Libraries receive top honors

Kayla Webley
2004-05-18
The Daily

A crowd of UW Libraries employees, clad in matching T-shirts, gathered in front of the school's flagship library, Suzzallo Library, to receive the 2004 Excellence in Academic Libraries Award, the highest honor an academic library can receive.

The award, presented by the Association of College and Research Libraries, recognizes the top research library in North America. President Lee Huntsman announced the award months ago, but received the award yesterday on behalf of the UW libraries.

"This is a special recognition; it really is extraordinary to be acknowledged as the best university library in the country for this year," said Huntsman.

Betsy Wilson, director of UW Libraries, accepted the $3,000 award made possible by Blackwell's Book Services, an international bookseller based in England.

"When you are chosen the best university library in the country, it's being on top and it shows that we are excellent in every way," said Wilson.

Huntsman thought the UW libraries were deserving of the recognition.

"We've known by national comparisons for a long time how extraordinary these libraries really are," he said. "It's no fluke; they really do deserve it. It is wonderful to have them recognized in this way."

According to Tyrone Cannon, president of the library association, there are several categories in which the libraries are judged. This competitive process evaluates the libraries on creativity, vision and service, he said.

The association, which is composed of 12,000 members from academic and research libraries around the country, reviews the applications in search of a worthy recipient.

"We look to see how the application that has been submitted meets the criteria. This year the UW rose to the top very clearly," said Cannon.

The nearly 1,000 library employees, including 580 UW students, were symbolically represented during the ceremony by eight randomly chosen employees.

"This staff is the best staff in the country. They are innovative, creative, hardworking and dedicated," said Wilson.

Steve Hiller, a library employee, appreciates the national recognition.

The award "means great recognition for the job that we do here to support our faculty and students in providing the library resources and services they need," Hiller said.

The libraries hope to continue their efforts serving the University, and hopefully continue receiving recognition from the national group.

"Now we will have to continue working to stay on the forefront of technology, teaching people how to use information, providing the best places for people to work and interact and be the center of the community for the University," said Wilson.

UW libraries has 6.4 million volumes in its catalogue, and is ranked No. 14 in holdings. Harvard University owns 15.2 million volumes, the most of any university.