LAUC-LA

May 3, 1994

Aggi Raeder, librarian at the University of California, Los Angeles, is the first recipient of the Librarian of the Year award, given by the Librarians1 Association of the University of California, Los Angeles. This newly-established annual award is intended to recognize excellence in librarianship, especially as it enhances library service and furthers the teaching and research missions of UCLA.

Ms. Raeder, recently retired from the Engineering and Math Sciences Library, was recognized for her creativity and innovation in developing dBase applications for several UCLA libraries and for the campus as a whole. Ms. Raeder is the author of the BIBB program, used for formatting ORION records into a standard bibliographic format. The BIBB program was especially useful to the History and Special Collections Division of the Louise Darling Biomedical Library to prepare a bibliography of all books purchased using the Murphy endowment, presented to Dr. Franklin D. Murphy on the occasion of his 75th birthday.

1995 — Esther Grassian

May 15, 1995

The Librarians Association of the University of California, Los Angeles (LAUC-LA) is pleased to announce that Esther Grassian is the recipient of its 1995 Librarian of the Year award. LAUC-LA honors Ms. Grassian for her creativity, leadership and extraordinarily successful efforts in developing a campus-wide Internet training program and her visionary role in stimulating the development of an information literacy curriculum at UCLA.

As Founding Chair of the Internet Training Group, Ms. Grassian has established a model program to prepare instructors to teach UCLA faculty, students, and staff how to utilize the popular resources of the Internet such as Gopher, WorldWideWeb and the Bruin OnLine system. She used innovative electronic advertising of the Internet workshops to reach more campus faculty, staff and students.

Colleagues recognized the ideal, supportive learning environment Ms. Grassian established. She held rehearsals for librarian instructors of new Internet classes and developed scripts, handouts and overhead transparencies that others could use. She organized "debriefing support sessions" for new and experienced Internet instructors, offered private rehearsals and arranged for backup trainers and team teaching along with supportive evaluations. This helped librarians gain the confidence to become fledgling Internet instructors and then develop the skills to learn sophisticated technologies and teach more advanced classes. Colleagues deemed her "phenomenal in her approach" and commented on the "remarkable quality of her contributions."

The campus-wide impact of Ms. Grassian's many educational initiatives, her originality, widely-respected expertise and dedication to excellence have prompted her peers to refer to her as "UCLA's most important bibliographic educator."

Esther is a Librarian at UCLA's College Library and a member of the American Library Association's Association of College and Research Libraries and Chair of its Instruction Section and Library Instruction Round Table. Esther is an alumna of UCLA's Graduate School of Library and Information Science.

May 9, 1996

It is with great pleasure that LAUC-LA honors Richard Chabran, Director of the Chicano Studies Research Center Library, with its 1996 Librarian of the Year award. Richard personifies those qualities in a librarian that this award wishes to recognize: creativity, innovation, leadership and scholarship. The specific contribution we wish to recognize is Richard's creation and development of Chicano/LatinoNet (http://latino.sscnet.ucla.edu) widely recognized as the most important World Wide Web resource on Chicanos and Latinos in the United States and a model for other Web sites.

Richard's vision for CLNet reaches far beyond the UCLA community and effectively meets the intellectual, cultural and information needs of the Latino community at large. CLNet was entirely developed with grant funding secured by Richard's successful fund writing proposals. The effort Richard has invested into creating CLNet goes far beyond the day-to-day work of UCLA librarians. CLNet represents the results of imagination and perseverance in a new arena.

One colleague of Richard's has identified him as "...an electronic populist who believes these services should be available as widely as possible..." Another colleague attested "...it would be a mistake to consider Richard primarily as an excellent 'Chicano' librarian but rather. . .as an outstanding professional librarian who has adopted the field of Chicano Studies as the area he wanted to promote and develop." Still another wrote "With unflagging energy Richard read the books and the manuals, he talked to programmers and technicians, and he taught himself what he needed to know to establish and develop CLNet."

For his dedication to excellence and commitment to providing access to scholarly resources to the University and to the community at large, Richard is richly deserving of being recognized as the 1996 LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year.

The 1995-1996 LAUC-LA Committee on Distinguished Librarian

Professor Albert Boime - Art History

Debe Costa -College Library

Rita Costello - Rosenfeld Library

Ray Soto -Bibliographers Group

Suzanne Shellaby - University Archives

1997 — Miki Goral

May 6, 1997 1-3 PM

It is with great pleasure that LAUC-LA presents to Miki Goral its 1997 Librarian of the Year Award. With this award we recognize Miki for her recent and ongoing contributions to LAUC, to librarians, to the Library, and for her qualities of leadership, moral courage, and intellectual creativity. First, as the current President of the statewide Librarians Association of the University of California, she has exercised her leadership on our behalf, keeping LAUC a relevant and vital organization. Second, she has worked tirelessly in support of the life needs of UCLA librarians, as a strong and courageous union leader. Finally, she has been a mainstay in supporting the UCLA Library's goals through her knowledge and teaching of computers and computerized systems and databases.

Serving this year as President of our statewide Librarian's Association, Miki brings a very deep knowledge of the history and functioning of this organization to the position. She has not only been around since the organization was established in 1972, but she has been Chair of LAUC-LA, and many of its committees, such as the bylaws revision committee. She uses this accumulated experience and knowledge to lead LAUC through its many concerns and ongoing projects, such as the Statement of Cultural Diversity. Further, with this background and knowledge, and also as the de facto LAUC-LA archivist, Miki was the natural choice to write the Los Angeles Division's chapter of the recently published History of LAUC.

During the past year, as the chief negotiator for the University Federation of Librarians, University Council-American Federation of Teachers, she has negotiated with campus and library administration fairly, with intellectual honesty, and with integrity. She was able to represent the line librarian's point of view clearly and articulately, and was key to bringing the salary dispute to an equitable and peaceful resolution. As one colleague noted, "Throughout the entire-months long process, she demonstrated great moral courage by remaining calm, reasonable and fair-minded, even in the face of some highly charged issues."

Finally, with her eye for detail, great enthusiasm for and knowledge of computers, computerized systems and databases, and unceasing critical judgment, Miki has been the key Melvyl contact for the UCLA Library. And this year, her leadership has been more important than ever as the statewide Division of Library Automation moves quickly to implement a new Web interface for the Melvyl system. She has shared all DLA documentation with UCLA librarians, urging us to review the interface and comment on it, and always with the best interests of users in mind. She is unfailingly generous in sharing her expert knowledge about new databases with users and any interested librarian. One of her colleagues wrote, "I have felt better able to serve the needs of the UCLA community with enthusiasm, respect and expert knowledge because of Miki's guidance and support." Another librarian wrote, "...Miki has been an important and inspiring colleague whose contributions have made us all better and more vital librarians at UCLA."

For these qualities of leadership, moral courage, intellectual creativity and her unflagging commitment to improving our computer systems and databases for our users, Miki Goral deserves to be recognized as the 1997 LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year.

Members of the 1996/97 Committee on LAUC-LA Distinguished Librarian Award are Professor Teshome Gabriel-Department of Film and Television; Norma Corral-URL Reference; Teresa Portilla Omidsalar-- College Library Reference; and Ray Soto--Bibliographers Group.

1998 — Gordon Theil

April 28, 1998

It is with great pleasure that LAUC-LA presents to Gordon Theil the 1998 Librarian of the Year Award. With this award we recognize Gordon's ongoing contributions and leadership within the UCLA Library and community in the area of automation, as well as his qualities of intellectual creativity, leadership, and moral courage.

First, his involvement in the creation of the UCLA Library Website, his role as its current Webmaster, and his role in the creation of the Music Library's Mac Lab demonstrate his commitment to making information as widely available as possible, his technical skills in an ever-changing arena, and his common sense approach to making difficult decisions. Second, his leadership is characterized by a combination of "humanistic-oriented philosophy" and practical, hands-on experience. Finally, in terms of moral courage, he has articulated a stand on a controversial issue in an open forum and has acted on the convictions he expressed.

Serving as Chair of Webcomm since its inception, Gordon has been instrumental in the creation and continuing development of the Library's Website, the "public face" of the UCLA Library to the campus and the world beyond. His technical curiosity and willingness to accept extra duties exemplify his deep sense of commitment to public service, always with the best interests of users in mind. His enthusiasm for technology and its role in the Library made him a natural for appointment as Library Webmaster.

He has demonstrated his leadership in a number of venues. One colleague stated that "As an administrator he exemplifies the best aspects of humanistic-oriented philosophy with practical hands-on experience." Whatever working group or committee he is on, Gordon contributes good ideas and is willing to take on whatever is required to accomplish the task for the betterment of the whole group. It has been noted that he is an influential member of any committee he serves on. "Most importantly, however, Gordon cares about his unit, the Music Library, and about the library system, striving to improve its quality, development, maintenance, and function."

Finally, in terms of moral courage, Gordon chose not to accept an administrative stipend for his duties as Head of the Music Library. As a fair-minded individual, he acted on his own beliefs in refusing the additional money. This action, while consistent with LAUC-LA's position on administrative stipends, symbolizes a strength of character that is typical of Gordon's integrity and selflessness.

