English named ACRL Academic/Research Librarian of the Year

["Kara Malenfant" <kmalenfant@ala.org>]

For Immediate Release
February 14, 2006

CHICAGO-Ray English, Azariah Smith Root Director of Libraries at 
Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio, is the 2006 Association of 
College and Research Libraries' (ACRL) Academic/Research 
Librarian of the Year. The award, sponsored by YBP Library 
Services, recognizes an outstanding member of the library 
profession who has made a significant national or international 
contribution to academic/research librarianship and library 
development.

English will receive a $3,000 award on Monday, June 26, 2006, at 
4:30 p.m., at a ceremony and reception during the American 
Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference in New Orleans. YBP 
Library Services sponsors the reception.

"Ray English is an influential librarian," said award committee 
chair Les Canterbury. "He is a leader in various organizations on 
state and national levels including the Oberlin Group of Liberal 
Arts Colleges, OhioLINK, ACRL, and other units of the American 
Library Association. Under his direction, Oberlin College has led 
a Mellon Foundation initiative involving six academic libraries 
that's designed to attract a more diverse population to the 
library profession through undergraduate internships.

"English's greatest impact as a librarian, perhaps, and the area 
of his work that stands out to the selection committee, is his 
advocacy for open access to the results of scholarly research. 
The breadth and depth of his knowledge of issues related to 
dissemination of scholarly output, and his commitment to access 
to information, led to his leadership role in information 
policy-setting arenas. He has been a primary leader of the ACRL 
scholarly communications program, has been active in the 
Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), 
and has fostered close cooperation on scholarly communications 
issues among ACRL, SPARC, and the Association of Research 
Libraries. In addition, and on a larger stage, he has influenced, 
as an expert contributor, national policy on public access to 
federally-funded research, including the recent National 
Institutes of Health Public Access Policy."

English is a founding member and chair of the ACRL Scholarly 
Communications Committee and recently was elected chair of the 
steering committee of SPARC, of which Oberlin College is a 
founding member. He also has lectured and written extensively on 
scholarly communication issues and open access. Since 1988, 
English has served on more than 15 ALA and ACRL committees and is 
a former ACRL Board member (1996-98).

Under English's leadership, Oberlin became the first private, 
liberal arts college library to join OhioLINK. In addition, he 
participated in a cooperative effort with four other Ohio private 
colleges in establishing a new consortium, the Five Colleges of 
Ohio, which received a major grant from the Andrew W. Mellon 
Foundation for library resource sharing. He also coordinated a 
$475,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to 
incorporate information literacy into the liberal arts curriculum 
of each of the Ohio Five schools. In addition, English was 
co-project director of an Institute of Museum and Library 
Services (IMLS) National Leadership grant to create a library 
diversity intern program at Oberlin College from 2000-2002. The 
Oberlin College Library received the 2002 ACRL Excellence in 
Academic Libraries Award in the college category.

"I was delighted when ACRL President Camila Alire called to tell 
about this award," said English. "It's a wonderful honor to be 
recognized by peers in this way. I want to express a special word 
of thanks to those colleagues who put forward my nomination. I'm 
very grateful that I've been in a position to make contributions 
that are perceived to be important for the profession."

English received his A.B. with honors in German from Davidson 
College in 1969. He earned his Masters in German literature from 
the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1971, where he 
also received his M.S.L.S. in 1977 and earned his PhD in German 
literature in 1978.

Previous award winners include Ravindra Nath (R. N.) Sharma 
(2005); Tom Kirk (2004); Ross Atkinson, (2003); Shelley Phipps, 
(2002); Larry Hardesty (2001); and Sharon Hogan (2000).

For more information regarding the ACRL Academic/Research 
Librarian of the Year award, or a complete list of past 
recipients please visit 
www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlawards/acrllibrarian.htm.

ACRL is a division of the American Library Association, 
representing 13,000 academic and research librarians and 
interested individuals. ACRL is the only individual membership 
organization in North America that develops programs, products 
and services to meet the unique needs of academic and research 
librarians. Its initiatives enable the higher education community 
to understand the role that academic libraries play in the 
teaching, learning and research environments.

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