June 5, 2007 Laura Campbell Recognized as Laureate by Computerworld Honors Program

Laura E. Campbell, associate librarian for Strategic Initiatives and chief information officer for the Library of Congress, today received the prestigious 2007 EMC Information Leadership Award from the Computerworld Honors Program. The award was presented during the 19th Annual Laureates Medal Ceremony & Gala Awards Evening at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington. For almost two decades, Computerworld Honors has acknowledged those individuals and organizations that have used information technology to benefit society. "I am honored to receive the EMC Information Leadership Award, and I feel privileged to lead such innovative and important work for the largest and most accessible library in the world," said Campbell. "Hundreds of Library staff as well as our external partners have collaborated on our digital programs, and they have played a key role in their success." Campbell, who is also the Library's chief information officer, leads the Library's National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (www.digitalpreservation.gov), which is leading the nation in the collection and preservation of important born-digital content that would otherwise be lost. She also leads the National Digital Library Program, which offers more than 22 million items on the Library's various award-winning Web sites at www.loc.gov. The Computerworld Honors Program (www.cwhonors.org/leadership/campbell.htm) annually presents its Leadership Awards to honor the extraordinary achievements of selected individuals whose positive contributions to the IT revolution have left an indelible mark on the world. "I congratulate Laura on her special achievement and for everything she has done to make the extraordinary collections of the Library of Congress accessible to all Americans and the world," said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. "Laura has led the programs that have enabled my vision for a 'library without walls' to become a reality." According to Ron Milton, chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Computerworld Information Technology Awards Foundation and executive vice president of Computerworld, "Each year, the Computerworld Honors Program seeks to recognize individuals from a variety of sectors for their ongoing efforts to utilize technology in order to benefit society." Laura Campbell has led digital initiatives at the Library of Congress since late 1998, when she co-chaired the Digital Futures Group, and she has been in charge of the award-winning National Digital Library Program (www.loc.gov) since its inception in 1994. The flagship of the NDL Program is the American Memory Web site of more than 11 million significant items from American history that range from papers of U.S. presidents and materials relating to the founding of the nation to Civil War photographs of Mathew Brady, Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and the papers of Frederick Douglass. Materials in American Memory are in multimedia formats, such as maps, photographs, films and sound recordings, and they also include early films of Thomas Edison, iconic photographs from the Great Depression, the earliest baseball cards and documents from the civil rights and women's suffrage movements. In 2000, Dr. Billington appointed Campbell as associate librarian for Strategic Initiatives and chief information officer. At the same time, he asked her to lead the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (www.digitalpreservation.gov), which was established by the U.S. Congress. The digital preservation program has formed a collaborative network of nearly 70 partners, and the network will soon grow to more than 100 partners from the public and private sectors. A biography of Campbell is attached, and her portrait may be obtained from Robin White at rwhi@loc.gov. The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world. Founded in 1800 to serve the information needs of the U.S. Congress, the Library has since grown into a national and world resource with more than 134 million physical items and more than 22 million digital items on its various Web sites. The Library collects and preserves materials in all formats on which information is recorded. Computerworld (www.computerworld.com) is recognized as a premier source for news, information and opinion on the critical technology and management issues affecting senior technology professionals. In the past five years, this weekly publication has won more than 100 awards, including the 2004 and 2006 Magazine of the Year Award from the American Society of Business Publication Editors. Established in 2001, the EMC Information Leadership Award recognizes individuals who have the insight and ability to harness the repositories of intelligence within their information technology systems -- and then use this knowledge to transform the way their businesses or organizations operate, create innovative products and services and advance understanding of how the world works. Previous winners of the EMC Information Leadership Award include Edward C. Johnson 3rd, chairman of the board and CEO, Fidelity Investments; J. Craig Venter, president and chairman, the Institute for Genomic Research; Kenneth D. Lewis, CEO, Bank of America; Ralph Szygenda, group vice president and CIO, General Motors; and Linda M. Dillman, executive vice president, Risk Management & Benefits Administration at Wal-Mart Stores. Laura E. Campbell, Associate Librarian for Strategic Initiatives, Library of Congress On Oct. 2, 2000, Laura E. Campbell was appointed by Librarian of Congress James H. Billington as Associate Librarian for Strategic Initiatives, a new Library of Congress position. Creation of the position responds to a recommendation contained in the July 26, 2000, National Academy of Sciences report, "LC21: A Digital Strategy for the Library of Congress." Ms. Campbell is responsible for the overall strategic planning for the Library, which includes development of a national strategy, in cooperation with other institutions, for the collection, access and preservation of digital materials. This collaborative effort is formally called the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program. Ms. Campbell also oversees the Information Technology Services directorate at the Library. Ms. Campbell is also Director of the National Digital Library (NDL) Program, which she has led since 1994 at the Library. In this capacity she led a cooperative national effort to digitize and make available online important and interesting materials of America's history and culture from the Library and other repositories throughout the country. The flagship of the NDL Program is the award-winning American Memory Web site, which makes freely available more than 11 million historical primary source materials. The NDL Program continues to add new content from the Library of Congress and other institutions. Ms. Campbell joined the Library in April 1992 as director of Library Distribution Services, a directorate that included programs for the Cataloging Distribution Service, the Federal Research Division, the Photoduplication Service and Retail Marketing. These areas of the Library operate on a cost-recovery basis. Before joining the Library, Ms. Campbell was a private consultant and vice president of QueTel Corp., a business and systems-integration consulting firm, from 1989 to 1992. At QueTel, she directed consulting engagements in strategic planning and financial systems, including work for the Library of Congress, where she served as a project manager for the strategic planning review of the institution. From 1984 to1989, she was a principal with Arthur Young & Co. (now Ernst and Young), directing projects for industry and government. Ms. Campbell is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University (B.A., 1973), the University of Maine (M.A. in management, 1979) and Georgetown University (M.S. in accounting, 1983).