Winner of 2011 Carroll Preston Baber Research Grant announced

CHICAGO – Mary Wilkins Jordan is the winner of the 2011 American Library Association (ALA) Carroll Preston Baber Research Grant for the project entitled “Public Library Stressors: Identification and Elimination.”

The $3,000 grant supports innovative research that could lead to an improvement in library services to any specific group of people. The award was donated by Eric R. Baber, Newton, Kan., in honor of his father, who was library director at Kansas State Teachers College (now Emporia State University) for 27 years. Baber died in January 1991, leaving ALA an endowment to support the award in perpetuity.

The focus of the Carroll Preston Baber Research award is on a pressing national issue that is of importance to library service. Jordan’s proposal focuses on the stresses librarians face every day to identify effective tools and strategies to help them. These tools will lead librarians to be more successful at work and will encourage librarians to stay in the profession and continue to contribute their knowledge and experience to patrons. In its decision, the members of the Award Jury noted that, in particular, Dr. Jordan’s proposed survey of librarians in public libraries holds the potential to create a practical view of stressors that can be used by administrators to develop concrete plans that will both assist librarians and improve library service.

Guidelines for the Baber Grant, including a list of previous winners, may be found by going to: http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/ors/orsawards/baberresearchgrant/babercarroll.cfm