the ALA Annual Conference.

“Dr. Ly stood out to the committee as an 
impressive example of early career leader-
ship,” said award Cochairs Sarah North of 
Casper College and Julia Mielish of Wake 

Technical Community College. “Her promo-
tion to administration has been underscored 
by significant 
achievements 
in both local 
and national 
spheres. She 
h a s  d e m -
o n s t r a t e d  a 
strong dedi-
cation to lead-
ership within 
the field, and 
h a s  b e e n  a 
p a s s i o n a t e 
library advo-
cate. The committee is excited to offer her 
the CJCLS Leadership Award and looks for-
ward to her future accomplishments.”

Austin Community College program 
wins CJCLS EBSCO Community 
College Learning Resources Award
Austin Community College Library Services 
has been chosen to receive the Community 
and Junior College Libraries Section (CJ-
CLS) EBSCO Community College Learning 
Resources Award for its information literacy 
tutorials program.

The $750 award and plaque, donated by 
EBSCO Information Services, will be pre-
sented to Courtney Mlinar and Irena Klaic, 
cochairs of the Austin Community College 
Information Literacy Team, at the ALA An-
nual Conference.

Austin Community College Library Ser-
vices has integrated information literacy 
tutorials and instruction within many key 
academic and workforce programs. The 
Research Tutorials Suite follows student 
learning outcomes to help educate students 
about key information literacy concepts, and 
to increase student success and equity. The 
tutorials use humor to convey the concepts 
and include an assessment measure to con-
firm completion and understanding of the 
student learning outcome.

“Austin Community College has created 
an innovative collection of information lit-

Pearl Ly



C&RL News April 2016 176

eracy tutorials that are used as benchmarks 
for other community colleges across the 
country,” said award Cochairs Sarah North 
of Casper College and Julia Mielish of Wake 
Technical Community College. 

“These tutorials are mapped to student 
learning outcomes and cover a broad range 
of topics and can be used for academic as 
well as workforce development programs. 
The committee is excited to see Austin 
Community College recognized for this sig-
nificant achievement in information literacy 
tutorials.”

Brumfield named Routledge Distance 
Learning Librarianship Conference 
Sponsorship Award winner
Elizabeth Brumfield, distance services li-
brarian at Prairie View A&M University, has 
been named the recipient of the Routledge 
Distance Learning Librarianship Conference 
Sponsorship Award.

T h i s  a n -
n u a l  a w a r d , 
sponsored by 
Routledge/Tay-
lor & Francis 
G r o u p ,  a n d 
administrated 
by ACRL’s Dis-
tance Learning 
Section, honors 
an ACRL mem-
ber working in 
the field of, or 
contributing to, 
the success of 

distance learning librarianship or related 
library service in higher education.

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

“Ms. Brumfield has proved her dedication 
to distance librarianship as evidenced by 
her professional contributions and service,” 
said award Cochairs Rebecca Nowicki of 
Ashford University and Brandon West of the 
State University of New York-Geneseo. “Her 
exemplary record of leadership models the 

type of high standards encouraged by the 
ACRL Distance Learning Section.”

Holliday wins IS Miriam Dudley 
Instruction Librarian Award
Wendy Holliday, head of teaching, learning 
and research services at Northern Arizona 
University, is the winner of the ACRL In-
struction Section’s (IS) Miriam Dudley In-
struction Librar-
ian Award. The 
award honors 
Miriam Dudley, 
whose efforts 
in the field of 
information lit-
eracy led to the 
f o r m a t i o n  o f 
IS. The honor 
r e c o g n i z e s  a 
librarian who 
has made a sig-
nificant contri-
bution to the 
advancement of 
instruction in a college or research library 
environment.

Holliday will receive her $1,000 award, 
along with a plaque, at the IS program dur-
ing the ALA Annual Conference.

“Throughout an extraordinary career, 
Wendy Holliday has demonstrated a passion-
ate commitment to student learning and a 
willingness to collaborate across institutional 
boundaries that has inspired countless col-
leagues both in and outside the profession,” 
said award Chair Mark Szarko, literature, 
global studies and languages and theater 
arts librarian at the Massachusetts Institute 
of Technology. “She has developed and 
led information literacy programs at both 
Utah State University and Northern Arizona 
University that serve as models for other 
institutions.

