Micham wins 2014 ACRL WGSS Career Achievement Award

CHICAGO – Laura Micham, Merle Hoffmann director of the Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History and Culture and curator of gender and sexuality history collections in the David M. Rubenstein Rare Books and Manuscripts Library at Duke University, has been selected as the 2014 winner of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Women and Gender Studies Section (WGSS) Career Achievement Award. The award honors significant long-standing contributions to women’s studies in the field of librarianship over the course of a career.

A plaque will be presented to Micham at 8:30 a.m. on June 30, 2014, at the WGSS program during the ALA Annual Conference in Las Vegas.

“The awards committee selected Laura Micham based on her significant leadership strengths and contributions to the world of archives as the Merle Hoffman Director of the Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History and Culture at Duke University,” said award chair Jennifer Mayer, associate librarian at the University of Wyoming. “One colleague describes her vision and commitment as bringing the dreams of ‘a vibrant hub of feminist scholarship’ to its current reality. Another describes her ‘unparalleled intellectual grasp of the field of women and gender studies, her boundless energy for programming and her remarkable ability to work with all sectors of the university community.’”

“The committee looked at Micham’s tenure as director and the resulting successful archival programs, instructional offerings and collections in women and gender studies disciplines—all of exemplary quality—developed under her leadership. The committee was also impressed with her proactive work with students--how she makes collections come alive for students, and her passion to connect students with archival resources. During her directorship, the Sallie Bingham Center has grown both its collections and its national profile. Micham is described as an individual who fights hard and fairly—and successfully—for archives. Her work and partnerships with other Duke curators have led to the acquisitions of high profile collections including the Dorothy Allison papers, the Meredith Tax papers, the records of Ipas and many other significant collections.”

Micham received her MSLS with a concentration in Archives and Rare Books Administration from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

For more information regarding the ACRL WGSS Career Achievement Award, or a complete list of past recipients, please visit the awards section of the ACRL website.

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The Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) is the higher education association for librarians. Representing more than 11,500 academic and research librarians and interested individuals, ACRL (a division of the American Library Association) is the only individual membership organization in North America that develops programs, products and services to help academic and research librarians learn, innovate and lead within the academic community. Founded in 1940, ACRL is committed to advancing learning and transforming scholarship. ACRL is on the Web at www.acrl.org/, Facebook at www.facebook.com/ala.acrl and Twitter at @ala_acrl.