For immediate release:
February 21, 2008
For more information, contact:
Sarah Segura
Association of Research Libraries
sarah@arl.org
202-296-2296
Washington DC—The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Executive Director Duane E. Webster has been named as the 2008 recipient of the American Library Association (ALA) Joseph W. Lippincott Award. The award recognizes Webster’s many accomplishments during his distinguished career at ARL.
During his career of four decades at the Association, nearly 20 years as Executive Director, Webster led ARL through times of dramatic change in research libraries and the communities they serve. He positioned ARL as a strong and influential voice on matters related to copyright, scholarly communication, leadership, measures of research libraries, global resources, networked information, and many other issues important to the academic community. He played a leading role in the development and training of research librarians, building capacities within libraries to engage positively the changes that were taking place in systems of scholarly communication and pedagogy; this included a multifaceted leadership program, a suite of initiatives to increase diversity in research libraries, and a fellows program to address the challenge of succession planning in ARL libraries.
“Duane’s influence in research libraries has been unparalleled,” said ARL President Marianne Gaunt, University Librarian, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. “Throughout his tenure he has displayed a keen understanding of the major influences shaping our profession, and has led the Association to address new challenges affecting library roles in the academy. One of Duane’s major strengths is that he has fostered alliances and collaborations among the many organizations that work in the same sphere as ARL. He understands that, in order to affect major change, a broad coalition is necessary.”
During his tenure as Executive Director, Webster led establishment of the ARL Office of Scholarly Communication, the ARL/EDUCAUSE Coalition for Networked Information (CNI), LibQUAL+®, the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), the Information Access Alliance (IAA), and the Library Copyright Alliance (LCA).
The Joseph W. Lippincott Award, founded by ALA in 1938, is given annually to an individual for distinguished service to the profession of librarianship. The award will be presented on Tuesday, July 1, at the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, California. To make a reservation to attend the award ceremony, please contact ARL Past President Sherrie Schmidt, University Librarian, Arizona State University, sherrie.schmidt@asu.edu.
The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a nonprofit organization of 123 research libraries in North America. Its mission is to influence the changing environment of scholarly communication and the public policies that affect research libraries and the diverse communities they serve. ARL pursues this mission by advancing the goals of its member research libraries, providing leadership in public and information policy to the scholarly and higher education communities, fostering the exchange of ideas and expertise, and shaping a future environment that leverages its interests with those of allied organizations. ARL is located on the Web at http://www.arl.org/.