Caplan named 2007 LITA/Library Hi Tech Award winner

Contact: Mary Taylor

Executive Director, LITA

312-280-4267

mtaylor@ala.org

For Immediate Release

March 20, 2007

Caplan named 2007 LITA/Library Hi Tech Award winner

CHICAGO – Priscilla Caplan has been named the winner of the 2007 LITA/Library Hi Tech award for Outstanding Communication in Library and Information Technology. Emerald and the Library and Information Technology Association (LITA), a division of the American Library Association, sponsor the award.

The award recognizes outstanding achievement in communicating to educate practitioners within the library field in library and information technology. It consists of $1,000 and a certificate of merit.

Since 1999 Priscilla Caplan has served as assistant director, Library Services, Florida Center for Library Automation. Previously, she served as assistant director for Library Systems, University of Chicago Library, and as head, Systems Development Division, Office for Information Systems, Harvard University Library. Caplan has accepted leadership of important, challenging, and labor-intensive committees, guiding them to a successful conclusion, and disseminated the results through clear, accessible publications and presentations.

Caplan served as chair of the NISO Standards Development Committee from 1997-2002, during which time NISO instituted the Fast Track approval process. Most recently, she served as co-chair of the OCLC/RLG PREMIS Working Group, which produced the award-winning Data Dictionary for Preservation Metadata. She is also the author of the Metadata Fundamentals for All Librarians, a widely used text in information technology education.

Caplan’s work and leadership has made important contributions to the library community’s understanding of complex issues in such diverse and critical areas as standards, metadata, digital preservation and repositories. Her work has resulted in significant advancement of the state of knowledge regarding the maintenance of digital resources over the long term.

The Library and Information Technology Association (LITA) members are information technology professionals dedicated to educating, serving, and reaching out to the entire library and information community. LITA is a division of the American Library Association.