For these qualities of intellectual creativity, leadership, and moral courage and his unflagging commitment to service, Gordon Theil deserves to be recognized as the 1998 LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year.

Committee on LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year Award, 1997/98 Norma Corral - URL Reference (Chair) Leon Ferder - Bibliographers Group Tina-Karen Forman - URL Cataloging Department Lise Snyder - College Library Professor Leah Lievrouw - UCLA GSE&IS Department of Library and Information Studies

1999 — Sara Shatford Layne

Sara Shatford Layne, Head of the Cataloging Department in the Science and Engineering Library, has been a prominent figure in the national cataloging scene for several years. We make this award, however, not in recognition of her significant external contributions to cataloging, but with the deep regard for her selfless devotion to helping the UCLA Library system "get it right" with respect to implementing the new online system--ORION2. What people who have worked with her have seen first-hand is her gentle but effective persistence in coaxing the emerging system towards its greatest potential.

As co-author (with Martha Yee) of last year's ALA publication "Improving Online Public Access Catalogs," she demonstrated a sophisticated grasp of catalog design and user needs in a presentation of desirable features for OPACs. During the development of ORION2 she has put these principles to work, advocating a system that combines sophisticated functionality with a clear and rational user interface.

It would be impossible to exaggerate the vital role that Sara has played this past year as Chair of Advisory Committee on Cataloging in the ORION2 implementation process. She has drafted, written, revised and polished countless numbers of e-mails, analyses, summaries, responses, recommendations, and alerts on behalf of ACC. The sheer volume of ORION2 information and correspondence that she has taken responsibility for this past year is staggering. She is famous for her effectiveness in defining the boundaries of problems, giving accurate evaluations of their impact on workflow, and communicating this to administration. Her leadership in safeguarding UCLA's new ORION database against partly tested software (and partly trained staff) has molded system-wide policies on TAOS deployment, authorizations, and training, not just testing methodology.

As the Testing Coordinating Team can attest, her contributions will have a fundamental impact on the future of technical processing at UCLA.

We can think of no other librarian so deserving of the LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year award this year. While the UCLA community may never recognize the debt it owes Sara, as catalogers and librarians, we do know. And we hope that you will join us in acknowledging that debt of gratitude by celebrating her receiving this most important LAUC-LA award.

Committee on the LAUC-LA Distinguished Librarian Award

Tina-Karen Forman, Chair

Leon Ferder

Alan Carr

Ray Ingersol (faculty rep.)

2000 — Kate Pecarovich

It is with great pleasure that LAUC-LA names Kate Pecarovich Librarian of the Year, in recognition of her ongoing contributions and leadership in ORION2 activities, and her recently completed key role in designing the new UCLA Law Library. Kate has enriched her fellow librarians and the entire UCLA Library community through her work in these areas, and has demonstrated the qualities of intellectual creativity, innovation, and leadership repeatedly throughout her twenty-year career at UCLA. Because of Kate's distinguished contributions, all UCLA libraries have ready access to complete and accurate holdings of the Law Library, and the Law Library is also a beautiful study facility with an inviting and useful collection design.

During the ORION1 years, Kate made vitally important resources visible to the community at large by her efforts on two major projects. She converted the massive file of legal serials records to ORION format, and also designed a way to convert and integrate the sizable collection of the Law Library's uncataloged government documents into ORION. As if this weren't enough, Kate also almost single-handedly reclassified nearly 60,000 law items from an old Yale-Columbia classification system into the Library of Congress classification system, making the records accessible for all library users. All of these efforts are indicative of the great weight that Kate places on the public service aspect behind Technical Services.

Kate saw the development of ORION2 as an opportunity to solve the many problems that ORION1 presented to patrons when they attempted to ascertain the status of supplemented materials. As part of the Data Migration Team, Kate helped to create algorithms that would assure that multiple supplementation records would properly migrate to the catalog record. In addition, Kate was a member of the ORION2 Implementation Steering Team, and Chair of the OCLC/DLA Data Exchange Team. These are only a few examples of Kate's contributions to ORION1 and ORION2 which provided comprehensive holdings information for UCLA Law Library materials.

During the past several years, Kate has served as a member of the Law Library Building Committee and was involved in every aspect of the building planning, from air conditioning to chair selection. Kate was also appointed chair of the Collection Configuration Subcommittee of the Building Committee, because of her in-depth knowledge of the project, and her skill in organizing and executing complex projects. Because of Kate's hard work and leadership skills, the UCLA Community has a beautiful library facility with a collection arrangement that has been endorsed by the entire Law Library staff, and that works for the all of the library's users. Law School Dean Jonathan Varat acknowledged Kate's significant contributions at the library's dedication in January of this year.

Kate has earned the admiration and respect of all who have worked with her, and she has been an inspiring role model. Kate has demonstrated unwavering commitment to providing the best possible access to the Law Library's collections, and her efforts have quite literally transformed the Law Library for many years to come. Kate has demonstrated steady leadership, vision, professionalism, and creative thinking throughout her career, and for all these reasons she deserves to be publicly acknowledged as Librarian of the Year.

Committee on LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year Award, 1999/2000

Alan Carr, Biomedical Library (Chair)

Anita Colby, Science & Engineering Library

Linda Maisner, Law Library

The Librarians Association of the University of California, Los Angeles (LAUC-LA) has the honor and pleasure of granting Norma Corral its 2001 Librarian of the Year Award in recognition of exceptional contributions to diversity, librarianship and to the teaching and research missions of UCLA. Norma's nomination not only stood out because of her notable achievements but also for the broad-based support, documentation and accolades submitted by UCLA librarians and faculty, and regional and national library leaders.

Norma has long been an advocate of cultural diversity by incorporating a broad perspective in her teaching, bibliographic instruction, and collection development; by mentoring innumerable students; by actively recruiting people of culturally diverse backgrounds to the library profession, the UCLA library and information studies program and employment at the UCLA Library; and by challenging as well as engaging her colleagues to address these issues. Outside of the library her community outreach efforts have addressed the survival and literacy needs of low-income families.

Norma's role as a champion for diversity at the UCLA Library became apparent when she was appointed to the first Library Committee on Diversity (LCD) in October 1988. From the outset, she was instrumental in setting the focus of the Committee's agenda and mission to tackle issues of racism, discrimination, and exclusion. A quiet and reserved person by nature, Norma astounded many who knew her superficially by her passionate and outspoken comments and criticism of UCLA Library policies, procedures, and behavior that were unnecessary barriers to the employment of ethnic minorities in the Library. Though it was difficult for her to do so her deeply held convictions allowed her to speak forthrightly and with moral courage to challenge the status quo. Norma's tireless dedication in promoting diversity has been witnessed inside and outside the library community. Selected activities include:

• Co-Chair, Sí Se Puede: Cesar Chavez and His Legacy Exhibit (1995), including an opening reception featuring Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers, AFL-CIO
• Chair, Américo Paredes: His Legacy on Chicano Folklore (Fall 2001)
• Mentor and Committee Member, UCLA Graduate School of Library and Information Science/RFORMA Mentoring Partnership
• Co-Chair, Diversity Recruitment and Mentoring Committee, UCLA Department of Information Studies (1999-present)
• Mentor to students groups, such Raza Women and MEChA, and students in Chicano/a, Social Welfare and Latin American Studies
• Co-Chair of annual exhibit at Los Angeles Latino Book and Family Festival (1999-present) as a venue to promote reading, information literacy, libraries, and librarianship in the Latino community. Norma coordinated the resources available from REFORMA, UCLA Department of Information Studies, UCLA Library and local public library systems
• Treasurer, REFORMA- Los Angeles Chapter (1997-present)
• Annual Christmas Tamale Sale and Food Drive
• Adjunct faculty, team-teaching Latino History and Culture (IS 111C, Spring 2001) course at UCLA with Richard Chabran

In her professional responsibilities in building a reference collection and providing reference service, Norma is acutely aware of the changing nature of ethnic and social science scholarship as it becomes more multidisciplinary and focuses on new subjects that require information not found in traditional reference tools. Norma has gained the admiration of faculty and students whom she has assisted in tackling community and cross-disciplinary research.

In short, Norma's social consciousness guides her long-term dedication in fighting prejudice and inequity in librarianship and the community at-large. It is an honor to recognize Norma Corral's unwavering commitment to diversity and contributions to recruitment, reference, collection development, instruction, and mentoring not just at UCLA but also across the nation.

Committee on LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year Award, 2000-01

Anita Colby, Science & Engineering Library (Chair)

Ruby A. Bell-Gam, YRL Library

Clara M. Chu, Information Studies

Linda Maisner, Law Library

*Presentation of the award was made at the LAUC-LA Assembly on 19th April 2001.

Alice Kawakami, 2002 LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year!!!

The award presentation took place at the UCLA Faculty Center on April 25, 2002, during the LAUC-LA Spring Membership meeting.

The LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year Award was established in 1993/94 to honor excellence in librarianship and extraordinary contributions to the teaching and research missions of UCLA, as demonstrated through specific acts of creativity, innovation, intellectual or moral courage, leadership, or scholarship.  Alice was selected for the award from a group of five excellent nominees with a wide range of remarkable accomplishments.

