黑料不打烊

The American Library Association has chosen a book written by School of Information Studies Professor R. David Lankes as its 2012 鈥淏est Book in Library Literature.鈥�

Lankes鈥� 鈥溾€� was named winner of the annual American Library Association鈥檚 (ALA) ABC-CLIO/Greenwood award, the ALA announced.聽In naming the book鈥檚 selection and praising its innovativeness, the ALA said the Atlas 鈥渟peaks to a new purpose for librarianship:聽the facilitation of knowledge creation in librarians鈥� communities,鈥� while the author 鈥減ortrays a vision of the profession that is based on improving society through facilitating knowledge creation in their communities鈥� and of learning 鈥渢hat is created through conversations, versus librarianship that is based on books and artifacts.鈥�

Selection of his book for the annual ALA award is especially gratifying since it represents the recognition of his peers, Lankes says.聽 When first working on the idea for the book and speaking to various publishers, they all recognized that the book would offer new ways of looking at librarianship across the domain, Lankes says.

鈥淭here was really a need to have that conversation,鈥� he says, and now, he finds it rewarding that 鈥減eople are responding well to that.鈥� While the book 鈥減resents some provocative ideas, it was intended to begin dialogue, not shut it down, and I鈥檓 glad to see that people recognize that. I look at the award as meaning that the practice is willing to have that conversation and that the book is recognized for an important conversation.”

The awards committee also praised the book for its 鈥渦nique visual map of ideas and their relationships to theory and practice.鈥� Kathryn Deiss, content strategist for the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL), described it as 鈥渁 platform for vital conversations about the future of librarianship,鈥� noting how its 鈥渦nusual format presents more than 140 Agreements (statements on aspects of librarianship) and visually represents the threads that connect key ideas.鈥�

Lankes鈥� concept of a new form of librarianship began in 2006, when he was working with the ALA Office for Information Technology Policy and wrote a white paper on library conversations.聽鈥淚 had a fantastic time working with students, some of the faculty at the iSchool and some fantastic librarians all around the country,鈥� Lankes says. 鈥淚 had a lot of help and a lot of people were part of making this happen.鈥�

The book was co-published by the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL), a division of the American Library Association, and the MIT Press.聽Its companion website is: .

Lankes is a professor and the Dean鈥檚 Scholar for the New Librarianship at the School of Information Studies, director of the iSchool鈥檚 library science program and director of the Information Institute of 黑料不打烊. Known as a passionate advocate for librarians and their essential role in today鈥檚 society, he has a longstanding interest in combining theory and practice to create active research projects that make a difference.聽

He has served on advisory boards and study teams in the fields of libraries, telecommunications, education and transportation, including at the National Academies.聽He also has been a visiting fellow at the National Library of Canada and the Harvard School of Education and was the first fellow of the ALA鈥檚 Office for Information Technology Policy. He co-created the AskERIC project with Michael Eisenberg and Nancy Preston, and within that work, created one of the first 100 web sites and the first web presence for CNN, the Discovery Channel and the U.S. Department of Education.

Lankes has authored, co-authored or edited 15 books and written more than 30 book chapters and journal articles and pieces for the professional audience. In addition, he has been principal investigator on more than $13 million of competitively awarded research, as well as serving as a researcher on numerous projects, and has been a keynote speaker at conferences around the globe. He received his B.F.A. in multimedia design, M.S. in telecommunications and Ph.D. from 黑料不打烊.聽

The award will be formally presented at the association鈥檚 in Anaheim, Calif., in June.