Frances Henne/YALSA/VOYA Research Grant winner announced
Contact: Nichole Gilbert
312-280-4387
For Immediate Release
February 3, 2003
Frances Henne/YALSA/VOYA Research Grant winner announced
The 2003 Frances Henne/Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA)/ Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA) Research Grant was awarded to Kelley McDaniel. This $500 grant, sponsored by YALSA, a division of the American Library Association (ALA) was awarded during the ALA Midwinter Meeting, January 24-29, in Philadelphia.
McDaniel's research proposal, "Giving Them What They Want: A Browser-Friendly Fiction Collection Organized by Genre," is designed to investigate how the physical environment and spatial arrangement of a library's fiction collection affects user behavior and satisfaction. McDaniel will utilize a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods in her study. The committee found her proposal to be unusual in its approach to the study of an element of library services often taken for granted, and of practical benefit to the community of librarians and the young adults who they serve.
McDaniel is a library media specialist at King Middle School, Portland, Maine, with six years of experience working with young adults in libraries. She has presented at numerous conferences in New England and Maine on topics that include resources for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and queer youth; outstanding books for middle school students; and booktalking. She has spearheaded projects ranging from a week-long poetry extravaganza to the establishment of a multilingual and multicultural literature collection for her library.
The YALSA research committee members are: Jennifer L. Branch, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta; Sandra Hughes-Hassell, Drexel University, Philadelphia; Jami L. Jones, Collier County Public Schools, Naples, Fla.; Melanie A. Kimball (Chair), University at Buffalo (SUNY); Kathy H. Latrobe, University of Oklahoma, Norman; and Sarah E. O'Neal, Harris County Public Library, Humble, Texas.
Applications for the 2004 Research Grant will be available April 1 from the YALSA office or online at the
Web site.