As College Library’s Digital Services Librarian, Alice has worked tirelessly during the last two years to establish and develop the UCLA Library’s digital reference service.  When Eleanor Mitchell, Head of College Library, approached Alice in spring 2000 to explore the possibilities of a partnership between UCLA and the Metropolitan Cooperative Library System (MCLS), Alice enthusiastically embarked on a mission in uncharted waters.   Working with Susan McGlamery, Coordinator of the MCLS 24/7 digital reference project, Alice immediately began forming a testing group at UCLA to try out the Webline software that MCLS was using.  In spite of daunting obstacles, including major access problems with the software, skepticism toward the whole idea of digital reference service, and technical problems with the California Digital Library, (CDL), Alice persevered, believing that such a service would be greatly beneficial to library users.

UCLA’s digital reference service was successfully launched in spring 2001 with three librarians from College Library and one from the Young Research Library, while the Biomedical Library conducted its own project.  Alice’s role as trouble-shooter expanded to cover all UCLA participants and she took on the responsibility for tracking use of this new service, keeping statistics, recruiting new librarians to participate in an expanded service in fall 2001, and communicating with all essential people regarding the new service. She pushed to get the "Ask a Librarian" icon on the library homepage to ensure that users are aware of the full range of reference services available.

What is truly amazing is that Alice took on all this responsibility in addition to her regular College Library duties.  It was not until fall 2001, when digital reference was well on its way to being an established public service, that Alice received some release time from her reference and teaching responsibilities at College Library to handle the extraordinary workload associated with the ongoing development and improvement of this service.

Thus far, she has recruited and trained an additional 20-25 UCLA librarians, library assistants, and Information Studies graduate students from a variety of library units to help provide digital reference; she has established weekly training sessions for all digital reference librarians; she has set up a website and listserv to facilitate communication among all the UCLA digital reference staff and to enable them to share their experiences; and she has worked with the Reference, Research and Instructional Services Committee (RRISC) to develop quarterly orientation sessions for digital reference staff so that they can learn more about resources and search strategies outside their own disciplines.  Alice has been a speaker at many national and local workshops and conferences, and has been asked to contribute the first article on digital reference for the next edition of the Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science.

Although Alice has enjoyed the support of her supervisors and colleagues, it is truly due to her own vision and determination that the UCLA Library's digital reference service is recognized throughout the United States as cutting edge and as a model worth emulating. In recognition of her leadership, dedication, hard work, innovation, courage and creativity as a people's librarian, and her invaluable contributions to the teaching and research missions of UCLA, we are very pleased to name Alice Kawakami the 2002 LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year.

Committee on the LAUC-LA Distinguished Librarian Award

Ruby Bell-Gam, Chair

Jan Goldsmith

Jennifer Lentz

John V. Richardson (Faculty member, Information Studies)

2002-2003 LAUC-LA Committee on Distinguished Librarian

The LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year award was established in 1993/1994 to honor excellence in librarianship and extraordinary contributions to the teaching and research missions of UCLA.  Six excellent candidates were nominated this year, all of whom showed remarkable talents and achievements.  We are delighted to announce that this year's award goes to Valerie Bross.

As Serials Cataloger and Digital Resources Cataloging Coordinator for the Charles Young Research Library, Valerie has been a key player in helping to usher UCLA’s library system into the digital age.  She has made it a priority to provide the UCLA community with the best cataloging records available, working tirelessly to make UCLA’s records more accurate, streamlined and effective.  As one letter of nomination put it, Valerie deserves recognition for her “selfless devotion to helping the UCLA Library System ‘get it right’ with respect to developing and …maintaining access to the Library’s digital resources and serials.”  Although most of her work is behind the scenes, Valerie’s concern with how records will display to the public and the ease with which patrons may access information has had a hugely positive impact on the way the UCLA library system is viewed by the University and the public in general.

A true librarian in every sense of the word, Valerie has shown exceptional dedication to helping both patrons and her fellow librarians.  She looks beyond the scope of her department to anticipate and respond to the needs of her colleagues.  In the past year in particular, she has created avenues by which public services staff may immediately contact her if a question arises about access to electronic resources.  Her willingness to make herself available at short notice has helped foster a new spirit of collaboration between Technical Processing and Public Services at YRL.  In addition, she has reached out to other cataloging centers on campus by facilitating a URL checking program for Orion2 records, a program which has greatly eased the burden of this laborious task on other libraries.

One outstanding example of Valerie’s dedication to the Library’s research mission is illustrated by her willingness to learn Arabic in order to eliminate the backlog in Arabic and Persian language serials.  In recent years she and her staff have worked extremely hard to add websites to bibliographic records for Middle Eastern periodicals, an accomplishment which has facilitated access to an important area of scholarship that might otherwise not be available to the UCLA community.  Thanks in part to Valerie’s initiative and perseverance, these materials are now available for the benefit of scholars and researchers throughout the world.

Valerie’s reputation as a cataloguer has earned her a high level of respect in her field.  She has “been a prominent figure in the national serials cataloging scene…particularly for her efforts on behalf of the Library of Congress’ International Cooperative Serials Cataloging Program.”  She has also been involved with the California State Documents Shared Cataloging Project, helping advance the cataloging standards in the area of electronic resources. Such involvement greatly benefits the UCLA library system as Valerie takes the time to consult with her own and other cataloging departments on campus to consider their input when reporting to national committees on which she serves.

In recognition of her leadership, dedication, innovation, and invaluable contributions to the research mission of the UCLA Library, we are very pleased to name Valerie Bross the 2003 LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year.

At the request of the LAUC membership, Valerie will also receive an extra $250 in professional development funds for the next fiscal year.

The 2002-2003 LAUC-LA Committee on Distinguished Librarian

Jan Goldsmith, Co-Chair

Jennifer Lentz, Co Chair

Marsha Kmec

Bruce Whiteman

Arthur Rosett, Faculty Representative

May 26, 2005

Remarks by Rhonda K. Lawrence

The LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year Award was established in 1993/1994 to recognize excellence in librarianship, particularly as it enhances library service and furthers the teaching and research mission of UCLA. The recipient of this award must have played a significant role in helping the UCLA Library meet the intellectual, cultural and information needs of the UCLA community.  The recipient must also embody one or more of the following qualities: creativity, innovation, intellectual or moral courage, leadership, and scholarship.

Six excellent candidates were nominated this year, all of whom demonstrated remarkable talents and achievements.  The Committee faced a very difficult decision.   But one particular librarian’s accomplishments stood out even among this group of high achievers.    In letters of nomination, this librarian has been described as one who thinks outside the box, and by example, encourages others to do the same.   This librarian’s successful and creative leadership, sense of humor, and skillful powers of persuasion inspired many others to work toward the success of this project.  

We are delighted to announce that the 2005 Librarian of the Year award goes to Eleanor Mitchell , in recognition for her efforts over the past four years to establish and develop the UCLA Library Information Literacy Initiative and Program.  

Quoting extensively from the letters of nomination throughout my presentation, one person wrote:  

“As Director of the UCLA Information Literacy Initiative, Eleanor Mitchell worked unstintingly to establish and lead the project from initiative to program, from episodic to programmatic, ubiquitous to the teaching and research mission of UCLA. Ingenuity, resourcefulness and above all, creative leadership have been hallmarks of Eleanor ’s approach.”

Eleanor has been heavily involved in the Initiative since its inception.   In 2001 the UCLA Library’s Information Literacy Initiative was launched in response to a report--which she helped author--that a ssessed the level of information literacy among UCLA students as low.   Eleanor developed three simple, yet ambitious goals for the initiative:

• To increase awareness of information literacy concepts among members of the UCLA community, within the context of the changing information needs and environments;

• To assess information literacy skills, knowledge and abilities at UCLA; and

• To improve information literacy skills, knowledge and abilities at UCLA.

Her absolute commitment to the Information Literacy Initiative mission informed her extensive efforts to get as much faculty and administration buy-in as possible. She leveraged any and all opportunities she encountered to share information about the Information Literacy Initiative and engender more support for its goals.   In the span of three years, despite the bureaucratic nature of the campus, and librarians’ lack of faculty status, she produced major accomplishments across all three of these multi-faceted goals.   She did not just lead the Initiative from a good idea to a dynamic program; she participated in the work, honed her grassroots view of what was needed and important, and became its most passionate advocate.   Her efforts have noticeably raised awareness of information literacy among librarians across campus, the library administration, and faculty.   Further, Eleanor’s influence has extended beyond the UCLA realm.  She has made local and national presentations on information literacy, and her stellar accomplishments have resulted in heightened recognition of the UCLA Library in the wider academic community. The Initiative has become a model, in particular, for other large research institutions.  

Eleanor ’s charismatic leadership, her vision, and her dedicated focused efforts were the right combination at the right time.  It is not an overstatement to say that without Eleanor Mitchell the Library would not have the infrastructure that now exists for the ongoing development, expansion and improvement of our information literacy program.  

The Committee could think of no better way to recognize Eleanor ’s exceptional achievement than by naming her the LAUC-LA 2005 Librarian of the Year.   Eleanor represents the best of librarianship

Eleanor , before you come forward to the podium, Sarah Barbara Watstein , Associate University Librarian for Research & Instructional Services, also has a few remarks.  