“Her publications include more than 16 
journal articles, book chapters, and essays, 
most published in peer-reviewed sources,” 
continued Szarko. “One of these articles, 
‘Talking about Information Literacy: The 

Elizabeth Brumfield

Wendy Holliday



April 2016 177 C&RL News

Mediating Role of Discourse in a College 
Writing Classroom,’ was honored with the 
ACRL Instruction Section Ilene F. Rockman 
Instruction Publication of the Year Award 
in 2014. Her record of professional service 
within ACRL includes several key leader-
ship positions in the Instruction Section. As 
a member of the ACRL Immersion Program 
faculty since 2011, she has taught several co-
horts of librarians not only to become better 
teachers, but inspiring instructional leaders at 
their own institutions and beyond.”

Jagman and Swanson receive IS Ilene 
F. Rockman Publication of the Year 
award
Heather Jagman, coordinator of reference, 
instruction and academic engagement at 
DePaul University, and Troy A. Swanson, 
department chair, library and teaching and 
learning librarian at Moraine Valley Commu-
nity College, have been chosen as the win-
ners of ACRL’s Instruction Section (IS) Ilene F. 

Rockman Pub-
lication of the 
Year Award as 
editors of the 
book Not Just 
Where to Click: 
Teaching Stu-
dents How to 
T h i n k  a b o u t 
I n f o r m a t i o n 
published in 
2015 by ACRL. 
The award rec-
ognizes an out-
standing publi-

cation related to library instruction published 
in the past two years.

The award, donated by Emerald Group 
Publishing, consists of a plaque and a cash 
prize of $3,000. Jagman and Swanson will 
receive their award during the ALA Annual 
Conference.

“Not Just Where to Click is an extremely 
useful and well-designed volume that con-
siders information literacy instruction from 
a variety of perspectives,” said award com-

mittee Chair Elana D. Karshmer of Saint Leo 
University. “It brings together a collection of 
essays on how librarians can not only rethink 
their own instruction practices in terms of 
changes in what students ‘bring to the table,’ 
but it also challenges practitioners to go be-
yond the mere fact of teaching research skills 
to suggest that li-
brarians engage in 
teaching students 
to think critically 
and consider how 
information helps 
t h e m  i n t e r p r e t 
and understand 
their world. The 
committee was 
impressed by the 
authors’ ability to 
produce a volume 
that could be used 
in tandem with 
the new ACRL Framework for Information 
Literacy for Higher Education.”

Not Just Where to Click: Teaching Students 
How to Think about Information explores 
how librarians and faculty work together to 
teach students about the nature of expertise, 
authority, and credibility. It provides practical 
approaches for motivating students to explore 
their beliefs, biases, and ways of interpreting 
the world.

The book also includes chapters that 
bridge the gap between the epistemologi-
cal stances and threshold concepts held by 
librarians and faculty, and those held by stu-
dents, focusing on pedagogies that challenge 
students to evaluate authority, connect to 
prior knowledge, and construct new knowl-
edge in a world of information abundance. 
Authors draw from a deep pool of perspec-
tives, including social psychology, critical 
theory, and various philosophical traditions.

Contributors to the 19 chapters in this 
volume offer a balance of theoretical and 
applied approaches to teaching information 
literacy, supplying readers with accessible 
and innovative ideas ready to be put into 
practice.

Heather Jagman

Troy A. Swanson



C&RL News April 2016 178

RBMS Leab Exhibition Award winners
ACRL’s Rare Books and Manuscripts Section 
(RBMS) has selected four winners and one 
honorable mention for the 2016 Katharine 
Kyes Leab and Daniel J. Leab American Book 
Prices Current Exhibition Awards.

The awards, funded by an endowment 
established by Katharine Kyes Leab and Dan-
iel J. Leab, editors of American Book Prices 
Current, recognize outstanding printed ex-
hibition catalogs and guides, and electronic 
exhibitions produced by North America and 
Caribbean institutions. Certificates will be 
presented to each winner at the ALA Annual 
Conference.

The Division One (expensive) winner is 
The Grolier Club for “One Hundred Books 
Famous in Children’s Literature.”

