Wendy Newman receives 2011 Ken Haycock Award for Promoting Librarianship

CHICAGO - The American Library Association is pleased to announce that Wendy Newman, senior fellow on the Faculty of Information Studies at the University of Toronto and past-president of the Canadian Library Association has been selected as the 2011 winner of the Ken Haycock Award for Promoting Librarianship. Ms. Newman has had a distinguished career as a librarian, library administrator and practitioner-educator, including service as the chief executive officer of the Brantford Public Library (Ontario, Canada), area manager of the Hamilton Public Library (Ontario, Canada), and director of information response for the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety.

The Ken Haycock Award for Promoting Librarianship is an annual award that honors an individual for contributing significantly to the public recognition and appreciation of librarianship through professional performance, teaching and/or writing. The statement of nomination noted that, “throughout her career, Ms. Newman has been a dedicated and effective advocate, public policy consultant, volunteer advocacy trainer…, professional association volunteer and association executive leader, mentor, researcher and author.”

Over the course of several decades, Ms. Newman has been called upon to serve on numerous “expert groups” that provided guidance on critical information policies and raised awareness of the importance of librarianship and its associated skills. These groups include the National Broadband Task Force; the Smart Communities Blue Ribbon Panel; the Media Awareness Network serving as Chair (and now Vice-Chair) of the Board of Directors of the Media Awareness Network, a not-for-profit partnership developing education resources on media and digital literacy for young people; the Conference Board of Canada’s Advisory Group on Connectedness and the Industry Canada LibraryNet Advisory Board. In addition, she led the only North American public library to serve on UNET, the UNESCO Model Library Network.

One of Ms. Newman’s most noteworthy accomplishments came during the SARS crisis in Toronto in 2003 when she was serving as president of the Canadian Library Association. The Canadian Library Association and the American Library Association had agreed to hold a rare joint conference which was forecast to be “the world's largest and most comprehensive annual library event and exhibition.” Her outstanding leadership was essential in keeping the conference on track despite concerns about travel to an area that had been impacted by SARS. Ms. Newman was recognized by the delegates at the conference as well as the highest levels of the Canadian federal government and was credited for carrying off a significant event that “raised the spirits of Toronto at a critical time.”

“Ms. Newman was selected as the 2011 Haycock Award winner in recognition of her numerous achievements in promoting the library profession," said Liz Bishoff, 2011 jury chair. "She brought her professional expertise to bear in the development of public policies relating to community connectedness, economic development, and community capacity-building. Her influence in increasing the visibility of the field of librarianship has had notable local, national, and international impacts that impressed the award jury."

Members of the 2011 Haycock Award committee are: chair, Liz Bishoff, BCR, Aurora, Colo.; Holly Carroll, Poudre River Public Library District, Fort Collins, Colo. ; Jane Kessler, University at Albany, NY ; Cathleen Martyniak, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL; and Ginny Steel, University of California-Santa Cruz, CA.

The annual award, consisting of $1000 and a citation of achievement, will be presented at the ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans in June.

The deadline for submission of nominations for the 2012 Ken Haycock Award for Promoting Librarianship is December 1. Guidelines and the nomination form are available on the ALA.