Connaway to Receive Watson Davis Award for Service
The Association for Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T) is delighted to announce that Lynn Silipigni Connaway, PhD is the 2019 recipient of the Watson Davis Award for Service. The award’s purpose is to recognize an individual member of the Association who has shown continuous dedicated leadership in and service to ASIS&T and made substantial and lasting contributions to ASIS&T governance, chapters, SIGs, committees, and publications. Candidates are assessed based on 3 criteria: dedicated service to ASIS&T as evidenced by the amount and length of participation in, leadership of, and support to ASIS&T programs, chapters, SIGs, committees, publications, etc.; sustained, active involvement in ASIS&T; and engagement in activities that create a meaningful impact on ASIS&T communities, such as in high attendance numbers for events, attracting significant news coverage of a publication or event, attraction of new members, and/or positive financial impact for the Association, SIG or Chapter.
Dr. Connaway is Director of Library Trends and User Research and leads the User Studies research at OCLC. She is the Past President of the Association of Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T) and was the Chair of the American Library Association (ALA) Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Value of Academic Libraries Committee. Lynn held the Chair of Excellence position at the Departmento de Biblioteconomía y Documentación at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, was a Visiting Researcher in the Department of Information Studies, University of Sheffield and a Visiting Scholar at the Royal School of Library and Information Science, Copenhagen, Denmark. She has received research funding from the IMLS in the US and Jisc and the Arts and Humanities Research Council in the UK. Lynn was the project lead on the ALA ACRL “Action-Oriented Research Agenda on Library Contributions to Student Learning and Success.” Dr. Connaway is the co-author of the 4th and 5th editions of Basic Research Methodsfor Librarians and of the 6th edition, titled Research Methods in Library and Information Science. Prior to joining OCLC Research, she was the Vice-President of Research and Library Systems at NetLibrary, the director of the Library and Information Services Department at the University of Denver, and on the faculty of the Library and Informational Science program at the University of Missouri, Columbia. To find out more about Dr. Connaway, visit http://www.oclc.org/research/people/connaway.html.
In her nomination of Dr. Connaway for the award, Kathryn La Barre, PhD of the University of Illinois said, “During Lynn’s nearly thirty years of membership, which began during her doctoral studies, her service engagement has reached across the breadth of the society, from committees, to SIGs, to chairing an annual meeting program committee, to her recent service as President of ASIS&T (2016-17) during one of the most difficult transitions in the history of this association, the retirement of Executive Director Dick Hill. Her leadership during this period was unparalleled. Her unpaid and voluntary service was a sacrifice beyond the expectations of any who have held the office of President. Her work alongside a small team of other dedicated professionals has ensured longevity and cemented the future success of ASIS&T.”
Dr. Nadia Caidi of the University of Toronto, a former President of ASIS&T, noted, “As part of her professional contributions, she has communicated to a range of audiences through publications in a variety of formats (including podcasts). Her work, spanning the professional and the scholarly, is a great example of successful knowledge translation. Her dedication to the profession also led her to receive recognition by the like of ALISE and other sister organizations.”
Brandi Loveday-Chesley, a Board member during the time of Dr. Connaway’s Board leadership, said, “It is my firm belief that Dr. Connaway’s extreme efforts during the administrative turn over at ASIST contributed directly to the fact the organization lasted past its 80th year…Her tenacity and dedication in the face of such a change are exactly what ASIST needed, and still needs.”
Dr. Soo Young Rieh of the University of Michigan wrote, “[Dr. Connaway] is great in building a consensus across different perspectives. She is also good at making connections between people and between situations. She knows how to communicate with people as she listens intently. We have been very lucky to have Lynn Connaway as a leader of the ASIS&T. She is fully deserving of the ASIS&T Watson Davis Award for Service.”
Upon learning of her selection as the 2019 Watson Davis Award for Service winner, Dr. Connaway said, “I am honored to receive the Watson Davis Award which commemorates the founder of ASIS&T. The Association has been my scholarly and professional home since I was a doctoral student. I always have been enthusiastic to work on committees and initiatives to better serve the Association membership and to advance our scholarly and professional community and hope to have the opportunities to continue to contribute to the Association.”
Dr. Connaway will receive her award at the 2019 meeting of the Association for Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T) which will be held in Melbourne, Australia, October 19-23, 2019.