For immediate release | December 18, 2012

EBSCO awards five scholarships for librarians to attend 2013 ALA Midwinter Meeting

CHICAGO — In co-sponsorship with the American Library Association (ALA), EBSCO awarded five librarians $1,500 scholarships to attend the ALA Midwinter Meeting Jan. 25–29, 2013 in Seattle.

As part of the application process, librarians were asked to write an essay on the topic: “The conversation starts here: How would you lead the discussion in your library to bring about meaningful change to an existing process, service, or procedure?”

The winners are Susan H. Brown, marketing director, Lawrence Public Library, Lawrence, Kan.; Ariel Cummins, teen services librarian, San Antonio Public Library, Cody Branch Library, San Antonio; Liane Elizabeth Elias, reference and instructional services assistant, Jackson Library, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, N.C.; Jacqueline Keleher, reference librarian, Leonard S. Washington Memorial Library, Southern University at New Orleans, New Orleans; and Stacey Nordlund, librarian, Toronto Public Library, Toronto.

Each winner outlined a fresh approach to connecting with both patrons and colleagues to drive change in his or her library. Nonetheless, all of the essays shared a common theme of making patrons’ needs the central focus of the library’s goals and decisions. Some strategies for achieving this objective, according to the winners, include implementing more customer-centric decisions in the library; using the power of social media to serve under-reached patron groups; and bringing together patrons and library staff to meet the challenges associated with access to exclusive content.

“Being customer-centric means that every decision is made with our customers’ wants and needs in mind,” wrote Brown in her essay. “A customer-centric organization is truly engaged and clearly relevant.”

Applications were judged by an ALA-designated jury: Jury Chairman Julius C. Jefferson Jr., information research specialist, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; Stacy L. Creel, assistant professor, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, Miss.; Elizabeth Nelson, knowledge analyst, UOP LLC, Woodstock, Ill.; Elizabeth M. Williams, information literacy librarian, Belk Library, Appalachian State University, Boone, N.C.; and Courtney L. Young, head librarian and associate professor, Kelly Library, Penn State Greater Allegheny.

The scholarship recipients will be honored by EBSCO and ALA representatives during the conference at a breakfast on Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013.

EBSCO is dedicated to supporting the professional development of librarians around the world and has a long tradition of co-sponsoring scholarships to ALA conferences, providing funds for conference registration, travel, and expenses. EBSCO will continue awarding scholarships in 2013 for the ALA Annual Conference, which will be held in Chicago.

About ALA

The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit professional organization of more than 65,000 librarians, library trustees, and other friends of libraries dedicated to providing and improving library services and promoting the public interest in a free and open information society: www.ala.org.

About EBSCO

EBSCO Information Services — the provider of EBSCONET® Subscription Management — is the world’s leading information intermediary, offering cutting-edge technology and personalized consultative services for managing and accessing content, including e-journals, e-packages, e-books, and more. Today’s libraries and research organizations are looking for new ways to manage their collections more efficiently, so EBSCO Information Services has developed comprehensive, highly integrated management solutions to help librarians save time and money while empowering their users. EBSCO serves clients through our offices worldwide and has more than 140 librarians on staff. To learn more about products and services from EBSCO Information Services, visitwww.ebsco.com.

For more information, please contact:

Rossi Morris

Media Relations Coordinator

EBSCO Corporate Communications

www.twitter.com/EBSCOInfoSvcs

rmorris@ebsco.com

(205) -980-3885



Cheryl Malden

Program Officer

American Library Association

cmalden@ala.org

(312) 280-3247

Contact:

Cheryl Malden

Program Officer

Executive Office (EXEC)

cmalden@ala.org

1-800-545-2433 ext.3247