University of Michigan’s Ilana Barnes wins business librarian travel grant for ALA Annual Conference

CHICAGO - Ilana Barnes, circulation supervisor and reference assistant at the University of Michigan Kresge Business Administration Library and a student at the University of Michigan’s School of Information, is the 2012 recipient of the BRASS Gale Cengage Learning Student Travel Award, a travel grant given annually by the Reference and User Services Association’s (RUSA) Business Reference and Services Section (BRASS).

Established in 1992 and sponsored by Gale Cengage Learning, this $1,000 cash award is given to a student enrolled in an ALA accredited master's degree program to fund travel to and attendance at the ALA Annual Conference and a one-year membership in the Business Reference and Services Section (BRASS) of RUSA. Barnes was selected as this year’s honoree because of her demonstrated enthusiasm and dedication to business librarianship. In her application, she also spoke passionately about the relevance of the services business librarians provide and the direct impact of business information on local communities, businesses and people.

Barnes is enrolled in the master’s program at the University of Michigan School of Information and is pursuing a specialization in both library and information services and preservation of information. She is currently serving as president of the University of Michigan’s ALA student chapter. Barnes earned a B.A. in history, with honors, from the University of Washington. In addition to her current coursework and position at the Kresge Business Administration Library, she is also a reference assistant-spatial and numeric data services at the University’s Clark Library.

Barnes will be honored at the RUSA Awards Reception, scheduled for 5 - 6:30 p.m. Sunday, June 24 as a part of RUSA’s events at the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, Calif. The exact location of this event will be announced in late spring. For more information, visit RUSA’s website or the Annual Conference website.

The Reference and User Services Association, a division of the American Library Association, represents librarians and library staff in the fields of reference, specialized reference, collection development, readers’ advisory and resource sharing. RUSA is the foremost organization of reference and information professionals who make the connections between people and the information sources, services, and collection materials they need. Learn more about the association at www.ala.org/rusa.