Donald G. Davis Article Award winner announced

Contact: Mary Jo Lynch


312-280-4273

For Immediate Release


May 21, 2002

Donald G. Davis Article Award winner announced

Carl Ostrowski is the 2002 winner of the Donald G. Davis Article Award presented by the American Library Association (ALA) Library History Round Table (LHRT). The award is presented every other year to recognize the best article written in English in the field of United States and Canadian library history during the previous two calendar years. Certificates are presented to the author of the article and the periodical in which the article appeared.

An assistant professor of English and a member of the graduate faculty at Middle Tennessee State University, Ostrowski won the award for an article entitled "James Alfred Pearce and the Question of a National Library in Antebellum America," published in
Libraries & Culture, Vol. 35, No. 2, Spring 2000. Ostrowski examines the origins of the debate over a national library and the role of Maryland Senator James Alfred Pearce in the resolution of the issue.

"Ostrowski investigates the political tensions surrounding the establishment of a national library," stated Chair Marilyn J. Martin. "He demonstrates how legal, social and intellectual issues influenced key decisions. His study offers fresh, new insights into the evolution of the Library of Congress as the nation's library."

The award is named for Donald G. Davis, whose contributions to the field over many years include advising many notable Ph.D. dissertations; compiling important bibliographies; co-editing
Encyclopedia of Library History; authoring numerous historical articles; and editing Libraries & Culture and its forerunner.

The award will be presented Sunday, June 16, at the LHRT program "History, Memory, and Preservation" during the ALA Annual Conference in Atlanta.