ACRL announces Women's Studies Award winners
Contact: Mary Ellen Davis
312-280-3248
ALA News Release
For Immediate Release
March 2001
ACRL announces Women's Studies Award winners
Sarah Pritchard, university librarian at the University of California-Santa Barbara, and Marilyn Dunn, director of information services at the Hartwick College Stevens-German Library, have been named the 2001 winners of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Women's Studies Section (WSS) Awards. Pritchard received the ACRL WSS Award for Career Achievement.
The award, which is sponsored by Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc., honors significant, long-standing contributions to women's studies librarianship over the course of a career.
"Sarah Pritchard has been and continues to be a voice for women's studies librarianship," said Marlene Manoff, chair of the award committee and past-chair of WSS. "She is a forceful advocate for women's studies librarians and an articulate supporter of feminist concerns, both within the American Library Association (ALA) and beyond. Sarah is a beacon and an example not just because she has ably filled influential positions, but because she has never soft-pedaled her feminism. She inspires others because she is both an effective academic leader and a visible feminist."
An active ALA and ACRL member, Pritchard is in her third term as a member of the ALA Council and chairs ALA's Standards Committee. She served as chair of WSS from 1989 to 1990 and continues to be active in the Feminist Task Force of the Social Responsibilities Round Table. Recent publications in women's studies include "Women's Studies Scholarship: Its Impact on the Information World" (in Mosely,
Women, Information and the Future, 1995) and "Feminist Thought and the Critique of Information Technology," The Progressive Librarian (Fall 1993). She also writes widely on academic library management issues.
Dunn received the ACRL WSS Award for Significant Achievement for her work as managing editor of
Matrix: Resources for the Study of Women's Religious Communities, 500-1500
(http://matrix.bc.edu).
The award, which is sponsored by Routledge, honors a significant or one-time contribution to women's studies librarianship.
"Marilyn Dunn has contributed to the expansion of interest and scholarship in medieval women's studies," Manoff said. "As managing editor of
Matrix, she has provided crucial leadership in the implementation and development a major scholarly resource. The
Matrix project provides students and scholars with access to the kinds of material usually found only in limited access collections. Through her teaching and advocacy, she has inspired students to pursue research in the often neglected area of medieval women's studies."
Dunn has been active in ALA and ACRL. She has served on the WSS Executive Commitee (1998-1999) and on the WSS Communication Committee (1997-1998). In 1996, she received a Yale Divinity School Research Fellowship for the creation of the Matrix database.
Both winners will receive $1,000 and a plaque at the WSS Program on Monday, June 18, during the 2001 ALA Annual Conference in San Francisco.
For more information about ACRL awards, visit the
ACRL Web site or contact Mary Ellen Davis, executive director, ACRL at 800/545-2433, ext. 3248 or
mdavis@ala.org.
The ACRL, a division of the ALA, is the only individual membership organization in North America that develops programs, products, and services to meet the unique needs of academic librarians. It is dedicated to enhancing the ability of academic library and information professionals to serve the information needs of the higher education community and to improve learning, teaching and research.
