ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 812 / C&RL News ■ O ctober 2000 College & Research Libraries news The spotlight shines on all ACRL’s Excellence in Academic Libraries Award by Gloriana St. Clair T he spotlight o f the aw ard shines not just o n o n e individual, b u t o n th e w hole group. All three w inners o f the new ly c ated Excellence Award from the College of DuPage, North Carolina State University, and Wellesley College agree that this broad in­ clusiveness is its greatest benefit. Librarians an d staff in these three institutions do m u ch m o re th a n th e ir ow n jobs; in each case, they extend assistance to m eet the special needs of th e ir faculty, staff, s tu ­ dents, and communities. As w inners o f the award, each library has received special attention from its academ ic community. C o lle g e o f D u P a g e D irector Bernard Fradkin noted “Trustees, adm inis­ Larry Hardesty, pa trators, and faculty often presents th e crys Carolina State Untake the in-house library Marye Anne Fox an for granted until som eone like Blackwell’s and ACRL put the aw ard spot­ light on the library’s efforts.” This positive attention and excitem ent on cam pus are not the only benefits, however. College o f D uPage’s staff also enjoys “pol­ ishing off its h alo ” w ithin the com m unity r college crowd. Fradkin reflects, “There’s noth­ ing like p eer recognition and college-w ide e­ acclam ation.” As a result of w inning the aw ard, many others have asked to visit an d to use the m odels developed at DuPage. T hese inter­ actions are com plim entary but also allow DuPage staff to contrib­ u te to th e g en eral a d ­ v a n c e m e n t o f all a c a ­ dem ic libraries. Fradkin ho p es “that this program continues to grow and flourish, offering the o p ­ portunity o f identifying a d d itio n a l e x c e p tio n a l program s that w e can all learn from and m odel.” Micheline jedrey, vice president for information services an d college li­ t-president o f ACRL, brarian at Wellesley Col­ al tro p h y to North leg e, c o m m e n te d th at iversity's Chancellor “faculty continue to co n ­ Provost Kermit Hall. gratulate the library on receiving the Excellence Award, more than two months after the campus celebration was held.” The crystal aw ard sculpture is displayed prom inently in the entry lobby of the Marga­ ret Clapp Library, the main library o n cam ­ pus, and will b e displayed in each of the s t d About the author Gloriana St Clair is university librarian at Carnegie Mellon University and chair o f the Excellence in Academic Libraries Award committee, e-mail: gstclair@andrew.cmu.edu mailto:gstclair@andrew.cmu.edu C&RL News ■ October 2000 / 813 department libraries during the next several months. The timing of the award was particularly for tuitous, as the College started in Septem­ ber a yearlong celebration of the 125th anni- versary of its opening. As Jedrey states, “The key to the library was one of three keys pre- sented at the first formal inauguration of the College president, signifying the importance of the library to the intellectual vitality of the institution.” The Excellence Award is a tribute to Wellesley’s enduring commitment to provide outstanding li­ brary resources to the College community. At North Carolina State University (NCSU), Chancellor Marye Anne Fox announced that she would have the NCSU Memorial Beiltower lighted in red that evening, a signal honor for major awards and athletic victories at the university. Fox and Provost Kermit L. Hall expressed their pride in the library staff’s accomplishments and commented on the continuing importance of academic libraries to major research institutions. The Raleigh newspaper published an editorial praising the libraries and encouraging the university to continue to sustain its momentum. NCSU Librari es hosted an elegant luncheon before the event and handed out gold-plated commemorative bookmarks, while ACRL sup- plied red buttons that read “NCSU Libraries: Best of the Best.” ACRL Past-President Larry Hardesty, who attended the ceremony, noted, “It is a great to honor our library colleagues as they come together as a team to support the mission of their institution further.” Institutional homepages provide further insights into the gloriousness of the award ceremonies at these three campuses.1 There, photos of the awards ceremonies— with quotes from the presidents and honored guests who attended—indicate the richness and diversity of the celebrations. Hardesty, who conceived the award and convinced Blackwell to sponsor it, continues to muse on the worthiness of these institu­ tions and the generosity of Blackwell’s in mak- ing the award possible. “I am pleased that Blackwell’s Book Services, a family-owned business with an outstanding reputation among academic librarians, has chosen to sponsor the award honoring excellence among academic libraries.” Hardesty said that to have these libraries receiving the recognition they deserve from their campuses surpassed his expectations in creating the award. “We are honoring the right team— the library team!” he said. Note 1. See www.wellesley.edu/Library/award/ award.html. ■ Nom inate your library for the ACRL Excellence Award The 2000/2001 nominations committee mem- bers are busily seeking applicants for this year’s award. Libraries may contact any of these individuals or may nominate themselves: • Lynnette Anderson (lynnand@acad. cc.whecn.edu) • Will Bridegam (webridegam@amherst. edu) • William J . Crowe (wcrowe@ukaas.edu) • Evelyn Minick (minick@sju.edu) • Gloriana St. Clair (gstclair@andrew. cmu.edu) The guidelines for the Excellence Award are available at http://www.ala.org/acrl/ guidelines.html. The three award-winning applications can be viewed at http:// w ww .ala. org/acrl/exclnce. html. In reflecting on the selection process, the Excellence Award Selections Commit­ tee noted how important it was for the li­ brary to tell the story of its interactions with the campus in a cohesive and compelling manner. Few committee members had time to review additional materials that accom- panied the application. The Excellence Awards focus on teamwork and campus in­ teractions in service of educational mission tended to outshine specific projects. The 2000/2001 Selections Committee includes Maureen Sullivan, Larry Hardesty, Debra Gilchrist, Robert Wedgeworth, and Damon Hickey. The committee seeks a pool of appli­ cants to make the 2000/2001 decisions just as difficult as thos e in 1999/2000 were. The Spotlight is preparing to shine on another group of equally worthy excellent academic libraries. http://www.wellesley.edu/Library/award/ mailto:wcrowe@ukaas.edu mailto:minick@sju.edu http://www.ala.org/acrl/