[ Sarah Watstein ’s remarks]

And now, Eleanor , please come forward to accept your award.

The Certificate reads:

 The Librarians Association of the University of California, Los Angeles is pleased to present the 2005 Librarian of the Year Award to Eleanor Mitchell , i n recognition of her exceptional ingenuity, creative leadership and vision in developing and successfully implementing the UCLA Library’s Information Literacy Initiative.

[Presentation of certificate, plaque, flowers]

At the request of the LAUC membership, Eleanor will also receive an extra $250 in professional development funds for the next fiscal year.

2004-2005 Committee on the LAUC-LA Distinguished Librarian Award

Rhonda K. Lawrence , Law, Head of Cataloging & Bindery, Chair

Catherine Lee , YRL, Librarian for East and South Asian Studies

Mike Randall , Biomed & YRL, Digital Serials

Elaine Shiner , Clark Library, Head of Cataloging

Rogers Brubaker, Sociology, Faculty Advisor

2006 — Victoria Steele

May 14, 2007

Remarks by Catherine Brown

Portions of the following remarks are taken from the nominating letters of support.

The LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year Award was established in 1993/1994 to recognize excellence in librarianship, particularly as it enhances library service and furthers the teaching and research mission of UCLA. The recipient must also embody one or more of the following qualities: creativity, innovation, intellectual or moral courage, leadership, and scholarship.

Twelve worthy candidates were nominated for the award this year, among whom a few especially stood out as having demonstrated remarkable talents and achievements. Two of those nominations came from faculty members only. We delighted to announce that the 2007 Librarian of the Year Award goes to Marsha Kmec.

During the past twelve to eighteen months Marsha has contributed significantly to the enhancement of the library's service to the physicians and patrons of Olive View UCLA Medical Center and in so doing has furthered the teaching and research mission of the University.

Marsha applied for, and was awarded, a $5,000 grant from the Olive View Foundation. A recently established foundation, she was one of the first employees to receive an award.

Working in close collaboration with Christian Puiu, Emergency Room RN, Marsha established a video network in the ER waiting room area which continuously broadcasts patient education videos in English and, more importantly, Spanish. These 24 / 7 /365 day a week broadcasts are excellent vehicles to educate ER patients, many of whom are immigrants or lower income patrons, who would never have access to such information. Additionally, they help ease the burden of extensive wait times, so prevalent in this high-traffic County facility.

The Olive View-UCLA Medical Center is a major teaching site for the UCLA School of Medicine. They have several major residency programs and train hundreds of residents and students annually. As part of her commitment to the educational program, Marcia aggressively worked to upgrade information system capabilities by providing access to several databases (*Stat Ref, *MD Consult *Cochrane ) through a Bruin online Proxy server. Although not previously available through the county, these resources are now available to all via the hospital intranet and have had a significant impact on house staff education and patient care. This project took a considerable amount of time and effort but demonstrated her commitment to modernizing the library’s information system capabilities.

Marsha plays a key role in the research activities of Olive View faculty. As one put it, “without her assistance, which is ALWAYS immediate, I would not be able to publish as frequently as I have during the past decade.”

She was recently asked to serve on the editorial board for the Radiological Society of North America, the publishers of Radiology and Radiology Clinics of North America.

Marsha has held leadership positions within the Medical Library Group of Southern Calfornia and Arizona, and the Medical Library Association. She also serves on the advisory councils for CSUN and College of the Canyons, and remains very active in committee work at Olive View.

I quote: “Marsha Kmec has been crucial to the enhancement of the physician and patient experience here at Olive View UCLA Medical Center.”

The Committee is pleased to recognize Marsha’s exceptional achievement by naming her the LAUC-LA 2007 Librarian of the Year.

And now, Marsha, please come forward to accept your award.

[Presentation of certificate & clock]

The certificate reads:

THE LIBRARIANS ASSOCIATION OF THE

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA , LOS ANGELES

IS PLEASED TO PRESENT THE

2007 LIBRARIAN OF THE YEAR AWARD

TO

Marsha Kmec

IN RECOGNITION OF HER DEDICATION AND

INNOVATIVE LEADERSHIP IN DEVELOPING

AND SUCCESSFULLY IMPLEMENTING

THE OLIVE VIEW-UCLA MEDICAL CENTER'S 

EMERGENCY WAITING ROOM PATIENT VIDEO NETWORK.

PRESENTED AT THE LAUC-LA ASSEMBLY

UCLA FACULTY CENTER

MONDAY, MAY 14, 2007

At the request of the LAUC membership, Marsha will also receive an extra $250 in professional development funds for the next fiscal year.

May 1, 2008

Remarks by Julie Graham and Lise Snyder; presented by Lise Snyder

*Much of the following remarks are taken from the nominating letters of support.

UCLA Librarians are among the most innovative, creative, and committed librarians in the profession. Each of us brings special and unique talents to our work which serves to make the UCLA Library the success it is.

The LAUC-LA Librarian of the year Award was established in 1993 to recognize excellence in librarianship, particularly as it enhances library service and furthers the teaching and research mission of UCLA. The recipient must also embody one or more of the following qualities: creativity, innovation, intellectual or moral courage, leadership, and scholarship.

This year’s recipient was chosen from a group of six exceptional candidates with a wide range of remarkable accomplishments. We are delighted to announce that the 2008 Librarian of the Year Award goes to Patti Caravello for her leadership as Director of the UCLA Information Literacy Program and her outstanding work and significant achievements in developing information literacy instruction programs at both the undergraduate and graduate levels and defining information literacy standards in the Social Sciences and Humanities.

Given Patti’s commitment to information literacy throughout her career, it was no surprise that she took an active role in the UCLA Library Information Literacy Initiative when it was launched in 2002. Among many other activities, Patti co-chaired the “Sociology Project,” the first successful effort at UCLA to develop and mount sequential information literacy instruction within the curriculum of a department. As part of this project, she was instrumental in developing and co-teaching a one-unit research course for upper-division students.

In 2005, shortly after the Information Literacy Initiative became a Program, Patti was appointed its first Director. Under Patti’s leadership, the Program has flourished, gaining momentum and establishing itself firmly within the UCLA community. The Information Literacy Program has developed a clear mission and direction, offered ground-breaking programs and developed active working groups that invite and promote collaboration with other campus partners and share the innovative information literacy materials and services developed by UCLA librarians. As one nomination stated, “Since Patti was appointed Director, the Information Literacy Program and the UCLA Library have made great strides in raising consciousness on campus about what information literacy is and its significance.”

In 2006/2007, Patti successfully developed a proposal for an information literacy program for faculty. When she and Sarah Watstein presented the proposal to Vice Provost, Judi Smith, they were at once invited to participate in the first annual “Celebrating Undergraduate Education” week at UCLA, in fall 2007. The Information Literacy Program’s symposium, “A Competitive Edge in the Information Society” (http://www.ugeducation.ucla.edu/celebrate/abstracts.html#edge) featured a panel of faculty and librarians showcasing collaborations and projects that enhance undergraduates’ information skills and understanding of the scholarly process. The program encouraged faculty to learn about innovative approaches and to seek assistance with instructional development from librarians. Regarding this event one letter of nomination stated “From strategic coordination of the symposium that began in March 2007 through the stage of follow-up after the event, she was the leading force that made it happen.”

Patti’s own work with the Anthropology Department’s Undergraduate Honors Program further exemplifies successful collaboration with faculty. Her work with Professors Alan Johnson, Linda Garro, and Professor Emeritus Peter Hammond goes far beyond the traditional one-shot; she participates in the upper division seminars as a co-instructor developing curriculum, grading assignments and teaching throughout the quarter.

Information literacy instruction and standards have traditionally focused on undergraduates. While Patti has strongly supported this focus, she has also championed the importance of recognizing and addressing the information literacy needs of graduate students. She has significantly furthered this goal through her work on expanding UCLA’s graduate level information literacy programs and the development of graduate information competencies to guide the work of librarians both at UCLA and nationally.

In collaboration with Dean Enku Gelaye and the Office of the Dean of Students, she helped develop a workshop on avoiding plagiarism offered in the Graduate Summer Research Mentorship Program in 2006. This evolved into a workshop on “Citation and Academic Integrity,” that is now offered at UCLA’s New Graduate Student Orientation each Fall, at the Bunche Center Summer Humanities Institute and as part of the Graduate Writing Center’s quarterly seminars. Patti’s ongoing work with both the Graduate Student Resource Center and the Graduate Writing Center has led to very productive collaborations between them and a number of UCLA librarians. The end result has been the development of a wide variety of workshops for graduate students including ones on finding journal articles by academic area, advanced use of EndNote and data and statistics, and the topics of negotiating publishers’ contracts, copyright and permissions issues and electronic publications.

As Chair of the Collections, Research, and Instructional Services (CRIS) Information Literacy Functional Area Team, Patti led the team in the development of the document “Information Proficiency at UCLA: Graduate Student Competencies in the Social Sciences & Humanities.” Through her enthusiasm and mentoring she inspired many of her CRIS colleagues to see information literacy “as a broader vision of teaching and liaison activities with campus departments, and to enhance their abilities and to become active in campus-wide IL efforts.”

