Springfield-Greene County Library awarded Thomson Gale Award for Excellence in Reference and Adult Library Services
Contact: Eileen Hardy
RUSA Marketing Specialist
312-280-4398
For Immediate Release
April 18, 2007
Springfield-Greene County Library awarded Thomson Gale Award for Excellence in Reference and Adult Library Services
CHICAGO - The Springfield-Greene County Library, Springfield (Mo.), is the 2007 recipient of the Thomson Gale Award for Excellence in Reference and Adult Services awarded by the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA).
The $3,000 award and citation donated by Thomson Gale, recognizes a library or library system for developing an imaginative and unique library resource to meet patrons' reference needs.
The Springfield-Greene County Library is receiving the award for “The Informed Decision—your guide to Springfield and Greene County’s most talked about issues” (http://thelibrary.org/informed/) Web site that provides information on local issues for the general public and local city and county officials, and “Hot Topics—Recommended reading on burning issues”
(http://thelibrary.springfield.missouri.org/hottopics/) Web site that keeps library patrons informed on the latest national and international issues in the news.
“The Springfield-Greene County Library’s Informed Decision and Hot Topics are innovative ways to keep library patrons and city and county government officials up to date on current local, state, and national topics with unbiased and balanced coverage offering different viewpoints,” said Kathy Tomajko, award committee chair. “These sites organize the information in a manageable and approachable way, evaluate the data for accuracy and balance, and are easily accessible from the Library’s website.”
“These days people are often overwhelmed with information,” said Donna Bacon, district reference manager for the library’s eight branches. “Our team of library reference staff chooses, researches and updates both of these sites often using information from associations or organizations that give factual information and link to articles from the library’s collection of online resources.”
The award will be presented at RUSA Awards Ceremony on June 25, 2007, from 4 to 6 p.m., during the ALA Annual Conference in Washington, DC.