Alliance Second Life Library Named Finalist in Sirsi Dynix Building Better Community Awards
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
Janet Felts, Communications Manager;1.256.704.7116
janet.felts@sirsidynix.com
Fifteen Finalists Selected for 2007 Building Better Communities Awards :
SirsiDynix will award US$60,000 to library organizations for innovative uses of technology
HUNTSVILLE, Ala., May 29, 2007
– SirsiDynix, the global leader in strategic technology solutions for libraries, announced today the finalists for its Building Better Communities Awards, a program recognizing ibraries for creative and enterprising uses of technology to improve their user communities. The awards committee selected the finalists from a field of more than 100 nominations.
The committee, consisting of independent library leaders from around the world, will select six libraries to receive US$10,000 each for their creativity and accomplishments. Through the program, SirsiDynix seeks to recognize library organizations that create better places to live, work and learn, while encouraging libraries everywhere to follow the examples of these outstanding institutions.
The award recipients will be announced at the upcoming American Library Association Annual Conferencein Washington, D.C. The awards ceremony is scheduled for Sunday, June 24, at 10:30 a.m. in theWashington Convention Center at the SirsiDynix exhibit booth (#3747). Finalists, media representatives and the public are invited to attend the ceremony.
The finalists, in alphabetical order, are:
- Alliance Library System, East Peoria, Ill.;
- British Official Publications Collaborative Reader Information Service (BOPCRIS) Project, University of Southampton Library, UnitedKingdom;
- Carl Shepard Library/Illinois College of Optometry, Chicago;
- Holmesglen Institute of TAFE Information Commons, Victoria, Australia;
- Jacksonville (Fla.) Public Library;
- Kankakee (Ill.) Public Library;
- Lincoln Trail Libraries System, Champaign, Ill.;
- North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, N.C.;
- Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County, Charlotte, N.C.;
- Scientific and Technical Information Center (STIC), U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Alexandria, Va.;
- Shanghai (China) Library;
- Smithsonian Institution Research Information System (SIRIS), Washington, D.C.;
- SUNLINK: Florida Department of Education, Tallahassee, Fla.;
- World Health Organization Library, Geneva, Switzerland; and
- Yarra Plenty Regional Library, Melbourne, Australia.
“The diversity and creativity of great projects submitted for the Building Better Communities Awards are impressive and made it very difficult to narrow them down to just a few,” said Gina Milsap, executive director of the Topeka & Shawnee County (Kan.) Public Library and selection committee member. “It’s clear that SirsiDynix libraries around the world understand and are delivering what their communities need. It makes you proud to be part of the library profession.”
Stephen Abram, vice president of Innovation at SirsiDynix and an adviser to the Building Better Communities Awards committee, said: “This awards program is a way that SirsiDynix can celebrate and reward libraries that are stepping outside of their comfort zone and turning their focus to their users. They have all exhibited innovations and creativity in how they serve their users through technology. We are proud to have such an impressive field of finalists for 2007. We are also very grateful to the 15 library leaders who have volunteered their time to select our finalists and, ultimately, the six recipient libraries.”
To learn more about the Building Better Communities Awards finalists and their projects, visit
www.sirsidynix.com/awards
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About SirsiDynix
SirsiDynix is the global leader in strategic technology solutions for libraries – vital institutions whose primary mission is to make sense of the vast world of information for people and communities. This is an exciting role as libraries assist people in discovering and using knowledge, resources and other valuable content for their educations, jobs and entertainment. In concert with key industry partners, SirsiDynix supports this strategic role for libraries by offering a comprehensive integrated suite of technology solutions for improving the internal productivity of libraries and enhancing their capabilities for meeting the needs of people and communities. SirsiDynix has approximately 4,000 library and consortia clients, serving more than 300 million people through more than 20,000 library outlets in the Americas, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. For more information, please see www.sirsidynix.com .