Excellence in Librarianship Award

The 2010 recipient of the Excellence in Librarianship Award is Ellen K. Wilson, Instructional Technology/Reference librarian. Ellen was cited as having displayed excellence in all areas of her job, including instructional technology, library instruction, professional development and service. The Excellence in Librarianship Award committee noted Ellen's development of online tutorials, her work with Freshman Seminar instructors, and her scheduling and teaching of classes.

The committee also commented on Ellen's superior work outside her job, contributing to the profession. She has presented at the Southern Political Science Association, the Mississippi Library Association, and the Alabama Library Association. Ellen presented a poster entitled Citation Analysis of Undergraduate Honors Theses at the USA Research Forum. Along with Rob Gray, Paula Webb and Andrea Wright, she conducted an in-service training session on Web 2.0 for the Mobile County Library Media Specialists. Ellen is the current secretary of the Alabama Association of College and Research Libraries.

Ellen's service activities have included serving as the chair of the University Library Public Relations Committee. She is the chair of the University Libraries' Forum, and she has represented the University Library at the HR Benefits Fair and at JagFest. Ellen was appointed to the University Writing Committee and serves on the University Library Homepage Committee and the University Library Intranet Committee.

Congratulations, Ellen!

EBSCO Academic Search Premier and AVL

From the Alabama Virtual Library help desk:

"Academic Search Premier (upgrade to Academic Search Elite) is now available on the AVL website until 9/30/10. Be sure to check it out!" at http://www.avl.lib.al.us/.

The AVL downgrade to Academic Search Elite never really affected USA's access since the University Library librarians felt that access to Academic Search Premier was important enough for our students that we needed to figure out a way to pay for it. We, in the library, hope that usage of Academic Search Premier between now and September 30 is high enough that the AVL realizes this in one database they need to make sure they keep.

Staff Appreciation Awards and Lunch

For the beginning of National Library Week, the University Library held a Staff Appreciation Lunch where awards were presented to Heather Hoven and Scotty Kirkland.

Heather Hoven began working at the library in the Circulation department in 2005 and was promoted to Library Technical Assistant in 2007. She was profiled in the USA Vanguard's section A Day in the Life Of : http://www.usavanguard.com/a-day-in-the-life-1.1305229

Scotty Kirkland began working for the University Library in Government Documents in January 2006. He moved to the Archives in September of that year and has worked there since. Scotty earned his M.A. in American History in December 2009. His thesis was on politics and the civil rights movement in Mobile from WWII to 1985.