ACRL Excellence in Academic Libraries winners announced

Contact: Stephanie Sherrod


312-280-2521

ssherrod@ala.org



For Immediate Release


March 7, 2003

ACRL Excellence in Academic Libraries winners announced

The winners of the 2003 Excellence in Academic Libraries Award are the City College of San Francisco's Louise and Claude Rosenberg, Jr. Library & Learning Resource Center; Baruch College's Newman Library, and the J. Edgar and Louise S. Monroe Library at Loyola University New Orleans. Sponsored by the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) and Blackwell's Book Services, the award recognizes the staff of a college, university and community college library for programs that deliver exemplary services and resources to further the educational mission of the institution.

"Receiving an Excellence in Academic Libraries Award is a national tribute to a library and its staff for the outstanding services, programs and leadership they provide to their students, administrators, faculty and community," said Mary Ellen Davis, ACRL executive director.

The Library & Learning Resources Center (LLRC) of the City College of San Francisco, winner of the community college category, emphasized how the staff had galvanized themselves into an effective team and lived the mantra of "Helping to Achieve Student Success."

"The selection committee felt that the LLRC's emphasis on 'being about and for student success' spawned energetic, effective, and highly creative programs and efforts," said Committee Chair Betsy Wilson.

"Delighted, excited and invigorated are words that best describe how I felt when I found out that our team (the faculty and staff) won the prestigious ACRL Excellence in Academic Libraries Award," said Dean Rita Jones. "The close partnership with the faculty, administration and students at our college enabled us to create innovative programs to serve our 90,000 diverse students and bring the acclaimed award to the City College of San Francisco."

Newman Library, winner of the college category, demonstrated how the staff pulled together with limited resources to meet the challenge of supporting the diverse cultures, languages, and perspectives of the population it serves. "The selection committee salutes Baruch for its many exciting and innovative programs that furthered the mission of the college," said Wilson.

Art Dowling, head of Baruch's Library and Computing and Technology Center, told ACRL, "The award is a great honor for Baruch and for the City University of New York. ACRL has recognized how well we serve our diverse populations: top-ranking business and public affairs faculties, a world-class arts and sciences faculty, and students. The award is a tribute to an extremely dedicated, imaginative, and hardworking staff."

J. Edgar & Louise S. Monroe Library winner of the university category, was recognized for the way its staff has reinvented the library, not only with regard to the quality and quantity of information resources, but in terms of basic functions and expanding services.

Wilson and the selection committee commented, "Loyola University New Orelans, through its leadership, partnerships, creativity and innovation, has demonstrated itself as a model of what excellent libraries are and will become."

"The Monroe Library faculty and staff at Loyola University New Orleans are thrilled to receive the Excellence in Academic Libraries award as a affirmation of their contributions to achieving excellence and as an acknowledgement of the partnerships the library shares with the campus community." said Mary Lee Sweat, director of libraries at Loyola University New Orleans. "It is difficult to imagine a more talented and innovative group of people than our library faculty and staff, and I feel fortunate to work with them in achieving this award."

Each winning library will receive $3,000 and a citation, to be presented at an award ceremony held on each recipient's campus. The winners also will receive special recognition at the ACRL President's Program during the American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference on Monday, June 23, 2003, at 1:30 p.m. in Toronto.

ACRL is the only individual membership organization in North America that develops programs, products and services to meet the unique needs of academic librarians. ACRL's 11,000 members are comprised of individuals from a wide range of academic institutions, publishers and vendors who sell in the academic marketplace. ACRL enhances the effectiveness of academic and research librarians to advance learning, teaching and research in higher education. More information about ACRL's programs and services can be located on the
Web. ACRL is a division of the ALA.