91´«Ã½

CHICAGO— The Collection Development and Evaluation Section (CODES) of RUSA has selected the winners of two achievement awards which recognize the profession’s most exceptional contributors to readers’ advisory and collection development.

Dr. Florita Bell Griffin, creative director of ARC Communications, LLC, a Texas-based Visual Art Communications and Publishing Company, was announced as the 2016 winner of the .

Dr. Bell Griffin was selected in recognition of her outstanding leadership and tireless efforts in promoting literacy and African American literature through the creation of the Little Flower literacy project. ® project works to improve youth literacy, self-esteem, and imagination through the use of art, artistic media, and African American literature (storytelling).

“Little Flower® utilizes African American Literature, educational products, film, paint, sculpture, transmedia, performing arts, photography, music, mobile games and even the wildly popular Minecraft game platform to inspire children of all ages to read.”

Sponsored by , the award consists of $1,250 to fund travel expenses to the 91´«Ã½ Annual Conference in Orlando, two tickets to the United for Libraries author events: The Gala Author Tea and The Laugh’s On Us, two complete sets of Zora Neale Hurston’s books and audiobooks and a beautiful personalized plaque.

, a publication of the Art Libraries Society of North America, was named the 2016 winner. The award offers a citation which recognizes an individual reviewer, group, editor, review medium, or organization for excellence in reviewing and other media for libraries.

“Multimedia & Technology Reviews offers incisive, objectively written critical reviews for a variety of free multimedia resources. In addition, the publication itself is readily available online, making those reviews freely accessible to anyone involved in developing library media collections. The publication offers opportunities and guidance in writing reviews to librarians, MLIS students and a broad range of volunteers,” said committee chair, Lucy Lockley.

Since its debut issue in April 2014, Multimedia & Technology Reviews has targeted projects, products, events, and issues within the broad realm of multimedia and technology as they pertain to arts scholarship, research, and librarianship. Multimedia & Technology Reviews reflects this diversity in its coverage of topics and technologies just as varied as the interests of its society.

The RUSA Achievement Awards Ceremony and Reception will be held from 5-6:30 p.m. Sunday, June 26 at the 91´«Ã½ Annual Conference in Orlando. All conference attendees are invited to the event. Additional event details will be available on the in April.

The Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), a Division of the 91´«Ã½, represents librarians and library staff in the fields of reference, specialized reference, collection development, readers’ advisory and resource sharing. RUSA is the foremost organization of reference and information professionals who make the connections between people and the information sources, services, and collection materials they need. Learn more about the association at .