The winner of the 2008 Reference Service Press Award is James Elmborg, Ph.D., associate professor and director of the School of Library and Information Science at the University of Iowa (in Iowa City, Iowa). He was awarded the $2,500 prize for his article "Libraries in the Contact Zone: On the Creation of Educational Space," which was published in Reference & User Services Quarterly (v. 46, no. 1).
Elmborg is the recipient of the 22nd annual Reference Service Press Award, which was established to recognize the most outstanding article published in the Reference and User Services Association's membership journal, Reference & User Services Quarterly, during the preceding two volume years. Criteria used to selected the award-winning article include: originality, timeliness, rigor of research, quality of writing, and relevance to the association's areas of interest and concern.
The 2008 winning article was "enthusiastically supported by all members of the jury," according to Julia Gelfand, chair of the award's selection committee. She reports that the article was chosen "because it was inspirational and built on the application of the social science construct of the 'contact zone,' known for promoting diversity and cultural differences in library services and practices."
Upon learning he had been selected as the 2008 Reference Service Press Award winner, Elmborg responded," What a wonderfule e-mail to get. The article...took a long time to think through and write, and I'm so pleased to have it receive this kind of recognition."
The award is funded by Reference Service Press, a library-oriented reference book publishing company specializing in the development of financial aid resources. Its president, Gail Schlachter, has been active in the Reference and User Serices Association for more than three decades, serving over the years as the Reference Book Editor of RQ, (the predecessor of Reference & User Services Quarterly), the Editor-in-Chief of Reference & User Services Quarterly, and the President of the association. In appreciation for the opportunity to serve in these positions, she established this annual award in 1986.
Source: American Library Association press release, March, 2008.
