Archivist Receives Award

Posted on by Nicholas Ferraz de Oliveira

Scott Schwartz (archivist for fine and applied arts and director of the Sousa Archives and Center for American Music) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has been named a recipient of a 2008-2009 Campus Award for Excellence in Public Engagement (CAEPE).  He accepted the award on February 4, 2009.

Campus Awards for Excellence in Public Engagement recognize faculty members, academic professionals, staff employees, and students who fulfill the University’s commitment to public engagement in exemplary ways.  Public engagement is any organized and sustained activity that applies the expertise of a faculty, academic professional, staff or student beyond the campus and into local, state, national or international public arenas.

“This campus award is an important recognition of Scott’s extraordinary contributions to connecting the Library and the University with the broader community,” said professor Paula Kaufman, university librarian and dean of libraries for the University of Illinois.

Schwartz’s work at the Library extends to engage the public.  His work with American Music Month is one such example.  This celebration always includes lectures, concerts, performance demonstrations, exhibitions, guided tours, and educational programming for public school and home school music students.  Schwartz founded the annual event in 2004 with the University’s John Philip Sousa Sesquicentennial celebration.  The purpose of each year’s celebration is to directly engage people from the campus and local communities with the Center’s historical music manuscripts, sound recordings, photographs, and instruments.

“Through our engagement efforts, we want our unique collections of music and instruments to express the stories and sounds of America’s diverse musical legacy,” said Schwartz.

For more information about the awards and grants through the Office of Public Engagement, please visit http://engagement.illinois.edu .

Do you have a story you’d like added to the Library News & Events? If so, please contact Heather Murphy ( hmurphy@illinois.edu ).