February 16, 2006 FLICC Announces Awards for Federal Librarianship

The Federal Library and Information Center Committee (FLICC) has announced the winners of its national awards for federal librarianship to recognize the many innovative ways that federal libraries, librarians and library technicians fulfill the information demands of government, business and scholarly communities and the American public.

FLICC will honor the award winners at the 23rd Annual FLICC Forum on Federal Information Policies on March 23 at the Library of Congress in Washington, where they will receive their awards from Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. Their names will remain on permanent display in the FLICC offices at the Library of Congress.

Federal libraries and staff throughout the United States and abroad competed in three award categories for the eighth annual FLICC Awards. The winners are listed below.

2005 Federal Library/Information Center of the Year

Large Library/Information Center Category (with a staff of 11 or more federal and/or contract employees): The Scientific and Technical Information Center (STIC) at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is recognized nationally as a leader in the delivery of patent research, increasing its search requests by 13 percent in fiscal 2005 to more than 31,000 for the year. The center is also noted for taking initiatives to assure high levels of customer satisfaction such as improving patent quality, optimizing patent processing time and introducing new searching techniques and solutions. Staff members developed a knowledge management project and created more than 600 templates that contain specific listings by technology of the most fruitful search resources in U.S. and foreign patents and non-patent literature, with specific indications of how they are searched. The center also increased service requests more than 30 percent to almost 190,000, trained more than 950 new patent examiners, offered 30 search solutions demonstrations, and hosted 1,000 attendees at its annual open house.

Small Library/Information Center Category (with a staff of 10 or fewer federal and/or contract employees): U.S. Army Military Intelligence Library in Fort Huachuca, Ariz., is recognized for innovative services and superior customer services offered in fiscal 2005, demonstrated by an 850 percent increase in attendance. The library combined creativity and innovation to meet the needs of its military and civilian customers by developing an aggressive marketing and promotion plan. The library also created an Open Source Lab and media instruction area for more than 8,000 patrons to meet the Army doctrine that requires “open source intelligence be integrated into all disciplines and functions, by exploiting the information age and by making this information a vital intelligence resource.”

2005 Federal Librarian of the Year

Leslie Campbell, Law Library program administrator at the National Judiciary Library Program for the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, will receive the award for her dedication and contributions to the judiciary’s national library program in fiscal 2005. Her energy and creativity raised awareness of the quality services provided by court librarians across the nation. She supported more than 15,000 judiciary legal researchers, managed the implementation of two national legal research contracts and protected judges’ personal information from illegal use. She also created a site for the judiciary*s Intranet that offers links to all online resources managed by the office and links to state, federal and general reference sites for 28,000 judiciary employees.

2005 Federal Library Technician of the Year

Sue Hubbard, library technician, Base Library, Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark., will receive the award for her commitment to service excellence in support of the base library. During fiscal 2005, she spearheaded the largest increases in computer application in the history of the library while handling the highest number of library materials ever ordered. Her technical expertise and program knowledge, combined with her positive problem-solving abilities and expertise, have made her a leader in the library’s automation planning, collection management and customer service initiatives.

Information on the 2006 Awards program will be announced later this summer. For the latest information on the awards, interested parties may refer to the FLICC Web site, www.loc.gov/flicc/awards.html.

The Federal Library and Information Center Committee fosters excellence in federal library and information services through interagency cooperation and provides guidance and direction for the Federal Library and Information Network (FEDLINK). Created in 1965 and headquartered at the Library of Congress, FLICC also makes recommendations on federal library and information policies, programs and procedures to federal agencies and to others concerned with libraries and information centers.