91´«Ã½

CHICAGO—Donna Brearcliffe, Acting Head, Humanities & Social Sciences Section, Researcher & Reference Services Division of the Library of Congress has been selected as the 2018 winner of the (ETS), administered by the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), a division of the 91´«Ã½.

Brearcliffe served as Chair of ETS shortly after the section changed its name from MARS. She advocated strongly for completing that transition and embracing the opportunities that could come from firmly focusing the section around emerging technologies. She ensured that the section’s bylaws were updated to reflect the changed name and also helped committee chairs and members of the executive committee identify programming topics and projects that would align well with the sections new focus.

Prior to serving as chair of the section, Brearcliffe led the Best Free Websites committee and was instrumental in raising the profile of that committee’s work. Her enthusiasm for the committee helped her recruit numerous members to the section. This enthusiasm and her collegiality, also helped her be effective in her leadership of the section’s Chair’s Program Committee, and its Conference Program Planning Committee.

Brearcliffe also represented ETS to the RUSA Division level through her participation in the RUSA level Conference Program Coordinating Committee (2012-2013), RUSA Organization and Planning Committee (2016-2017) and the RUSA Restructuring Task Force (2017-2018).

The ETS Achievement Award is given annually to recognize excellence in service to RUSA’s Emerging Technologies Section. The recipient must have made either a sustained contribution toward attaining the goals of ETS, or a a single, significant contribution that has resulted in a positive impact upon the work of the section. The award will be presented at the ETS Chair’s Program “” on Sunday, 10:30-11:30am, June 24, at 91´«Ã½’s Annual Conference in New Orleans. All conference attendees are invited to attend.

The Reference and User Services Association, 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 .