2009-03-20

The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) has honored University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign librarians, Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe and Beth S. Woodard , with a Special Presidential Recognition Award.  Hinchcliffe and Woodard are founding faculty members of ACRL’s Institute for Information Literacy Immersion Program.  The award was presented at the ACRL 14th National Conference in Seattle on March 13, 2009.

The Immersion Program, celebrating it’s 10th anniversary, provides instruction librarians the opportunity to work intensively for four-and-a-half days on all aspects of information literacy.  It currently consists of teacher, program, intentional teacher, and assessment tracks.  The tracks offer a wide range of intellectual tools and practical techniques to help build or enhance instruction programs.  Instruction librarians come away with the intellectual tools and practical techniques to help their institutions build or enhance their instruction programs.

Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe is Head of the Undergraduate Library, Coordinator for Information Literacy Services and Instruction, and Associate Professor of Library Administration at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The Undergraduate Library is widely-known for its use of social networking and other innovative programs to reach out and connect with students. Lisa has worked to foster a culture of exploration and experimentation in “The Undergrad” as well as through her leadership of the Library’s User Education Committee. As Coordinator for Information Literacy Services and Instruction, Lisa oversees information literacy programs emanating from over 35 campus libraries serving more than 15,000 students/year. Lisa is internationally sought after as a conference speaker and is widely published in the field of information literacy. She has master’s degrees in educational psychology and library and information science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Beth S. Woodard is a Central Information Services Librarian at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she has served as a reference librarian since 1983. In the Reference Library, she coordinates graduate assistant training and continuing education, and participates in departmental instructional planning and development. Since 2002, she has also served as the library-wide Coordinator for Staff Development and Training. Previously she was a reference librarian at the University of South Carolina, Columbia. From 1993 to 1995, Beth team-taught a course in library use instruction in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois. She has served as a consultant for improving instruction programs and teaching skills for librarians at several universities in the Midwest, ranging from one-day sessions to five days. She has served on numerous ALA committees within RUSA (including editor of the RUSA Update and director-at-large) and the ACRL Instruction Section (including secretary and chair). Currently she serves on the ARBA Advisory Board, and chairs the IS Task Force for the Analysis of Instructional Environments. She currently co-edits the Information Literacy column for RUSQ, and serves on the editorial board of Research Strategies. Beth holds a B.A. in English from Illinois Wesleyan University, and an M.S. in library science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Please visit www.ala.org/ala/newspresscenter/news/pressreleases2009/january2009/acrlinfolitinnovators.cfm for more information.

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