Pennell named 2013 ACRL WESS De Gruyter Grant winner

CHICAGO – Daniel M. Pennell, bibliographer for Russian, East European, Germanic and Global Studies at the University of Pittsburgh, has been selected to receive the 2013 Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Western European Studies Section (WESS) De Gruyter European Librarianship Study Grant.

Sponsored by the Walter de Gruyter Foundation for Scholarship and Research, the grant provides €2,500 to support a trip to Europe. The primary criterion for awarding the grant is the significance and utility of the proposed project as a contribution to the study of the acquisition, organization or use of library resources from or relating to Europe.

Pennell will receive the award check during the 2013 ALA Annual Conference in Chicago.

“Daniel Pennell’s guide to Romanian studies will be the most comprehensive bibliography of Romanian studies,” said award committee Chair Gail Hueting of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “Unlike currently available titles, it will be devoted entirely to Romania and will include Romanian-language titles, not just English-language ones. Like other Eastern European countries, Romania and its publishing industry have changed completely since the fall of Communism. Pennell has done a great deal of groundwork and is well qualified to complete his research in Romanian libraries.”

Pennell plans to examine and annotate 400 Romanian reference titles that are held at three libraries in Bucharest, Romania. This research will result in an annotated reference guide, “Romanian Studies: An Annotated Guide to Reference Sources.”

Pennell received his MLS, MA in Russian History and BA in Political Science and Russian and East European Studies from Indiana University.

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