SPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION HONORS
 DISTINGUISHED INFORMATION PROFESSIONALS
WITH 2007 AWARDS FOR ACHIEVEMENT AND EXCELLENCE

Alexandria, Virginia USA, 3 July, 2007 - The Special Libraries Association (SLA) recognized nine outstanding information professionals and one SLA division with awards for achievement and excellence at its 2007 Annual Conference and INFO-EXPO last month in Denver. More than 5,000 librarians and information professionals took part in the association's conference and exhibition.

During the conference's Opening General Session, SLA President Rebecca B. Vargha (University of North Carolina, School of Information and Library Sciences, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA) spoke of the association's long history of recognizing those who have made significant contributions to SLA and the information profession.

"This evening we continue a tradition SLA has observed for nearly three generations. We honor individuals and organizations that have demonstrated excellence in our profession and who have inspired us with their dedication and achievement," Vargha said.

"Tonight," she continued, "we acknowledge the contributions of SLA members who have demonstrated they are, indeed, the brightest and the best. They have shown us this by their unwavering dedication to their careers, those they mentor and the profession they serve."

Candidates for SLA honors and awards were reviewed and considered by the SLA Awards and Honors Committee, chaired this year by Ethel M. Salonen (The MITRE Corporation, Information Services, Bedford, Massachusetts, USA) and confirmed by the SLA Board of Directors.

The 2007 SLA honor and award recipients are:

John Cotton Dana Award Recipient: Gloria Zamora (Congressional Fellow and field representative in the office of U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman, (D-NM), Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA)

SLA Hall of Fame Inductees: Paul Wasserman (Bethesda, Maryland, USA) and Gary Wiggins (Indiana University, School of Informatics, Bloomington, Indiana, USA).

Presidential Citation Recipients: Clare Hart (Dow Jones & Company, Princeton, New Jersey, USA) and Jane Macoustra (Tai-Pan Research, Surrey, U.K.)

Fellows: Terri Brooks (Investment Company Institute, Washington, D.C., USA); Patricia Cia (Langara College Library, Vancouver, B.C., Canada); Toby Pearlstein (Bain & Co., Global Information Services, Boston, USA); Gail Stahl (Boston Consulting Group, Atlanta, Georgia, USA); and Wei Wei (University of California-Santa Cruz Science and Engineering Library, USA).

Factiva Leadership Award Recipient: Jane Kinney Meyers (Lubuto Library Project, Inc., Washington D.C., USA)

Rose L. Vormelker Award Recipient: Eileen Abels (Drexel University, College of Information Science & Technology, Philadelphia, USA)

LexisNexis Innovations in Technology Award Recipient: Karen Huffman (Libraries and Information Services, National Geographic Society, Washington D.C., USA)

SLA Member Achievement Award sponsored by Thomson Scientific and Dialog
Award Recipient: Sharon Lenius (National Guard Bureau, Arlington, Virginia, USA)

H.W. Wilson Company Award Recipients: Helen Clegg (A.T. Kearney Procurement Solutions, Colchester, Essex, GBR) and Susan Montgomery (A.T. Kearney Procurement Solutions, Knowledge Management, San Francisco, USA)

SLA Professional Award sponsored by Springer
Recipient: The SLA Military Librarians Division

"Each and every one of these honorees is exceptionally deserving of this recognition," said Janice R. Lachance, SLA chief executive officer. "Their contributions to the association and to the information profession have helped SLA continue to grow and to be recognized as one of the most influential organizations in the field of information management today. I congratulate all of this year's award recipients."

Also presented at the SLA Opening General Session were awards and scholarships chosen by the SLA Diversity Leadership Development Program Committee and by the Academic Advisory Council.

The 2007 recipients of the Diversity Leadership Development Program (DLDP) award sponsored by Ebsco are:

DLDP Award recipients:
Blanca Chou (Senior Manager, Information Resource Center Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc., Rockville, Maryland, USA)
Cheryl Jacocks-Terrell (Biomedical Research Librarian, Philip Morris USA Richmond, Virginia, USA)
Debal C Kar (Fellow, Library and Information Centre, The Energy and Resources Institute, New Delhi, India)
Lina Ortega (Chemistry and Mathematics Librarian, Assistant Professor of Bibliography, University of Oklahoma Library, Norman, Oklahoma, USA)
Janet Todwong (Library Assistant, Washburn University School of Law Topeka, Kansas, USA)

SAAAC Merit Award recipients by Category:

Innovative Programming Recipient: Washington State University; Honorable Mention: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Outstanding Leadership Recipient: Drexel University; Honorable Mention: The University of British Columbia
Creative Use of Electronic Resources Recipient: University of Pittsburgh
Chapter Award for Support of Student Group Recipient: Philadelphia Chapter

SLA Scholarship Recipients:
Julie May, (Brooklyn, New York, USA)
Jennifer Rohan (Burien, Washington, USA)
Meghan Fahe (Sunderland, Massachusetts, USA)

Affirmative Action Scholarship Recipient: Terence L. Johnson (Columbia, SC, USA)

Mary Adeline Connor Professional Development Scholarship Recipient: Vaishali Jahagirdar (Silver Spring, Maryland, USA)

Descriptions of the 2007 SLA Honors and Awards can be found online at http://www.sla.org/awards.

About SLA
The Special Libraries Association (SLA) is a nonprofit global organization for innovative information professionals and their strategic partners. SLA serves more than 11,000 members in 75 countries in the information profession, including corporate, academic, and government information specialists. SLA promotes and strengthens its members through learning, advocacy, and networking initiatives. For more information, visit us on the Web at www.sla.org.