Vossler and Watts receive 2012 ACRL IS Innovation Award

For Immediate Release
Mon, 02/27/2012

Contact:

CHICAGO — Joshua Vossler, information literacy and reference librarian at Coastal Carolina University, and John Watts, instruction and liaison services librarian at Webster University, have been selected to receive the 2012 Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Instruction Section (IS) Innovation Award for their work on a series of five videos, which were created in cooperation with Coastal Carolina University’s First Year Experience Program and were designed to introduce first-year students to fundamental information literacy concepts.  

Sponsored by ProQuest, the annual award recognizes a project that demonstrates creative, innovative or unique approaches to information literacy instruction or programming. A prize of $3,000 and a plaque will be presented to Vossler and Watts during the 2012 ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, Calif.   

“Kimbel Library’s instructional videos combine a high level of creativity and quality with humor, while addressing information literacy concepts in an approachable manner,” said award committee Co-Chair Erin L. Ellis, head of libraries instructional services at the University of Kansas. “Additionally, the videos are Creative Commons licensed. The creators have demonstrated a significant institutional impact and the videos are being used by several other universities.”

Vossler holds master's degrees in English literature and library science, and his research interests include information literacy and the use of humor in the classroom. Watts holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in acting and a master’s degree in library science. His research interests include information literacy and the intersection between education and performance.

For more information regarding the ACRL IS Innovation Award, or a complete list of past recipients, please visit http://www.ala.org/acrl/awards/achievementawards/innovationaward.

##

ACRL is a division of the American Library Association (ALA), representing more than 12,000 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. ACRL is on the Web at http://www.acrl.org/, Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ala.acrl and Twitter at @ala_acrl.