Amigos Board Announces 2012 Fellowship and Opportunity Award Winners

The Amigos Library Services Board of Directors is pleased to announce the winners of its 2012 Amigos Fellowship and Opportunity Award. They are:

• Deirdre Joyce, Central New York Library Resources Council, Syracuse, NY
  Project Title: Discovering Our Local Treasures: Incorporating the New York Heritage Digital Collections Project into the Common Core Learning Standards
• Liz DeHart, University of Texas Marine Science Institute, Marine Science Library, Port Aransas, TX
  Project Title: Digitizing and Promoting Greater Access to the Contributions in Marine Science, Formerly Publications of the Institute of Marine Science

The Board wishes to thank the members of the 2012 Fellowship & Opportunity Award Selection Committee for their service. Committee members are Dwain Gordon, Arkansas State Library (Chair); Joanne Downing, Fort Bend County Libraries (TX); Rachel Leket-Mor, Arizona State University Libraries; Juliana Nykolaiszyn, Oklahoma State University Library; and Jeanette Smith, New Mexico State University Library.

Each year, the Amigos Fellowship and Opportunity Award Program awards up to $7,500 to library and information professionals in Amigos member libraries to fund individual development projects. At its most recent meeting, the Amigos Board voted to increase annual funding to $10,000 beginning in 2013. Applications for 2013 funds will be available this fall. Staff members from Amigos member institutions are eligible to apply for funds.

The program evolved out of the Amigos Fellowship Program, founded in 1990. In 22 years, the program has awarded over $94,000 to foster professional development. Beginning in 2011, the program’s purposes were expanded to include funding that will encourage Amigos member libraries to innovate, cooperate, lead, and educate within their library, their communities, and the library profession. Visit the Amigos Fellowship and Opportunity Award Program website for previous winners and their project reports.