News Features & Releases

John Collins Honored by American Library Association

Posted: February 12, 2008

Gutman librarian John Collins was named last week the 2008 Distinguished Education and Behavioral Sciences Librarian Award recipient by the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), a division of the American Library Association, which represents 13,000 academic and research librarians and interested individuals.

Collins will receive the award, which honors a distinguished academic librarian who has made an outstanding contribution as an education and/or behavioral sciences librarian, at the American Library Association Annual Conference in Anaheim, Calif., on Saturday, June 28.

“It is a great honor to be recognized for accomplishing things that you love to do,” Collins said, noting that this award is especially meaningful since it is given by peers.

“I am well aware that because of the people I work with, we have collectively been able to accomplish a lot at HGSE over the years. This recognition acknowledges all of us here at the Gutman Library.”

Within his 30-year career as a librarian, Collins has mentored and created professional development opportunities, promoted the exploration of issues through editorial boards and his own scholarship, and advocated for a more engaged and inclusive profession.

For more than 20 years, Collins has worked with the ACRL, where he influenced the direction of librarianship and co-founded the ACRL/Harvard Leadership Institute.

“Beyond his years of service directly to the profession, he has kept the perspective of libraries and their users vital through key advisory roles in the development of the National Library of Education and the new ERIC database,” said award committee Chair Paula McMillen, social science reference librarian and associate professor at Oregon State University. “He truly epitomizes a professional lifetime of service and achievement.”