MIDLINE

Editor's note: Logan Ludwig, the Midwest Chapter's 2008 Distinguished Librarian of the Year, presented this year's award at the 2009 Annual Business Meeting. Here are his remarks announcing Mary Markland, University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, as the 2009 Distinguished Librarian of the Year:

Before announcing this year's recipient, I would like to take a moment first to position the Midwest Chapter Distinguished Librarian of the Year Award by expressing:

• General recognition awards are plentiful and given freely as a means of saying thank you. The more prestigious an award is, the more likely there will be fewer of them. After all, Nobel Peace Prizes aren't handed out like candy at Halloween.


• An award should be conferred or bestowed with the intent of being deserved or merited. Let's put the stress on deserved or merited.


• An award should be related to the purpose of the organization giving it.


• An award should be appropriate to an accomplishment. In other words, the more distinctive or special the accomplishment, the more distinctive and special the award should be. A special award loses its distinctiveness if it is conferred too often.


• A special award also loses some of its distinctiveness if it is joined to other special awards. The more awards given, the less valued and cherished will be the award.


• Awards are desirable in that they are ways to recognize excellence and in their bestowal become a testimony to the tradition of recognizing excellence - a tradition that dates back to the first Olympic Games.


• Awards also give rise to a community of awardees. An award often becomes a way of bonding groups together. Anyone who has received a major award can generally name other recipients of the same award as can many who have not received the award.

An intent of the Librarian of the Year Award when established was to recognize outstanding members at a variety of career levels who have made exceptional contributions to the Chapter. It is presented to those who have deserved or merited it. It is distinctive and not presented frequently. It is also a testimony to the Chapter's tradition of recognizing excellence. As a previous recipient, I can name others who have received the award: Chris Shaffer and Carol Gilbert.

It therefore gives me great pleasure to welcome another deserving recipient into this growing community of awardees.

This year's Midwest Chapter Distinguished Librarian of the Year goes to (quotes from many nominations):

• "She stands out as someone who has been incredibly active in state and regional health sciences library associations. She has incredible enthusiasm for librarianship and her desire to provide, quality, up-to-date library services has garnered the GMR's support for her through funding activities."


• "Everywhere she has been in her career, she has been deeply involved in promoting local library groups."


• "She understands the value of local connections and relationships in developing a community of practice."


• "She has a real knack for finding the best way to bring people together to work on a project."


• "She has proved time and again that a positive attitude and willingness to work with others could take you far."


• Her list of publications and presentations describes a career spent exploring new ways to promote effective searching and use of health information resources to students and consumers."


• She has been a role model, a colleague, a mentor, a friend and an inspiration to me and many other librarians. She was one of the first network members I met in the GMR and has become a dependable colleague as well as a friend."


• She has demonstrated superb ability to initiate services that advance the information-seeking skills of the students, residents, and faculty in the medical school. This ability to sense what needs to be done, with just a minimum of guidance, is the attribute that drives all her accomplishments."


• On her own initiative, she has built up a wide range of informational and educational services. She gives workshops and classes to a variety of people, including healthcare professionals, college students, and the public."


• She is a researcher with several research papers and posters to her credit."

And finally, a note about her exceptional contributions to the Midwest Chapter itself. She chaired a recent annual chapter meeting of which a nomination letter from one of her state colleagues states, "It is hard to imagine anyone else keeping us on schedule and on target. Because of the high number of attendees, careful budgeting, the array of fascinating speakers, and meticulous planning, the evaluations were excellent and the conference turned a handsome profit. The healthy revenue enabled our state health science library organization to offer handsome scholarships for members to attend the Midwest Chapter meetings."

Please join me in congratulating the 2009 Midwest Chapter Distinguished Librarian of the Year, Southeast Clinical Campus Librarian for the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Mary J. Markland.