40 Years of Professional and Community Volunteerism with Kentucky SLA

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - July 10, 2015 - PRLog -- As we move into second half of 2015 we are proud to share some of the happenings of our chapter and the accomplishments of our members.

First, let's wish a fond Happy Birthday to the Chapter.  Established in 1975, the Kentucky Chapter of SLA has dedicated 40 years of service to the information profession in Kentucky and beyond.  We will be celebrating the date at an event at the Woodford Reserve Distillery with a dinner afterwards at Grey Goose in Midway Kentucky on July 17^th, 2015.

As seems to be tradition, our chapter members continue to excel.  At the annual SLA conference in Boston four of our members received awards.

The Academic Division presented the Stacey Greenwell Outstanding Division Member Award to Catherine Lavallée-Welch. “This award is given annually to recognize a member for a notable or important contribution to the Academic Division. It is named in honor of Stacey Greenwell, founder and first Chair of the Academic Division in 2009.  The committee received not one, but three separate nominations, all in support of Catherine.  The nominators listed many reasons why Catherine deserved the award, a few of which are highlighted here.  She was a founding member of the Academic Division, and Chair of the Division in 2013.  Of particular note, as Chair, she fostered the approval of the Division’s first section for Scholarly Communication.  She has served as Chair of the Awards Committee for several years, and developed the Stacey Greenwell Outstanding Member Award, and the Springshare Innovation in Academic Libraries Award.  In 2012, she led the effort to create the Practical Academic Librarianship Award.  According to one of the nominators, “I have seen her chair many meetings, and she makes sure that everyone has a voice, but she also keeps the group motivated and moving forward. When I have chaired groups where she served, I could always count on Ms. Lavelée-Welch to provide insightful contributions and meet deadlines”.  In addition to her contributions to the Academic Division, Catherine is currently serving on the SLA Board of Directors and is a member of the Transition Committee.”  (http://academic.sla.org/annual-conference/congratulations-to-our-award-winners.html )

The Legal Division awarded Chapter President Virginia Mattingly with the Bloomberg BNA Outstanding New Member Contribution Award.  The Outstanding New Member Contribution award is designed to recognize a member in the early stages of his/her career who has already made significant contributions to the SLA Legal Division and shows outstanding potential for continued service and leadership within the Division and the profession.

Kentucky Chapter member Rebecca Vargha received the SLA Rose L. Vormelker Award. This award is presented to a mid-career member in good standing who actively teaches and/or mentors students or working professionals.

In addition to these member awards, Tracy Maleef became an SLA Fellow at the 2015 Annual Conference. You can read more about Tracy and the other 4 Fellows here http://www.sla.org/sla-names-five-new-fellows/ .

2015 is shaping up to be another year of member accomplishment and the work that our members do reach beyond our professional associations.  At the Kentucky Public Retirees 32^nd Annual Conference, Donna Slaton was awarded the Harry Lee Waterfield Humanitarian Honoree award.  Dona was recognized for a multitude of community service including her active support of the Kentucky Library Association and SLA.  Read more about Donna’s service in this news article (http://surfky.com/index.php/news/local/hopkins/62053-kentucky-public-retirees-news-awards).

It is the work of information professionals both within the SLA organization at the global and local level along with their achievements on the job that makes our members so very worthy of recognition and appreciation.  Keep up the good work and congratulations!

About KY SLA:  Kentucky SLA is a chapter of the international association SLA. SLA is a nonprofit international organization for innovative information professionals and their strategic partners. SLA serves information professionals in 75 countries in the information profession, including corporate, academic and government information specialists. The association promotes and strengthens its members through learning, advocacy and networking initiatives.

Constance Ard, PR Chair 2014-Present

Kentucky Chapter SLA