Oakleaf wins 2011 ACRL Instruction Section Ilene F. Rockman Publication of the Year Award

CHICAGO - Megan Jane Oakleaf, assistant professor at the iSchool at Syracuse University, has been chosen as the winner of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Instruction Section (IS) Ilene F. Rockman Publication of the Year Award, for her article “Information Literacy Instruction Assessment Cycle: A Guide for Increasing Student Learning and Improving Librarian Instructional Skills.” The award recognizes an outstanding publication related to library instruction published in the past two years.  

The award, donated by Emerald Group Publishing Ltd., consists of a plaque and a cash prize of $3,000. Oakleaf will receive the award during the 2011 ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans. 

“The Instruction Section Awards Committee chose Oakleaf’s article because it presents a blueprint for continual information literacy assessment,” said award committee co-chair Robin Ewing, associate professor and access services coordinator at St. Cloud State University.

“In ‘The Information Literacy Instruction Assessment Cycle,’ Oakleaf clearly and thoroughly describes step-by-step how information literacy coordinators can assess their information literacy program,” Ewing continued. “Getting started with assessment can be overwhelming, and this article gives librarians a place to start and a way to continually improve.”

Oakleaf earned her MLS from Kent State University in 2000 and received her Ph.D. in Information and Library Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2006. Her dissertation was titled "Assessing Information Literacy Skills: A Rubric Approach."

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ACRL is a division of the American Library Association (ALA), representing more than 12,000 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, Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ala.acrl and Twitter at @ala_acrl.