91´«Ã½

CHICAGO — The Government Documents Round Table (GODORT) of the 91´«Ã½ has announced the recipients of three awards.

Susanne Caro, government information librarian, Main Library, North Dakota State University, will receive the NewsBank/Readex/GODORT/91´«Ã½ Catharine J. Reynolds Research Grant. The grant will further Caro's valuable research into identifying at-risk items in microform collections. This will make a valuable contribution to the library community as a whole, not only to the field of government documents. As many libraries have extensive microform collections, identifying deterioration is vital to prioritizing digitization. Having a more accurate means of identifying at risk items not only helps with this, it can also prevent the premature discarding of items as well.

Kelly Smith, government information librarian/librarian for urban studies; planning and environmental policy and studies, UC San Diego Library, has been awarded ProQuest/GODORT/91´«Ã½ "Documents to the People" Award, for her dedication to providing government documents in her distinguished service at the UC San Diego Library. Her contributions include a strong interest in not only serving the university community but also the community at large. The GovInfo at UC San Diego Library Facebook page is a shining example. She updates it regularly, noting and highlighting government document resources that others might miss. Her Weekly Roundup Gov Docs LibGuide shared weekly is a treasure trove of information. This ongoing activity is a consistent service to those interested in government documents. It is obvious she considers the entirety of the open federal web to be an extension of your own library collection, and as such, does an amazing job of sharing this information.

Janet Fisher, administrator, Arizona Talking Book Library, Arizona State Library, will receive the James Bennett Childs Award. Fisher started her career with the Arizona State Library in 1985, after beginning her career as a young adult services and reference liibrarian in Kokomo, Indiana and working as assistant head of reference/documents/genealogy librarian at the El Paso Public Library in Texas. During her time as the division director of the Law and Research Library, Arizona's regional depository library, she was named Federal Depository Library of the Year for 2013 to honor active participation in the electronic distribution of online cataloging records project, creation of the state master plan for depository libraries, and collaboration on development of a biennial multi-state virtual depository library conference. Throughout her career, she has been enthusiastic about creating new opportunities and using existing ones for spreading the message of the importance of connecting Americans with government information. This can be seen by her role in planning a number of conferences and delivering many conference presentations. She participated in the IMLS Laura Bush 21st Century Libraries grant project, Government Information in the 21st Century, serving as state coordinator and presenter for Arizona in this five-state grant for Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

The Margaret T. Lane / Virginia F. Saunders Memorial Research Award was awarded to Amanda Wakaruk and Sam-chin Li for the publication Government Information in Canada: Access and Stewardship, which was edited by Wakaruk, copyright and scholarly communications librarian, University of Alberta Library and Museums, and Li, government information librarian, University of Toronto Libraries. Canadian Government Information Systems mirror many of the federal, state, and local systems in the Unites States, yet publications dedicated to librarianship of Canadian government information are surprisingly rare. While reviewing literature on government information reference services, it was found that the most recently published book on the subject was nearly 40 years old. Thankfully, Government Information in Canada: Access and Stewardship was published in 2019. Wakaruk and Li have brought together chapters from various sources and authors to fill this gap.

The Government Documents Round Table (GODORT) is a dynamic forum where information professionals learn, discuss, advocate, and create scholarship on and about government information at all levels of government (local, state, national, international).