Carol A. Mandel, dean of the division of libraries at New York University, has been named the 2011 winner of the Hugh C. Atkinson Memorial Award. Mandel will receive a cash award and citation at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 26, 2011, at the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS) Award Program, during the ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans.
Carol A. Mandel, dean of the Division of Libraries at New York University, has been named the 2011 winner of the Hugh C. Atkinson Memorial Award. Mandel will receive a cash award and citation at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 26, 2011, at the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS) Award Program, during the ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans.
Named in honor of one of the pioneers of library automation, the Atkinson Award recognizes an academic librarian who has made significant contributions in the area of library automation or management and has made notable improvements in library services or research.
“Carol Mandel is acknowledged as an articulate and effective leader in shaping the future of academic libraries,” said Cheryl Kern-Simirenko, Hugh C. Atkinson Memorial Award committee chair and dean of university libraries at the University of Akron. “She has been a pioneer in developing user-centered service models for both the physical and the virtual library, based on assessment and research.”
“Her career as an academic librarian has been characterized by a record of distinctive accomplishment in library automation and management, of leadership and risk-taking in areas of critical importance across the higher education library community and of professional contributions that have influenced and improved library services and development,” wrote Mandel’s nominator.
“I thank the awards committee and ALA for this great honor, and I am very grateful to my colleagues who took the time to write in support of my nomination,” said Mandel.
“I had the privilege early in my career of knowing and being inspired by Hugh Atkinson, a leader whose vision presaged the innovation we would need to transform libraries in the digital age. Academic libraries can make a significant positive impact on research and teaching. Technology creates new opportunities and our role, and privilege, is to make the most of them,” said Mandel.
Mandel received her B.A. in Art, magna cum laude, from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Mass. She earned her M.S.L.S., with honors, in 1970 from Columbia University, where she also received her M.A. in Art History in 1975.
The Hugh C. Atkinson Award is jointly sponsored by four divisions of the American Library Association: the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS), the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), the Library Leadership and Management Association (LLAMA) and the Library and Information Technology Association (LITA). The award is funded from an endowment established to honor Hugh C. Atkinson.
About ACRL:
ARCL is a division of the American Library Association (ALA), representing more than 12,000 academic and research librarians and interested individuals. ACRL is the only individual membership organization in North America that develops programs, products and services to meet the unique needs of academic and research librarians. Its initiatives enable the higher education community to understand the role that academic libraries play in the teaching, learning and research environments. ACRL is on the Web at http://www.acrl.org, Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ala.acrl and Twitter at @ala_acrl.
About NYU Division of Libraries
The NYU Division of Libraries is a six-library, 4.1 million-volume system. Its flagship is the Elmer Holmes Bobst Library on Washington Square, which houses 3.9 million volumes, audio-video resources, archives and special collections, and provides access to thousands of electronic resources both on-site and online. The NYU Division of Libraries also includes the following five specialized libraries: NYU Abu Dhabi Library, Institute of Fine Arts Library, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences Library, Jack Brause Library at SCPS Midtown, and the Library of the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World; as well as the University Archives, Campus Media Services, and the NYU Press. Affiliated NYU libraries include the Frederick L. Ehrman Medical Library, the John and Bertha E. Waldmann Memorial Dental Library, the Bern Dibner Library at Polytechnic Institute of NYU, and the Law Library.