2010 SLA-SCC Award winners and Award dinner recap

By 2010 Awards Chair, Lynn Lewis


Wednesday, Nov. 10th was our Chapter’s 2010 Annual Business Meeting and Awards Dinner held at the LA84 Foundation in Los Angeles. The theme for the evening, “A celebration of librarianship and the information profession,” was most appropriate as we came together to celebrate the special accomplishments of members for service to the Chapter.

Incoming 2011 SLA-SCC board members were introduced; Peter Johnson, SCC Sternheim Scholarship Chair, introduced this year’s scholarship recipient, Ashley Sands; and the SLA national award winners for Outstanding Leadership (UNT/CSUN student chapter) and Innovative Programming (UCLA student chapter) were also recognized.

Richard Hulser led a panel discussion with Jean Crampon, Associate University Librarian, Science and Engineering Library, USC, Dorothy McGarry, Librarian Emerita, UCLA, and Cindy Mediavilla, Library Programs Consultant, California State Library and Lecturer, UCLA Dept. of Information Studies as panelists. What struck me most about their discussion was that, for all of the debate on the role and title librarians or information professionals should hold today, the core definition and purpose of the librarian/information professional is still very much the same as it was in the past: namely, that we use our expertise and knowledge to gather, organize, evaluate and share the right information to the right people in a timely manner.

Thank you to all of the evening’s participants, including SLA-SCC President Belinda Beardt, Peter Johnson, Richard Hulser, Jean Crampon, Dorothy McGarry and Cindy Mediavilla. Thank you to SLA-SCC President Elect Robin Dodge for planning and organizing the event. And thank you, especially, to Awards Committee member Sue Brewsaugh for her assistance in selecting and presenting the awards.

Following are the 2010 SLA-SCC Award winners; Certificates of Appreciation will be announced at the end of the year.

There were 2 recipients of the 2010 Billie Connor Award, Southern California Chapter, Special Libraries Associations. They are:
David Cappoli – for his knowledge of the Chapter and its operations; for the many offices he as held, including Chapter President, Treasurer, UCLA Student Liaison, as well as his work with the UCLA Student Chapter; for service to SLA Headquarters Committees, including the Nominations Committee and the New Visions Task Force; for his willingness to help anyone, anytime; for his thoughtful, steady way of conducting Chapter business; for simply being the giant whose shoulders we all stand on.

Barbara Amago – for her service as a guiding light through her many years of service to the Chapter; for overseeing the beginnings of the Chapter’s activities on the web, including the establishment of the discussion list; for nurturing many Chapter officials; and for helping to maintain stability in the Chapter through the ups and downs within the profession.

The 2010 Meritorious Service Award, Southern California Chapter, Special Libraries Association recipients are:
Eric C. Bryan - for his efforts the last few years in designing, managing and maintaining the SLA Southern California Chapter Web Site, Blog & Newsletter.

Teresa Bailey - for her efforts at organizing the West Coast Chapter Reception for the annual SLA conference in New Orleans; for making connections and organizing all of the different logistics resulting in one of the best receptions ever.

WCCR Team (Teresa Bailey, David Cappoli, Sara Tompson, and Kathy Quinn [consulting San Diego member]) – for organizing the West Coast Chapter Reception for the annual SLA Conference, held in New Orleans this year

Christian Gray - for his work overhauling the system we had in place for soliciting support from vendors; for bringing in quite a bit of support for the West Coast Chapter Reception in New Orleans; and for his help and advice as a part of the Holiday Party Planning Committee. He's been bringing in substantial financial support, and he's also been lending us his extensive network to get us help with marketing, planning, and promotion

Jackie Prentice - for resurrecting the Chapter newsletter; for creating a publication schedule, seeking content from Chapter members and beyond, and publishing 6 issues of the Chapter newsletter. This task was challenging because the newsletter had not been published for several years and Jackie had to re-establish publication guidelines for obtaining content from members and SLA headquarters

Doris Helfer - for her work mentoring the UNT/CSUN student group into forming a SLA-SCC Student Chapter, and guiding them into setting up Chapter practices and goals

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Further Notes on the Panel Discussion
By Robin Dodge

Many thanks to Chapter Secretary Drea Douglas for her attentive note-taking that made this post possible.

The panel discussion about our core values and skills was interesting and timely. I took the liberty of condensing this important conversation down to the bare-bones bullet points:

Our Core Skills:
• The organization of information
• Reference
• Research
• Acquisition
• Instruction
• Management of information
• Communication and collaboration
• Ability to motivate others and ability to make decisions
• Cataloging or the organization of information
• Evaluation of resources and understanding the breadth of resources
• Enthusiasm and willingness to share what you know
• Adaptability, and continuous learning
• Ability to work in groups and lead them (which is not the same skill)
• Ability to assemble a collection
• An understanding of future formats

On forming partnerships for the greater good:

We should identify the true needs of our patrons, then work with agencies/communities with similar goals and priorities. We should keep our minds open as to what that partnership looks like. Cross-disciplinary, cross-country/world partnerships need to be formed. Not everyone gets to go to the conference/training. If we're the ones who go, we should share what we learn with the others. Educate our colleagues. Find a place to volunteer to leverage your skills beyond your organization. Our skills are transferable, and others who don't have those skills might be trained and brought into the profession.

Our Core Values:

• Service to the users (whether end user or colleague)
• Material selection in an unbiased manner
• Providing access to information
• Supporting intellectual freedom, literacy, and reading
• Protecting patron privacy.
• Providing unbiased information that is timely and valid
• Leading by example
• Our commitment to provide a service that allows people to have a better life


What do you think should have made the list? How might we continue to adapt our core values and skills to keep our profession relevant into the future?