Contact: Margot Conahan
ACRL
312-280-2522
NEWS
For Immediate Release
January 20, 2009
ACRL honors Information Literacy innovators
CHICAGO – In honor of the 10th anniversary of its popular Information Literacy Immersion Program, the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) will present a Special Presidential Recognition Award to the founding members of the Institute for Information Literacy Steering Committee and Immersion faculty at the ACRL 14th National Conference in Seattle. Committee and faculty members will be recognized and presented with certificates acknowledging their contributions to ACRL at the keynote session at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, March 13.
Members of the founding Steering Committee are
Louis Albert, Lori Arp, Esther Grassian, Thomas Kirk, Cerise Oberman (chair), Shelly Phipps, Loanne Snavely, Mitch Stepanovich, Julie Todaro, Karen Williams and Lizabeth “Betsy” Wilson.
Founding faculty members are Eugene Engeldinger, Debra Gilchrist, Randy Hensley, Joan Kaplowitz, Sharon Mader, Mary Jane Petrowski and Karen Williams. The faculty has grown to include Craig Gibson, Carol Hansen, Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe, John Holmes, Mary MacDonald, Megan Oaklfeaf, Tiffani Travis, Dane Ward, Beth S. Woodard, Susan Barnes Whyte and Anne Zald.
“Ten years ago, the first Immersion Program was held at SUNY Plattsburgh. Since then 1,073 librarians have been selected to participate in this competitive program,” said ACRL President Erika Linke. “It is not only the programs that have made a difference. The faculty engaged in developing the first program and subsequent faculty have further developed a program that has matured and deepened. Given the importance that this initiative has had on academic librarians and ACRL, I would like to recognize the contributions of the founding members of the Institute for Information Literacy Steering Committee and the faculty memberswho have contributed to the success of this program.”
The ACRL Institute for Information Literacy Immersion Program provides instruction librarians the opportunity to work intensively for four-and-a-half days on all aspects of information literacy. The program currently consists of teacher, program, intentional teacher and assessment tracks. The tracks offer a wide range of intellectual tools and practical techniques to help build or enhance instruction programs. Visit the ACRL Web site at
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/issues/infolit/professactivity/iil/immersion/immersionprograms.cfm for more information on the ACRL Institute for Information Literacy Immersion Program.
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The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) is a division of the American Library Association (ALA), representing nearly 13,000 academic and research librarians and interested individuals. ACRL is the only individual membership organization in North America that develops programs, products and services to meet the unique needs of academic and research librarians. Its initiatives enable the higher education community to understand the role that academic libraries play in the teaching, learning and research environments. ACRL is on the Web at
http://www.acrl.org/.