Patti’s work on both undergraduate and graduate student information competencies also informed her work as a member of the Association of College and Research Libraries Anthropology and Sociology Section’s (ACRL ANSS) Instruction and Information Literacy Task Force on Information Literacy Standards. Patti and her task force colleagues worked tirelessly for over two years to develop and edit “Information Literacy Standards for Anthropology and Sociology Students.” The process included reviewing the literature, sharing drafts of the standards with Sociology and Anthropology faculty, and working closely with members of the American Sociological Association and the American Anthropological Association. The draft standards were endorsed by the American Sociological Association in 2006, were approved by ACRL in January 2008, and are available via the ACRL website (http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlstandards/anthro_soc_standards.cfm).

Additionally, the standards are slated for publication in the June 2008 issue of C&RL News. The co-chairs of the task force both consider Patti the primary author of these standards and credit the success of their communications with professional Anthropology and Sociology organizations, faculty and librarians to Patti’s knowledge, organizational skills, focus, leadership and sharp editorial eye.

As her colleagues have so perfectly described, Patti’s outreach and collaborative information literacy efforts are a model for how to raise consciousness about the significance of information literacy, and how to work with campus partners to address information literacy needs at all levels and within specific disciplines. As one person wrote, “Librarians at UCLA and elsewhere owe her much, not only for her hard work … but for writing about it and sharing her experience and knowledge gained as an aid to others and a testimony to proactive, data based efforts in behalf of information literacy instruction.” 

2009 — Russell Johnson

2009

Remarks by Esther Grassian

Hello, everyone. I am speaking to you on behalf of our excellent and hardworking 2009 LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year Award Committee or LOTY, Ruby Gutierrez from HAPI, Kris Kasianovitz from YRL CRIS, and our faculty representative, the Past-Chair of the UCLA Academic Senate, Professor Elizabeth Bjork.

The LOTY Committee solicits, receives, and reviews nominations for the LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year Award. The Award was established in 1993 to recognize excellence in librarianship at UCLA, particularly as it enhances library service and furthers the teaching and research mission of the University. Award recipients must also embody one or more of the following, as exemplified in achievements within the prior 12 to 18 months: creativity, innovation, intellectual or moral courage, leadership, and scholarship.

This year the Committee received sixteen nominations for a wide range of notable contributions. It was highly gratifying to see so many librarians appreciated for their hard work, and we thank those who wrote to nominate and support them. As agreed at the Fall LAUC-LA Assembly, each nominee will receive a letter of congratulations regarding her or his nomination, after the Award ceremony.

It was particularly difficult for the Committee to pick and choose among so many nominees this year, with quite a diverse range of achievements in many areas. In the end, we selected two librarians for the Award whose outstanding accomplishments illustrate the many ways that librarians can have a lasting impact on the Library, on students, on faculty, on the University, on scholarly communities nationally and internationally, and on the general community. I am delighted to announce that those two librarians are Russell Johnson from the Biomedical Library, History and Special Collections Division, and Marjorie Lee, from the Asian-American Studies Center Reading Room. I have the honor of telling you about their remarkable accomplishments, drawn largely from their letters of nomination and support, as well as supporting documentation.

I’m going to begin alphabetically by last name with Russell Johnson. Russell is a librarian in the Biomedical Library’s History and Special Collections Division and archivist for The Neuroscience History Archives.

First and foremost, nominators at UCLA and in other states, focused on his development of the Biomedical Library’s Baby Books collection. As one letterwriter put it, “He has created the largest and best collection of baby books… from 1880 through 1990, in the world.” Other letterwriters indicated that this collection is recognized internationally, and that Russell’s scholarly work in developing finding aids and cataloging the 1200-item collection enhances and eases scholars’ research in this area. One nominator wrote: “The baby book collection opens up a whole new area of research in the field of childhood studies. The collection has been recognized internationally for the light it will shed on the social history of parenting and infant development. Mr. Johnson has promoted use of the new collection through talks at national historical and archival meetings and has assisted researchers from Rutgers, Ohio State and other institutions to make use of its materials.” Russell’s presentations regarding this collection include, most notably, to the Society for the History of Children and Youth.

In addition to his work in developing and creating access to the baby book collection, letterwriters praised Russell for his creativity “in conceptualizing the Neuropsychopharmacology archive as an integrated collection of materials [existing within the Neuroscience History Archives] and as a digital archive project.” Russell’s invitation to present to the Society for the History of the Neurosciences on this archive also illustrates the impact of this endeavor in the scholarly research arena.  According to one letterwriter, this collection makes UCLA the premier site for the study of the neurosciences from the post-World War II era to the present. Another stated so well that his work in developing and providing access to these collections provide “rich new primary source materials for teaching in a variety of disciplines.” In addition, Russell has transferred two physical exhibits to online formats, with wide impact and recognition of their value, as, according to one letterwriter, they have been “utilized in several college courses at other important universities… [These are] internationally important exhibits.”

Let me speak next about Marjorie Lee, our other outstanding Award recipient. Marji is the Head of the Asian American Studies Center Reading Room. Marji’s nominators focused in particular on the significance of her invited testimony at public hearings at the Library of Congress regarding establishing a national collection of Asian Pacific American archives, and the fact that she “spearheaded a major community event at UCLA’s Fowler Museum on January 19, 2008… the U.S. debut of the film, Anna May Wong—Frosted Yellow Willows,” as well as her work in developing, indexing, processing, and preserving Asian-American Studies materials. Let me elaborate on each of these and more.

Marji serves as a consultant to the Asian Division of the Library of Congress, so they turned to her for advice on establishing an Asian Pacific American Collection at the Library of Congress. Their view of her expertise is underscored by a letterwriter, who said: “I firmly believe that UCLA’s top rating in this field is a reflection of the library and archival materials that are housed here. Ms. Lee’s past and current work have been central to published and unpublished collections at UCLA.” Other letterwriters noted that she had acquired and worked on the preservation of major collections in Asian American studies, and that she co-chairs the Center’s $5 million Chinese American Studies Endowment Initiative. She attracts donors to that Initiative, as well as to the Friends of the Asian American Studies Library group.

Marji was also instrumental in convincing the filmmaker, Elaine Mae Woo and her team to hold the first U.S. screening at UCLA of a highly significant film, “Anna May Wong—Frosted Yellow Willows.”  According to one nominator, this film is “a documentary regarding the career difficulties faced by one of Hollywood’s major silent screen stars [and its screening here] adds immeasurably to this important archive,” that is, the Asian American Studies Center Reading Room. The nominator goes on to say that “The entire event was free and open to the public. In addition to a formal program, Ms. Lee also planned two receptions. The event was standing room only—more than 250 people attended including State Assemblyman Mike Eng, past president of the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California, Gilbert Hom, and former actress Nancy Kwan.” Filmmaker Elaine Wood and a panel of film scholars and actors spoke, as well, drawing a wide range of attendees from UCLA and the community. Since this first U.S. screening, the film has been shown worldwide.

Nominators note, too, in particular, Marji’s work in indexing the leading English-language Hmong daily newspaper in the U.S., training and supervising students in this project, and guiding and mentoring Hmong students at UCLA. Others praised her participation in putting together the 352-page 10th edition of the “Asian American and Pacific Islander Community Directory for Los Angeles and Orange Counties,” published in 2008.

Letterwriters also praised Ms. Lee’s preservation actions in the face of a major flood in the Asian American Studies Center Reading Room, a dedicated effort that continued for many months following the flood, and resulted in restoration of services and of the collection in Fall 2008.

I’ll end by saying that these two excellent librarians have made outstanding contributions in very different areas, including scholarship, creativity, innovation, and leadership. They have reached out to their very different user populations, and far beyond, in many exceptional ways. We thank them and appreciate their work, and hope you will join us in congratulating them both on an Award well deserved.

LAUC-LA is delighted to present Award certificates outlining these accomplishments to both Russell Johnson and Marjorie Lee. Kathy Donohue is accepting the Award on behalf of Russell Johnson, as Russell is in San Diego today doing a presentation on the baby books collection.

LAUC-LA is also pleased to present each Award recipient an engraved clock, and an additional $250 in professional development funds, usable either this fiscal year or next. And a sustainable gift—plants!

Congratulations to both Award recipients!

Esther Grassian

Chair, 2009 LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year Award Committee

2009 - Marjorie Lee

2009

Remarks by Esther Grassian

Hello, everyone. I am speaking to you on behalf of our excellent and hardworking 2009 LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year Award Committee or LOTY, Ruby Gutierrez from HAPI, Kris Kasianovitz from YRL CRIS, and our faculty representative, the Past-Chair of the UCLA Academic Senate, Professor Elizabeth Bjork.

The LOTY Committee solicits, receives, and reviews nominations for the LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year Award. The Award was established in 1993 to recognize excellence in librarianship at UCLA, particularly as it enhances library service and furthers the teaching and research mission of the University. Award recipients must also embody one or more of the following, as exemplified in achievements within the prior 12 to 18 months: creativity, innovation, intellectual or moral courage, leadership, and scholarship.

