2012 Librarian of the Year

Julie Kwan

Librarian of the Year Award Presentation

UCLA Faculty Center

May 2, 2012

Remarks by Michelle Gorospe, Chair of the LOTY Committee

Good afternoon! My name is Michelle Gorospe, and I'm here to present the 2012 LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year Award on behalf of this year's Committee: Russell Johnson from the Biomedical Library Special Collections, Angela Riggio from Digital Collections Services, and our faculty representative, Professor Ann Karagozian, the Immediate Past-Chair of the UCLA Academic Senate.

The LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year 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: creativity, innovation, intellectual or moral courage, leadership, and scholarship, as exemplified in achievements within the last 12 to 18 months.

Each year our Committee solicits, receives, and reviews nominations for the Award. It was a difficult task for us to choose among so many well qualified nominees, with such a diverse range of achievements. UCLA has great librarians who are doing excellent work. But it is the task of the Committee to select just one librarian whose recent achievements stood out among their peers. In the end we selected someone whose outstanding accomplishments illustrate the many ways that librarians can have a lasting impact on student and faculty research within the University, as well as in the larger community. I am delighted to announce that the librarian who exemplified these qualities this past year is Julie Kwan from the Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library. It's my honor and privilege to tell you about her accomplishments.

Julie was nominated primarily for crafting a successful request for proposal on behalf of the Biomedical Library to renew its status as the host of the Pacific Southwest Regional Medical Library for another five years. While they have served in this capacity since 1969, Julie did not merely recycle what had been done in the past. She implemented an entirely new style of writing the proposal. Her colleagues commented about how effective she was in engaging the staff in the writing process, and creating a well thought out, and readable document. They said she brought renewed vigor and a collegial atmosphere to the department. The proposal received high marks, placing it in the upper echelon of proposals submitted to the National Library of Medicine in a very competitive year. Serving in this capacity showcases the UCLA Biomedical Library, and by extension the UCLA Library as a whole, as a leader among health science libraries on a national level.

Julie also single-handedly coordinated a regional electronic licensing arrangement with the Statewide California Electronic Library Consortium (SCELC). She organized the program and worked so that the Regional Medical Library could offer packages for various e-resources to network members to consortium rates. This provides critical cost savings for health science libraries in this difficult economic environment.

In addition, Julie played a lead role in sponsoring the "E-Science Day" symposium held at the UC Davis Medical Center Library this past December. The event was part of a new initiative aimed at strengthening the relationships between academic health science libraries in the region.

We thank Julie for her exceptional accomplishments, which have promoted the teaching and research mission of UCLA not only within the Biomedical Library and our University, but have also enhanced medical library service throughout the Pacific region. We hope you will join us in congratulating her on an Award well deserved.

LAUC-LA is delighted to present an Award certificate outlining these accomplishments to Julie Kwan. We are also pleased to present Julie with sustainable flowers, an engraved clock, and an additional $500 in professional development funds.

Congratulations to Julie Kwan!

Michelle Gorospe

Chair, 2012 LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year Award Committee