Hagedon and Sult win 2013 ACRL IS Innovation Award

For Immediate Release
Mon, 03/25/2013

Contact:

David Free

Mktg & Comm. Specialist/Editor-in-Chief

Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL)

1-800-545-2433 ext.2517

dfree@ala.org

CHICAGO — Gregory (Mike) Hagedon, senior applications systems analyst/developer, and Leslie Sult, instructional services librarian, both of the University of Arizona Libraries, have been selected to receive the 2013 Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Instruction Section (IS) Innovation award for their work on the software Guide on the Side, which helps instruction librarians create tutorials for database instruction.

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 Hagedon and Sult during the 2013 ALA Annual Conference in Chicago.   

“Understanding that many librarians are feeling the pressure to find methods to support student learning that do not require direct, librarian-led instruction, the University of Arizona Library’s Guide on the Side provides an excellent tutorial grounded in sound pedagogy that could significantly change the way libraries teach students how to use databases,” said award committee co-chairs, Erin L. Ellis of the University of Kansas and Robin Kear of the University of Pittsburgh. “The creators have made a version of the software open access and freely available to librarians to quickly create online, interactive tutorials for database instruction. This allows librarians to easily create tutorials that are both engaging to students and pedagogically sound.  Guide on the Side serves as a model of the future of library instruction.”

Hagedon holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Oklahoma Baptist University, and his professional work is primarily focused on creating, developing and maintaining instructionally-focused web applications.

Sult holds a master’s degree in library science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her work is focused on developing and improving scalable teaching models that enable the library to reach and support many more students than was possible earlier through traditional one-shot instructional sessions. 

For more information regarding the ACRL IS Innovation Award, or a complete list of past recipients, please visit the ACRL awards website.

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ACRL is a division of the American Library Association, 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.