This year the Committee received sixteen nominations for a wide range of notable contributions. It was highly gratifying to see so many librarians appreciated for their hard work, and we thank those who wrote to nominate and support them. As agreed at the Fall LAUC-LA Assembly, each nominee will receive a letter of congratulations regarding her or his nomination, after the Award ceremony.

It was particularly difficult for the Committee to pick and choose among so many nominees this year, with quite a diverse range of achievements in many areas. In the end, we selected two librarians for the Award whose outstanding accomplishments illustrate the many ways that librarians can have a lasting impact on the Library, on students, on faculty, on the University, on scholarly communities nationally and internationally, and on the general community. I am delighted to announce that those two librarians are Russell Johnson from the Biomedical Library, History and Special Collections Division, and Marjorie Lee, from the Asian-American Studies Center Reading Room. I have the honor of telling you about their remarkable accomplishments, drawn largely from their letters of nomination and support, as well as supporting documentation.

I’m going to begin alphabetically by last name with Russell Johnson. Russell is a librarian in the Biomedical Library’s History and Special Collections Division and archivist for The Neuroscience History Archives.

First and foremost, nominators at UCLA and in other states, focused on his development of the Biomedical Library’s Baby Books collection. As one letterwriter put it, “He has created the largest and best collection of baby books… from 1880 through 1990, in the world.” Other letterwriters indicated that this collection is recognized internationally, and that Russell’s scholarly work in developing finding aids and cataloging the 1200-item collection enhances and eases scholars’ research in this area. One nominator wrote: “The baby book collection opens up a whole new area of research in the field of childhood studies. The collection has been recognized internationally for the light it will shed on the social history of parenting and infant development. Mr. Johnson has promoted use of the new collection through talks at national historical and archival meetings and has assisted researchers from Rutgers, Ohio State and other institutions to make use of its materials.” Russell’s presentations regarding this collection include, most notably, to the Society for the History of Children and Youth.

In addition to his work in developing and creating access to the baby book collection, letterwriters praised Russell for his creativity “in conceptualizing the Neuropsychopharmacology archive as an integrated collection of materials [existing within the Neuroscience History Archives] and as a digital archive project.” Russell’s invitation to present to the Society for the History of the Neurosciences on this archive also illustrates the impact of this endeavor in the scholarly research arena.  According to one letterwriter, this collection makes UCLA the premier site for the study of the neurosciences from the post-World War II era to the present. Another stated so well that his work in developing and providing access to these collections provide “rich new primary source materials for teaching in a variety of disciplines.” In addition, Russell has transferred two physical exhibits to online formats, with wide impact and recognition of their value, as, according to one letterwriter, they have been “utilized in several college courses at other important universities… [These are] internationally important exhibits.”

Let me speak next about Marjorie Lee, our other outstanding Award recipient. Marji is the Head of the Asian American Studies Center Reading Room. Marji’s nominators focused in particular on the significance of her invited testimony at public hearings at the Library of Congress regarding establishing a national collection of Asian Pacific American archives, and the fact that she “spearheaded a major community event at UCLA’s Fowler Museum on January 19, 2008… the U.S. debut of the film, Anna May Wong—Frosted Yellow Willows,” as well as her work in developing, indexing, processing, and preserving Asian-American Studies materials. Let me elaborate on each of these and more.

Marji serves as a consultant to the Asian Division of the Library of Congress, so they turned to her for advice on establishing an Asian Pacific American Collection at the Library of Congress. Their view of her expertise is underscored by a letterwriter, who said: “I firmly believe that UCLA’s top rating in this field is a reflection of the library and archival materials that are housed here. Ms. Lee’s past and current work have been central to published and unpublished collections at UCLA.” Other letterwriters noted that she had acquired and worked on the preservation of major collections in Asian American studies, and that she co-chairs the Center’s $5 million Chinese American Studies Endowment Initiative. She attracts donors to that Initiative, as well as to the Friends of the Asian American Studies Library group.

Marji was also instrumental in convincing the filmmaker, Elaine Mae Woo and her team to hold the first U.S. screening at UCLA of a highly significant film, “Anna May Wong—Frosted Yellow Willows.”  According to one nominator, this film is “a documentary regarding the career difficulties faced by one of Hollywood’s major silent screen stars [and its screening here] adds immeasurably to this important archive,” that is, the Asian American Studies Center Reading Room. The nominator goes on to say that “The entire event was free and open to the public. In addition to a formal program, Ms. Lee also planned two receptions. The event was standing room only—more than 250 people attended including State Assemblyman Mike Eng, past president of the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California, Gilbert Hom, and former actress Nancy Kwan.” Filmmaker Elaine Wood and a panel of film scholars and actors spoke, as well, drawing a wide range of attendees from UCLA and the community. Since this first U.S. screening, the film has been shown worldwide.

Nominators note, too, in particular, Marji’s work in indexing the leading English-language Hmong daily newspaper in the U.S., training and supervising students in this project, and guiding and mentoring Hmong students at UCLA. Others praised her participation in putting together the 352-page 10th edition of the “Asian American and Pacific Islander Community Directory for Los Angeles and Orange Counties,” published in 2008.

Letterwriters also praised Ms. Lee’s preservation actions in the face of a major flood in the Asian American Studies Center Reading Room, a dedicated effort that continued for many months following the flood, and resulted in restoration of services and of the collection in Fall 2008.

I’ll end by saying that these two excellent librarians have made outstanding contributions in very different areas, including scholarship, creativity, innovation, and leadership. They have reached out to their very different user populations, and far beyond, in many exceptional ways. We thank them and appreciate their work, and hope you will join us in congratulating them both on an Award well deserved.

LAUC-LA is delighted to present Award certificates outlining these accomplishments to both Russell Johnson and Marjorie Lee. Kathy Donohue is accepting the Award on behalf of Russell Johnson, as Russell is in San Diego today doing a presentation on the baby books collection.

LAUC-LA is also pleased to present each Award recipient an engraved clock, and an additional $250 in professional development funds, usable either this fiscal year or next. And a sustainable gift—plants!

Congratulations to both Award recipients!

Esther Grassian

Chair, 2009 LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year Award Committee

2010 — Toshie Marra

2010

Remarks by Ruby Gutierrez

Hello Everyone. My name is Ruby Gutierrez and I am speaking to you on behalf of the 2010 LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year Award Committee or LOTY, consisting of Kris Kasianovitz from YRL CRIS, Sharon Benamou from the Cataloging and Metadata Center, and our faculty representative, the Past-Chair of the UCLA Academic Senate, Professor Michael S. Goldstein.

The LOTY Committee solicits, receives, and reviews nominations for the LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year Award. The Award was established in 1993 to recognize excellence in librarianship at UCLA, particularly as it enhances library service and furthers the teaching and research mission of the University. Award recipients must also embody one or more of the following, as exemplified in achievements with the prior 12 to 18 months: creativity, innovation, intellectual or moral courage, leadership, and scholarship.

It is a difficult task for the Committee to pick and choose among so many nominees, with quite a diverse range of achievements in many areas. There are so many good librarians at UCLA, doing excellent work during the course of their duties. Yet it is the task of the Committee to select a librarian whose accomplishments stands out among his/her peers. In the end we selected a librarian for the Award whose outstanding accomplishments illustrate the many ways that librarians can have a lasting impact on the Library, on students, on faculty, on the University, on scholarly communities nationally and internationally, and on the general community. I am delighted to announce that the librarian who exemplified these qualities is Toshie Marra from the Richard C. Rudolph East Asian Library. I have the honor of telling you about her accomplishments, drawn largely from the letters of nomination and support, as well as supporting documentation.

Toshie was nominated primarily for her outstanding leadership, courage, and perseverance in her efforts on the behalf of the UCLA Library in the purchase of the microform edition of the Gordon W. Prange Collection on the United States occupation of Japan. The collection contains magazine and newspapers covering the dates 1945 to 1949, and is held by the University of Maryland and is part of the Prange Archive. As noted by the nominators, the collection contains many items that are no longer extant in Japan. As stated by one of the nominators “It is a truly unique resource of an important period of history that will help establish UCLA as one of the center for research on postwar Japanese history.” Another nominator pointed out that “This puts UCLA on the map, along with such other central library collections as those at Harvard and Berkeley and Michigan, as a “research destination” for Japanese Studies...the collection will also be invaluable to diplomatic historians and international relations scholars interested in that period of American foreign policy.”

The nominators recognized that it took the concerted effort by the Library administration in the actual purchase of the microform collection, but it was Toshie’s role on the library’s behalf that demonstrated her leadership, courage, and perseverance. The quality of leadership was demonstrated by her initial work to organize a consortium of UC libraries to share the purchase of the microform edition from Proquest. Despite budgetary constraints that caused the other libraries to drop out, Toshie was not deterred from her mission. Her courage and perseverance was noted in her efforts in pushing the idea of a UCLA-only purchase of the full collection, at a price that the library could afford. She organized a presentation of the collection to faculty and students by Proquest as well as brought the faculty and the Terasaki Center for Japanese Studies into the process. By building on her relationship with the Center and faculty, Toshie was also able to obtain additional support by the Center for the purchase of special storage cabinets and for a new microform reader. The Center also agreed to provide a visiting researcher fellowship to pay for outside scholars to visit UCLA to use the Prange Collection.

