91´«Ã½

CHICAGO — The of the 91´«Ã½ has chosen Sara Lowe, associate librarian at IUPUI University Library, as the 2022 recipient of the LIRT Librarian Recognition Award. The Librarian Recognition Award was created to recognize an individual’s contribution to the development, advancement and support of information literacy and instruction.

Lowe began her library career at Metropolitan Community College-Longview and is the former assessment officer for the Claremont University Consortium. Since 2015, she has been a tenured librarian at IUPUI University Library, where she is currently the associate dean of educational services. She has been the principal investigator on many funded grant projects, including Peer Teaching for Information Literacy, What do our students know? Measuring Students’ Information Literacy Skills and the Impact of Faculty/Librarian Collaboration, and Undergraduate Course to Train Near-Peer Teachers in Subject Embedded Information Literacy Instruction.

She has numerous presentations and publications on instruction, assessment, information literacy, and student learning, including that was selected as one of LIRT’s Top Twenty Articles for 2020 and that was selected by ACRL’s Instruction Section/Teaching Methods Committee to be included on the List of Selected Resources. Her service to the profession has been significant, including her role as a curriculum designer for ACRL’s Assessment in Action Roadshow, and the 2019-2020 President of Indiana University Libraries Association, among many others. The Awards Committee made particular note of her excellent research during the pandemic, her commitment to being a mentor, the strength of her nomination letters, which praised the impact of her work, and her dedication to the profession.

In response to learning of the award, Lowe shared the following statement: "I’m honored that the committee selected me as the recipient of the 2022 LIRT Librarian Recognition Award. The criteria for the award is very meaningful to me, that it is “given to acknowledge a practicing librarian's contribution to the development, advancement, and support of information literacy and instruction.” So much of my career in academic librarianship has involved information literacy and teaching information literacy competencies to students. To me, it is one of the most important aspects of critical thinking in preparing students to navigate not only their academic careers but also their lives after graduation. Additionally, I’ve had the pleasure of working with so many other amazing librarians in this area – that I’m honestly humbled by the fact that my efforts were recognized by the committee."

The Library Instruction Round Table was started in 1977 with the intent to bring together librarians who provide library instruction across all types of libraries–academic, public, school, and special. 2022 marks the ninth year the Librarian Recognition Award has been awarded. Sara Lowe will be presented with a $1,000 cash prize and a plaque commemorating the award.

Visit to find out more about LIRT, its mission, and the awards.

The LIRT Librarian Recognition Awards Subcommittee included Rebecca O'Kelly Davis of Simmons University (chair), Abbie Basile of Old Dominion University, and Alex Mitchell of Texas A&M University.