LAUC-LA 2013 Librarian of the Year

David Hirsch

Librarian of the Year Award Presentation

UCLA Faculty Center

April 24, 2013

Remarks by Angela Riggio

Hello Everyone. My name is Angela Riggio and I am speaking to you on behalf of the 2013 LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year Award Committee, also known as "LOTY." I would like to acknowledge and thank the other members of this year's committee, Iman Dagher from the Cataloging and Metadata Center, June Kim from the Law Library, and Dr. Andrew Leuchter, Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Science at the Semel Institute, and immediate past chair of the UCLA Academic Senate.

The LOTY Committee is charged to solicit, receive, and review nominations for the LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year Award. The Award was established in 1993 to recognize excellence in librarianship at UCLA, particularly as it enhances library service and furthers the teaching and research mission of the University. Award recipients must also embody one or more of the following traits, as exemplified in their achievements within the last 12 to 18 months: creativity, innovation, intellectual or moral courage, leadership, and scholarship.

It has been difficult for the Committee to choose among so many worthy nominees. One thing is clear: librarians at UCLA accomplish a wide-range of tasks, and boast achievements in many areas, which have a profound effect on UCLA and beyond. There are so many wonderful librarians at UCLA, doing excellent work. Yet it was our task to select a librarian whose accomplishments over the last 12-18 months truly stood out among the rest. In the end we selected a librarian for the Award whose outstanding accomplishments best illustrate the ways that librarians can have a lasting impact on the Library, on students, on faculty, on the University, on scholarly communities nationally and internationally, and on the general community. I am delighted to announce that the librarian who best exemplified these qualities, and is our 2013 LOTY winner, is David Hirsch.

David, as most of you know, is known for his dedication to collection building in the areas of Armenian Studies, Central Asian Studies, Egyptology, Islamic Studies, Jewish Studies, Middle Eastern and North African Studies, Near Eastern Languages and Culture, and South Asian Studies. We honor him today for his efforts to enhance the Library's Middle East collection, through his recent trip to Iraq. In addition, David worked on three exhibits, on Islamic superhero comic books, Afghan history, and Armenian printing history. He also provided invaluable assistance in finding a permanent home for the Tahrir Square Collection in our Special Collections. His bravery was exemplified in his recent lecture at the University in Basra and his unrelenting efforts to assist in the development of Iraq's libraries, in spite of the obvious danger posed to an American traveling in that country. Let's face it -- David's influence and enthusiasm for libraries is pervasive; he is a world-renowned librarian, linguist, and scholar.

We thank David for his exceptional accomplishments and hope you will join us in congratulating him on an Award well deserved.

LAUC-LA is delighted to present David with an Award certificate outlining these accomplishments. LAUC-LA is also pleased to present David with this engraved clock, and an additional $500 in professional development funds, and a sustainable gift, a plant.

Congratulations, David!

Angela Riggio

Chair, 2013 LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year Award Committee