ASCLA 2003 Award Recipients
ASCLA Exceptional Service Award
Not awarded this year.ASCLA Leadership Achievement Award
Karen Hyman, executive director, South Jersey Regional Library Cooperative, Gibbsboro, N.J., is the 2003 recipient of the ASCLA Leadership Achievement Award. The award recognizes sustained activity that has been characterized by professional growth and effectiveness, and has enhanced the status of these areas of activity.“Karen Hyman over many years has provided outstanding leadership at the local, network, state and national level,” stated Jim Kirks, Jr., ASCLA award committee chair. “Ms. Hyman is known for her dedication, sense of humor, persistence, willingness to take on the tough issues, and her presentations and publications on customer service, censorship and new technologies. ”
ASCLA Professional Achievement Award
Barratt Wilkins, state librarian emeritus of the Florida State Library, is the 2003 recipient of the ASCLA Professional Achievement Award. The award is a citation presented to one or more ASCLA members for professional achievement within the areas of consulting, networking, statewide service, and programs.“Florida’s longest serving state librarian has grown library service in Florida from just 44 of 67 counties offering free library service to all; today all do,” stated Jim Kirks, Jr., ASCLA award committee chair. “The state library agency’s budget grew from $2.7 million when he took the helm in 1977 to $55.5 million in 2002. He led the development of the Florida Library Network to promote cooperative library services. Barratt’s desire to serve users of libraries extended far beyond Florida through his leadership in ASCLA and the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies (COSLA) and other professional associations. Through determination and hard work, Barratt Wilkins has made state library service a reality in Florida and assisted in the development of library service throughout our nation.”
ASCLA Service Award
Ellen Perlow, manager of Information Services, School of Library and Information Studies, Texas Woman’s University, Denton, is the 2003 recipient of the ASCLA Exceptional Service Award. The award recognizes an ASCLA personal member for sustained leadership and exceptional service through participation in activities that have enhanced the stature, reputation and overall strength of ASCLA, as well as representation of ALA.“Ms. Perlow demonstrates unwavering commitment to ASCLA’s value of diversity and access within the division and beyond,” stated Jim Kirks, Jr., ASCLA award committee chair. “She was instrumental in establishing and nurturing the Century Scholarship. Her industry and insight have benefited ASCLA committees, sections, forums and programs. Through publications, workshops, classroom instruction and her Web site, Ms. Perlow is an articulate ambassador for ASCLA and its work. Her slogan, a positive one, wins every time and inspires the next generation to deliver improved services to the broadest possible clientele.”
ASCLA National Organization on Disability Award
Bob Peaseley, manager of the Virtual Village, accepted the citation.The Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, Charlotte, N.C., is the 2003 recipient of the ASCLA/National Organization on Disability Award for Library Service for Persons with Disabilities. Donated by Aetna U. S. Healthcare through the National Organization on Disability, the $1,000 award and certificate is given to a library organization that has provided services for people with disabilities.
“The Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County exhibited outstanding planning, creativity and commitment in developing and implementing ‘The Virtual Village Communication Center,’” stated Jim Kirks, ASCLA award committee chair. “‘The Virtual Village Communication Center’ is an 11,000 square foot computer lab with 100 workstations and a myriad of resources available for free use seven days a week. Fifteen highly specialized workstations and other adaptive equipment are available for use by people with disabilities at ‘The Virtual Village Communication Center.’ This innovative program integrated and provided technology-based assistance to persons with disabilities.”
Francis Joseph Campbell Award
James R. Fruchterman, president, The Benetech Initiative, Palo Alto, Cal., is the recipient of the 2003 Francis Joseph Campbell Award given by the Library Service to People with Visual or Physical Disabilities Forum of the Libraries Serving Special Populations Section of the ASCLA. The citation and medal is presented to a person who has made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of library service for the blind and physically handicapped. “As an innovator of useful adaptive technology products for over twenty years, James Fruchterman has demonstrated a long-standing commitment to providing reading tools that allow individuals with visual and other print disabilities access to a wide variety of educational and recreational materials,” said Ruth Nussbaum, award committee chair.
ASCLA Century Scholarship
Sara Lynn Hyder is the 2003 recipient of the Century Scholarship presented by the Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies (ASCLA), a division of the American Library Association. Hyder has been accepted to the Masters in Library and Information Sciences program at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.The independently funded Century Scholarship is a diversity initiative aimed at promoting the American Library Association’s mission of improving service at the local level through the development of a representative workforce that reflects the communities served by all libraries in the new millennium. The Century Scholarship is a $2,500 monetary award given annually to a student or students pursuing a degree in library and information science.
“Ms. Hyder is an exemplary role mode in her scholarly achievement, community involvement and advocacy on disability issues,” stated Elizabeth Ridler, Century Scholarship Jury Committee Chair. “Hyder plans to continue her advocacy on disability issues as she did as a Liaison for Students with Disabilities to the Auburn University Student Government Association Cabinet and President and Secretary for the Advocates for Disability Awareness (ADA) in college as a volunteer she organized and re-catalogued resources for the new Fort Walton Beach Library facility last summer.
Her disability awareness advocacy and successful career path to librarianship will enable diversity recruitment of librarians with disabilities. She recognizes her Lupus as just one more challenge to overcome as she prepares for non-profit library work to improve the lives of others.”