Ragains wins 2008 ACRL Instruction Section Rockman award

Contact: Megan Griffin
ACRL Program Coordinator
(312) 280-2514
mgriffin@ala.org
For Immediate Release,
February 26, 2008

Ragains wins 2008 ACRL Instruction Section Rockman award

CHICAGO - Patrick Ragains, business and government information librarian at the University of Nevada-Reno, was selected the winner of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Instruction Section (IS) Ilene F. Rockman Publication of the Year Award for his book, “Information Literacy Instruction That Works: A Guide to Teaching by Discipline and Student Population” (Neal-Schuman, 2006).

This annual award honors Ilene F. Rockman's professional contributions to academic librarianship in the area of information literacy. The award recognizes an outstanding publication related to instruction in a library environment published in the preceding two years. Emerald Group Publishing Limited, sponsor of the award, will present the $3,000 award and plaque during the 2008 American Library Association Annual Conference in Anaheim, Calif. at the IS program at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 29.

“Patrick Ragains' book is both timeless and timely, rendering it an invaluable resource for instruction librarians as it informs, guides and supports their work,” said Susan Beck, IS awards committee chair and collection development coordinator at the New Mexico State University Library. “Although the work is aimed at librarians who teach distinct user groups and subject areas, academic library instruction programs must embrace and provide service to all of these groups, be they college freshmen, students in specific disciplines or distance learning students.

“Contributions are provided from 18 leading experts around the country; however Ragains knits together their chapters and provides the essential framework so that instruction librarians can take this work to both integrate information literacy standards into their respective curricula and to establish firm pedagogical foundations within their programs.”

Ragains received both his B.A. in education/social science and his M.A. in history from Northern Arizona University. He received his M.L.S. from the University of Arizona.

ACRL is a division of the American Library Association (ALA), representing 13,000 academic and research librarians and interested individuals. ACRL is the only individual membership organization in North America that develops programs, products and services to meet the unique needs of academic and research librarians. Its initiatives enable the higher education community to understand the role that academic libraries play in the teaching, learning and research environments.