Toshie’s accomplishments, however, was not limited to her work with the Prange Collection. She is also being recognized for her efforts in the establishment of reciprocal library privileges between UCLA and Japanese universities. As pointed out by one of the nominators, “it is an absolutely vital element in carrying out fieldwork. We rely on access to archives in Japan for our research...Ms. Marra has established a program that allows for UCLA faculty to have reading and borrowing privileges at the library on par with local faculty.”

We thank Toshie for her exceptional accomplishments and hope you will join us in congratulating her on an Award well deserved.

LAUC-LA is delighted to present an Award certificate outlining these accomplishments to Toshie Marra. LAUC-LA is also pleased to present Toshie an engraved clock, an additional $250 in professional development funds, and a sustainable gift, a plant.

Congratulations to Toshie Marra.

Ruby Gutierrez

Chair, 2010 LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year Award Committee

2011

Remarks by Sharon Benamou

Hello, I am speaking to you on behalf the 2011 LAUC-LA Committee on Librarian of the Year Award, Michelle Gorospe from the Law Library, Russell Johnson from the Biomedical Library, and our faculty representative, the Immediate Past-Chair of the UCLA Academic Senate, Professor Robin L. Garrell.

The LOTY Committee solicits, receives, and reviews nominations for the LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year Award. The Award was established in 1993 to recognize excellence in librarianship at UCLA, particularly as it enhances library service and furthers the teaching and research mission of the University. Award recipients must also embody one or more of the following, as exemplified by achievements within the previous 12 to 18 months: creativity, innovation, intellectual or moral courage, leadership, and scholarship.

It was a difficult task for the Committee to pick and choose among the numerous well qualified nominees, with quite a diverse range of achievements. There are so many good librarians at UCLA, doing excellent work. Yet it was the task of the Committee to select one librarian whose accomplishments stood out among his/her peers this year. In the end we selected a librarian for the Award whose outstanding accomplishments illustrated the many ways that librarians can have a lasting impact on the Library, students, faculty, the University, scholarly communities nationally and internationally, and the general community. I am delighted to announce that the librarian who exemplifies these qualities is Melissa Beck from the Hugh & Hazel Darling Law Library. It is my great honor to tell you about her accomplishments, drawn largely from the letters of nomination and support, as well as supporting documentation.

Melissa was nominated primarily for single handedly creating, implementing, and reviewing a systematic approach to cataloging and tracking electronic resources in the Law Library. She overcame "many technical, cataloging, and cultural obstacles to provide public access to over 2,000 electronic titles and many electronic packages. Many of those e-resource titles had been purchased years ago by the Library." The vendors had no standard organization, formatting or navigation of their sites and locating the individual titles was no easy task. She often worked with the vendors' IT departments to construct static URLs.

The nominators noted that Melissa created, implemented, and documented tracking methods for cataloging e-resources to systematically provide access. She developed methods for collecting necessary information about ordering, payment, licensing, and availability of titles in other packages before she began cataloging. She also organized procedures for identifying new titles added to e-packages and those that were dropped, since vendors do not have standard alerting services.

Melissa served on the UCLA Library's Electronic Resource Management System Implementation Team, which was charged to populate the newly acquired Serials Solutions 360 Resource Manager with electronic holdings, and to present the library's licensed resources to users in a revamped public interface. Melissa's participation in implementing this project has profoundly impacted the entire UCLA community by making licensed resources widely available to all of our users.

However, Melissa's accomplishments were not limited to e-resources at UCLA. Her national contributions have benefited serials catalogers throughout the country. She co-authored the CONSER standard record training manual and was the sole editor of its 2010 revision. The manual is used to train serials catalogers to make decisions and choices about bibliographic structure, while adhering to national recognized standards for the CONSER standard record.

We thank Melissa for her exceptional accomplishments, and hope you will join us in congratulating her on an Award well deserved.

LAUC-LA is delighted to present an Award certificate outlining these accomplishments to Melissa Beck. LAUC-LA is also pleased to present Melissa an engraved clock, a plant, and an additional $250 in professional development funds.

Congratulations to Melissa Beck!

Sharon Benamou

Chair, 2011 LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year Award Committee

May 2, 2012

Remarks by Michelle Gorospe, Chair of the LOTY Committee

Good afternoon! My name is Michelle Gorospe, and I'm here to present the 2012 LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year Award on behalf of this year's Committee: Russell Johnson from the Biomedical Library Special Collections, Angela Riggio from Digital Collections Services, and our faculty representative, Professor Ann Karagozian, the Immediate Past-Chair of the UCLA Academic Senate.

The LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year Award was established in 1993 to recognize excellence in librarianship at UCLA, particularly as it enhances library service and furthers the teaching and research mission of the University. Award recipients must also embody one or more of the following: creativity, innovation, intellectual or moral courage, leadership, and scholarship, as exemplified in achievements within the last 12 to 18 months.

Each year our Committee solicits, receives, and reviews nominations for the Award. It was a difficult task for us to choose among so many well qualified nominees, with such a diverse range of achievements. UCLA has great librarians who are doing excellent work. But it is the task of the Committee to select just one librarian whose recent achievements stood out among their peers. In the end we selected someone whose outstanding accomplishments illustrate the many ways that librarians can have a lasting impact on student and faculty research within the University, as well as in the larger community. I am delighted to announce that the librarian who exemplified these qualities this past year is Julie Kwan from the Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library. It's my honor and privilege to tell you about her accomplishments.

Julie was nominated primarily for crafting a successful request for proposal on behalf of the Biomedical Library to renew its status as the host of the Pacific Southwest Regional Medical Library for another five years. While they have served in this capacity since 1969, Julie did not merely recycle what had been done in the past. She implemented an entirely new style of writing the proposal. Her colleagues commented about how effective she was in engaging the staff in the writing process, and creating a well thought out, and readable document. They said she brought renewed vigor and a collegial atmosphere to the department. The proposal received high marks, placing it in the upper echelon of proposals submitted to the National Library of Medicine in a very competitive year. Serving in this capacity showcases the UCLA Biomedical Library, and by extension the UCLA Library as a whole, as a leader among health science libraries on a national level.

Julie also single-handedly coordinated a regional electronic licensing arrangement with the Statewide California Electronic Library Consortium (SCELC). She organized the program and worked so that the Regional Medical Library could offer packages for various e-resources to network members to consortium rates. This provides critical cost savings for health science libraries in this difficult economic environment.

In addition, Julie played a lead role in sponsoring the "E-Science Day" symposium held at the UC Davis Medical Center Library this past December. The event was part of a new initiative aimed at strengthening the relationships between academic health science libraries in the region.

We thank Julie for her exceptional accomplishments, which have promoted the teaching and research mission of UCLA not only within the Biomedical Library and our University, but have also enhanced medical library service throughout the Pacific region. We hope you will join us in congratulating her on an Award well deserved.

LAUC-LA is delighted to present an Award certificate outlining these accomplishments to Julie Kwan. We are also pleased to present Julie with sustainable flowers, an engraved clock, and an additional $500 in professional development funds.

Congratulations to Julie Kwan!

Michelle Gorospe

Chair, 2012 LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year Award Committee

April 24, 2013

Remarks by Angela Riggio

Hello Everyone. My name is Angela Riggio and I am speaking to you on behalf of the 2013 LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year Award Committee, also known as "LOTY." I would like to acknowledge and thank the other members of this year's committee, Iman Dagher from the Cataloging and Metadata Center, June Kim from the Law Library, and Dr. Andrew Leuchter, Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Science at the Semel Institute, and immediate past chair of the UCLA Academic Senate.

The LOTY Committee is charged to solicit, receive, and review nominations for the LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year Award. The Award was established in 1993 to recognize excellence in librarianship at UCLA, particularly as it enhances library service and furthers the teaching and research mission of the University. Award recipients must also embody one or more of the following traits, as exemplified in their achievements within the last 12 to 18 months: creativity, innovation, intellectual or moral courage, leadership, and scholarship.

It has been difficult for the Committee to choose among so many worthy nominees. One thing is clear: librarians at UCLA accomplish a wide-range of tasks, and boast achievements in many areas, which have a profound effect on UCLA and beyond. There are so many wonderful librarians at UCLA, doing excellent work. Yet it was our task to select a librarian whose accomplishments over the last 12-18 months truly stood out among the rest. In the end we selected a librarian for the Award whose outstanding accomplishments best illustrate the ways that librarians can have a lasting impact on the Library, on students, on faculty, on the University, on scholarly communities nationally and internationally, and on the general community. I am delighted to announce that the librarian who best exemplified these qualities, and is our 2013 LOTY winner, is David Hirsch.

