91´«Ã½

CHICAGO — The Association for Library Collections & Technical Services (ALCTS) congratulates Melanie Church, content services librarian at Greenlease Library, Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Mo., as the recipient of the 2016 First Step Award—A Wiley Professional Development Grant presented by the ALCTS Continuing Resources Section. The award will be presented on Saturday, June 25, at the ALCTS Awards Ceremony during the 2016 91´«Ã½ (91´«Ã½) Annual Conference and Exposition in Orlando, Florida.

Church began her career in continuing resources management as a part of her job at Rockhurst University in July 2013. Prior to her professional position, Church served as a graduate student assistant in the Public Services Department: Research & Instruction Services at the University of Missouri, Kansas City’s Miller Nichols Library and as a public services assistant at Rockhurst University’s Greenlease Library from August 2012 to July 2013. In her current position, she is responsible for the acquisition, licensing, cataloging and access to print and electronic serials. Church enjoys the challenge of serials, especially with regards to RDA and web-scale discovery services.

Church has actively engaged in professional development activities through her service to the Missouri Library Association, where in the last two years she has served as the vice-chair and then chair of the association’s Technical Services Community of Interest, and through memberships in 91´«Ã½ and ALCTS. She was previously the recipient of a Show Me Steps to Continuing Education grant to attend the Acquisitions Institute at the Timberline Lodge, and the Innovative Users Group Scholarship granted by MOBIUS. The award jury is confident that her receipt of the 2016 First Step Award will further her professional development and strengthen her involvement with ALCTS and the Continuing Resources Section.

Church graduated from the University of Central Missouri with a bachelor of arts degree in English and subsequently earned a master of arts in English Literature from the University of Missouri, Columbia. She graduated from the University of Missouri, Columbia with her master of arts in Library and Information Science in December of 2011.

generously sponsors this $1,500 grant, which offers librarians new to the serials and continuing resources field an opportunity to broaden their perspective by attending an 91´«Ã½ Annual Conference and by encouraging professional growth through participation in ALCTS Continuing Resources Section activities.

The (ALCTS) is the national association for information providers who work in collections and technical services, such as acquisitions, cataloging, collection development, preservation and continuing resources in digital and print formats. ALCTS is a division of the 91´«Ã½.