LIRT Announces the Winner of the 2016 Innovation in Instruction Award

For Immediate Release
Fri, 04/15/2016

Contact:

Beatrice Calvin

Manager, Professional Development

Office for Human Resource Development & Recruitment (HRDR)

312-280-4280

bcalvin@ala.org

The Library Instruction Round Table (LIRT) of the American Library Association is pleased to announce that the 2016 Innovation in Instruction Award will be presented to the State University of New York (SUNY) College at Geneseo’s Milne Library at the ALA 2016 Annual Conference in Orlando.  The award will be presented at the LIRT Annual Awards Ceremony & Reception on Sunday, June 26, 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. at the Rosen Centre Hotel, Salon 18 during the ALA Annual Conference in Orlando.  

 

Created to recognize a library that demonstrates innovation in support of information literacy and instruction, this year’s award specifically recognizes The Access Opportunity Program (AOP) Summer Library Research Academy program created by the library’s instruction and reference services team.  The project team included Sue Ann Brainard, Reference & Instruction Librarian and Daniel Ross, Academic Excellence Librarian.

 

The Milne Library serves SUNY Geneseo a small liberal arts college in upstate New York with an enrollment of approximately 5,000 undergraduate students.  The AOP Summer Library Research Academy is a component of SUNY Geneseo’s Access Opportunity Program a federally funded TRIO program designed to serve student populations that include minorities, first-generation college students, and individuals from low-income and/or rural communities - populations that have historically displayed lower enrollment, retainment and attainment figures in comparison to “traditional” student populations.  The Summer Library Research Academy works with AOP faculty and administrators to scaffold information literacy skills over a four week period culminating in the students presenting their research findings and skills to program faculty via an academic poster session.  The library program accomplishes a great deal in a short time frame: it familiarizes students with the library services and resources, it introduces students to both basic and advanced information literacy skills, it challenges students to work collaboratively to solve a problem and it offers students to present their research to peers and professors at SUNY Geneseo. 

 

In addition to applauding the project’s initiative and success at SUNY Geneseo, the awards committee also noted the program’s impact on traditionally underserved populations.  Visit the project's website for more information.

 

The Library Instruction Round Table was started in 1977 with the intent to bring together librarians who provide library instruction across all types of libraries -- academic, public, school, and special libraries.  2016 is the third year that the Librarian Innovation in Instruction  Award has been awarded.  The Milne Library will be presented with a $1,000 cash prize and a plaque at the LIRT awards ceremony, scheduled for 5;30-7:30 PM on Sunday, June 26, at ALA Annual in Orlando.  The Milne Library will also receive a $500 travel stipend for its librarians attending ALA annual.

 

Find out more about LIRT, its mission and the awards at: http://www.ala.org/lirt/mission.

 

LIRT Innovation in Instruction Awards Committee included Michael Saar of Lamar University (Chair), Sherri Brown of the University of Kansas, Beth Fuchs of the University of Kentucky, and Joshua Vossler of Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

 

The ALA Office for Human Resource Development and Recruitment (HRDR) serves as the staff liaison to the Library Instruction Round Table (LIRT).