David, as most of you know, is known for his dedication to collection building in the areas of Armenian Studies, Central Asian Studies, Egyptology, Islamic Studies, Jewish Studies, Middle Eastern and North African Studies, Near Eastern Languages and Culture, and South Asian Studies. We honor him today for his efforts to enhance the Library's Middle East collection, through his recent trip to Iraq. In addition, David worked on three exhibits, on Islamic superhero comic books, Afghan history, and Armenian printing history. He also provided invaluable assistance in finding a permanent home for the Tahrir Square Collection in our Special Collections. His bravery was exemplified in his recent lecture at the University in Basra and his unrelenting efforts to assist in the development of Iraq's libraries, in spite of the obvious danger posed to an American traveling in that country. Let's face it -- David's influence and enthusiasm for libraries is pervasive; he is a world-renowned librarian, linguist, and scholar.

We thank David for his exceptional accomplishments and hope you will join us in congratulating him on an Award well deserved.

LAUC-LA is delighted to present David with an Award certificate outlining these accomplishments. LAUC-LA is also pleased to present David with this engraved clock, and an additional $500 in professional development funds, and a sustainable gift, a plant.

Congratulations, David!

Angela Riggio

Chair, 2013 LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year Award Committee

April 7, 2014

Remarks by Michael Oppenheim

Good afternoon. I’m Michael Oppenheim, of the Rosenfeld Management Library. I am here on behalf of the 2014 LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year Award Committee, also known as “LOTY” [“lottie”]. First I must recognize and thank the other sterling members of this year’s committee—Cheryl Kelly Fischer of the Law Library, Iman Dagher of the Cataloging and Metadata Center, and Dr. Linda Sarna, Professor, Lulu Wolf-Hassenplug Endowed Chair in Nursing, and immediate Past Chair of the UCLA Academic Senate. Prof. Sarna regrets very deeply that she cannot be here this afternoon, due to a prior teaching and speaking commitment in China.

In addition to thanking the Committee, I also wish to reiterate publicly my profound appreciation for three additional invaluable colleagues—LAUC-LA Chair, David Cappoli, LAUC-LA Parliamentarian, Ken Wade, and Angela Riggio, who is surely the hardest-working “Immediate Past LOTY Chair” ever. As always-insightful and sympathetic sounding boards and peerless sources of good humor and unflagging moral support, they have earned my boundless gratitude.

The charge of the Librarian of the Year Award Committee is to solicit, receive, and review nominations for the LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year Award. This year, 2014, marks the 20th anniversary of this award, which was originally established to recognize excellence in librarianship at UCLA, particularly as that excellence enhances library service and furthers the teaching and research mission of the University. The recipient of this Award thus must embody one or more of the following traits—creativity, innovation, intellectual or moral courage, leadership, or scholarship—as exemplified in their achievements within a period of the past 12 to 18 months.

Although this is my first year of service on the LOTY Committee, I can scarcely imagine that past committees could have faced the overwhelming embarrassment of riches that comprised the 2014 nominees. Beyond question, UCLA librarians accomplish an astonishing range of tasks, and boast luminous achievements across a similarly wide range. However, the committee is charged with selecting a single award winner—one whose signal achievements within the last 12 to 18 months rise to heights even higher than those achieved by other brilliant nominees. Thus, we selected a librarian for the award whose achievement—genuinely “game-changing,” in the eloquent estimation of Prof. Sarna, for the community she serves, for UCLA, for the University of California, for scholarship in general—a librarian who truly embodies every one of those traits I mentioned a few minutes ago: creativity, innovation, leadership, scholarship, intellectual and moral courage. I am privileged and delighted to announce that the 2014 LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year, from the UCLA Law Library, is Vicki Steiner.

I can say that I believe the statement on Vicki’s citation best encapsulates the achievement for which we are recognize her, because another member of the Committee wrote the citation: We are pleased to present this award to Vicki Steiner “in recognition of her exceptional leadership, dedication, and creativity in galvanizing an Open Access publishing initiative in the UCLA School of Law, giving it the credibility necessary to convince the Law School community of the value of the initiative, increasing the visibility and scholarly impact of legal scholarship, restoring the Law School’s print journals to a more stable financial state, and lending credibility to the University of California’s eScholarship platform.”

As Professor Sarna observed in the course of our deliberations, her year as Chair of the UCLA Academic Senate, 2013/14, was THE year for Open Access: the UC Academic Senate passed an Open Access policy in July, 2013, and in the following November, faculty at UCLA began to deposit articles in eScholarship. Although many UCLA librarians and UCLA library staff members have worked diligently, for years, to promote Open Access, I believe Vicki’s tireless, selfless, paradigm-shifting work within the Law School may be said to rise head and shoulders above all other similar achievements. And of course Vicki characteristically deflects all the credit to those with whom she has worked, within the Law Library, the Law School—encompassing Law School administrators as well as the student law review staffs—and the UCLA Graduate Students Association Publications Office.

Because each of the 12 student-edited law journals operates independently, Vicki needed to convince each one to move to eScholarship—a new and unproven model. If I may borrow the way one of her nominators stated it, Vicki achieved phenomenal success, “as all but one of our journals are now committed to open access publication, with six either having already published via eScholarship or having built an eScholarship site http://wwww.escholarship.org/uc/uclalaw"Vicki’s work has not only rescued from financial ruin the Law School’s journals but has also vastly increased their visibility and scholarly impact by extending their reach to other disciplines and countries.” [This is why Prof. Sarna acclaimed Vicki’s achievement as truly “game-changing” for potentially all scholarship, worldwide.] “Moreover, the movement of the Law School’s journals to an electronic publishing model is lending credibility to the eScholarship platform and spurring other campus journals to move to open access publication.”

I could easily go on and on, but you can read all the details in the chapter Vicki co-authored on “Open Access to Legal Scholarship” in the 2014 book Law Librarianship in the Digital Age (http://catalog.library.ucla.edu/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=7333012) —copies of which are currently checked out from both the Law Library and the Young Research Library.

On behalf of LAUC-LA, I am profoundly honored and privileged to present Vicki with an Award certificate enumerating her accomplishments. LAUC-LA is also pleased to present Vicki with this engraved clock, a non-engraved but sustainable plant, and an additional $500 in professional development funds.

Congratulations, Vicki!

Michael Oppenheim

Chair, 2014 LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year Award Committee

March 30, 2015

Remarks by Nora Avetyan

Hello. I am Nora Avetyan and I am speaking to you on behalf of the 2015 LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year Award Committee, which is affectionately known as "LOTY." I would like to acknowledge and thank the other members of this year's committee, Michael Oppenheim from Management library, Allison Benedetti from YRL, and Dr. Janice Reiff, Professor of History from Department of History, and immediate past chair of the UCLA Academic Senate.

The LOTY Committee is charged to solicit, receive, and review nominations for the LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year Award. The Award was established in 1993 to recognize excellence in librarianship at UCLA, particularly as it enhances library service and furthers the teaching and research mission of the University. Award recipients must also embody one or more of the following traits, as exemplified in their achievements within the last 12 to 18 months: creativity, innovation, intellectual or moral courage, leadership, and scholarship.

This year, not different from previous years we received many excellent nominations and it was very difficult to choose just one librarian for the award. It was clear: librarians at UCLA excel in a wide-range of tasks, and record achievements in many areas, which engrave long lasting effect on UCLA and beyond. There are many wonderful librarians at UCLA who are doing excellent work. But it was our challenge to select a librarian whose achievements over the last 12-18 months stood out among the rest. After some deliberation we selected a librarian for the Award whose outstanding accomplishments best illustrate the ways that librarians can have a lasting impact on the Library, on students, on faculty, on the University, and on the general community nationally. I am very happy to reiterate the announcement on BruinPost last week that the librarian who best exemplified these qualities, is Kelli Ham from Biomed Library as our 2015 LOTY awardee.

Kelli was and is influential with her dedication to educate the public about the Affordable Care Act (ACA). We honor her today for her efforts to build tools and blogs to help patrons to discover and learn about the Affordable Care Act. Kelli has gone beyond call of duty to organize webinars to prepare California State Librarians and librarians in Arizona (Arizona Health Sciences Library in University of Arizona and public libraries). She had great impact on informing people about the Affordable Care Act and to increase the number of people with health insurance. She co-presented in a webinar called Get Covered in a Library: Affordable Care Act Resources for the Libraries. Kelli is a contributing author to a book published by Medical Library titled Affordable Care Act: A Librarian's Guide, as one of the leading experts on this subject. Kelli's work is greatly appreciated for training the NN/LM network institutions in the Pacific Southwest Region for implementation of the Affordable Care Act initial open enrollment period, and she has continued her diligent support for the second enrollment period which concluded in February 15, 2015. Kelli crated Libguides for the members of Pacific Southwest Region network to easily access information on ACA. The LibGuide includes updated news and resources for librarians and information providers on ACA. Kelli has substantially contributed to an article titled LibGuides as platform for Dissemination of Information About the Affordable Care Act. Kelli has been identified as a vital asset for the region, and with exceptional professional excellence she has achieved high status for her accomplishments in Consumer Health outreach.

LAUC-LA is delighted to present Kelli with an Award certificate outlining these accomplishments. LAUC-LA is also pleased to present Kelli with this engraved clock, and an additional $500 in professional development funds, and a sustainable gift, a plant.

Congratulations, Kelli!

Nora Avetyan

Chair, 2015 LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year Award Committee