91´«Ã½

CHICAGO - Amilcar Perez, Adult Services Librarian at Forest Park Public Library (IL), was selected as the 2018 winner of the . The award consists of $1,250 to assist with travel expenses to 91´«Ã½ Annual Conference for a public librarian who has performed outstanding business reference service.

Amilcar has been a firebrand of community and professional involvement. He has developed several innovative ways to assess programming and service and is highly involved in professional development at a national, state, and local level.

His main areas of focus are to increase visibility to the business community, build digital literacy, promote job and career development and to design assessment methods to identify gaps between community needs and programming.

With these goals, he is currently developing a program to train patrons to digitize videos and he has made distinctive impact on a new series at FPPL, "Explore Forest Park," which highlights local businesses. Additionally, Amilcar formulated a methodology, which was adapted from the Public Library Association's "Project Outcome" (PO), to measure perceptions on knowledge, intention to apply acquired information, and awareness of library resources, along with anecdotal evidence on program impact.

Amilcar has demonstrated an exceptional, never tiring sensitivity and skill in his advocacy at and through our library for businesses, current and future business owners, and budding and established entrepreneurs in Forest Park, IL.

The selection committee includes: Edmund A. Rossman, III (Chair), Christina M. Sheley, Gregory J. Tong and Terry Zarsky.

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 .