The winner of the 2005 Reference Service Press Award is Paul Neuhaus, social science librarian at Carnegie Mellon University. He was awarded the $2,500 prize for his article "Privacy and Confidentiality in Digital Reference," which was published in the Fall 2003 issue of Reference & User Services Quarterly (v. 43, no. 1, pp. 26-36). Want to read this award-winning article online? Click here.
Neuhaus is the recipient of the 19th 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 2005 winning article can serve as"a primer for librarians on both the ethical and legal dimensions surrounding privacy issues affecting both library users and librarians today," according to Susan J. Beck, chair of the award's selection committee. She reports that the article was chosen "based on its timeliness to current library issues, particularly in response to the privacy concerns raised by the USA PATRIOT Act." In the view of the selection committee, "The article provides a thoughtful and comprehensive examination of all the dimensions of electronic privacy, pulling together the relevant issues while promoting the establishment of guidelines and recommendations for service providers."
The award is funded by Reference Service Press, a library-oriented reference book publishing company specializing in the preparation 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, February, 2005.