“This landmark catalog represents a 
significant scholarly contribution to book 
history while also being accessible to a 
broad audience,” said David Faulds, chair 
of the RBMS Exhibition Awards Commit-
tee and curator of rare books and literary 
manuscripts at the University of California-
Berkeley. “The committee commented that 
the volume was ‘immediately canonical,’ 
while noting the impressive amount of work 
that went into the detailed bibliographical 
descriptions for each entry. In addition to 
the engaging subject matter, the catalog was 
well designed with the entries clearly laid 
out with additional flourishes to evoke the 
subject matter.”

The Division One (expensive) honorable 
mention is the Herbert and Eileen Bernard 
Museum of Judaica for “The Writing on the 
Wall: A Catalogue of Judaica Broadsides from 
the Valmadonna Trust Library.”

“The committee felt this catalog deserved 
an honorable mention as it represents a 
significant addition to scholarship,” noted 
Faulds. “The book highlights a largely un-
known and unexplored subject area while 
also providing access to a unique, privately 
held collection. The entries are thoroughly 
described and illustrated with high quality 
reproductions as part of an overall hand-
some design.”

The Division Two (moderately expen-
sive) winner is the University of Pennsyl-
vania Libraries Kislak Center for Special 
Collections, Rare Books, and Manuscripts 
for “The Images Affair: Dreyfus in the Media, 
1894-1906.”

“This catalog takes an innovative ap-
proach to an historical event by examining 
it through the visual culture that surrounded 
it,” remarked Faulds. “The committee ac-
knowledged the very high quality of scholar-
ly production, including apparatus such as a 
chronology and a selected bibliography. The 
catalog has high production values with the 
detailed bibliographic entries being divided 
into compelling categories. It also displays 
subtle but beautiful and unifying graphic 
design elements. Finally, the committee felt it 
significant that such an excellent catalog was 
the result of a student-curated exhibition.”

The Division Three (inexpensive) win-
ner is Yale University’s East Asia Library for 
“Treasures from Japan in the Yale University 
Library.”

“The committee felt this catalog, which 
was given away for free, demonstrated a 
strong combination of style and substance,” 
stated Faulds. “Befitting the subject matter, 
the text is in English and Japanese and 
the catalog was designed so that the two 
texts and images did not compete with one 
another on the page. The oblong format of 
the catalog helped present the content 
clearly while also evoking Japanese book 
design. Finally, the committee noted the 
high quality of the images which brought 
the subject to life.”

The Division Four (brochures) winner is 
Brigham Young University’s Harold B. Lee 
Library L. Tom Perry Special Collections for 
“Rose Marie Reid: Glamour by Design.”

“This brochure deservedly won in its cat-
egory for its flair and unusual but engaging 
subject matter, which combines swimsuit 
design and religion,” Faulds said. “Text and 
image are well integrated and make effec-
tive use of the accordion fold format. The 
color scheme, typography, and layout echo 
the time period of Reid and her clothing 



April 2016 179 C&RL News

designs. The committee was also delighted 
by playful elements such as a ‘Dive in’ link 
to the online exhibition.”

Denda wins WGSS Career 
Achievement Award

K a y o  D e n d a , 
head of the Mar-
gery Somers Fos-
ter Center and 
Women’s Stud-
ies librarian at 
Rutgers Univer-
sity, has been 
selected as the 
winner of ACRL’s 
W o m e n  a n d 
Gender Studies 
Section (WGSS) 
Career Achieve-
ment Award. The 

award honors significant long-standing con-
tributions to women’s studies in the field of 
librarianship over the course of a career.

A plaque will be presented to Denda at 
a WGSS event during the ALA Annual Con-
ference.

“Throughout her career, [Denda] has been 
involved in planning and implementing 
academic and research programs in women 
and gender studies that are exemplary,” said 
award Chair Diane Fulkerson, director of 
information commons/library services at the 
University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee. 
“She is an active member in WGSS and IFLA, 
and is a role model for not only women and 
gender studies librarians, but for all academic 
librarians.”

Denda is a past chair of WGSS. She led the 
team of activists and librarians that created the 
Center for Women’s Global Leadership Poster 
Collection, which won the 2012 ACRL WGSS 
Significant Achievement Award. Denda cur-
rently serves as liaison to Rutgers University’s 
Department of Women’s and Gender Studies, 
the Institute for Women’s Leadership, the 
Institute for Research on Women, the Center 
for Women’s Global Leadership, and the 
Douglass Residential College. 

Kayo Denda

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