Library Service to Labor Award

Call for Nominations for Library Service to Labor Award


Nominations are being accepted for the 2008 John Sessions Memorial Award given by the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) of the American Library Association (ALA). Self nominations are welcomed. The deadline is December 15, 2007.

The award was established in 1980 and is named in honor of John Sessions, former American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) co-chair of the AFL-CIO/ALA Joint Committee on Library Service to Labor Groups. The plaque, supported by a donation from the AFL-CIO, is given to recognize a library or library system that has made a significant effort to work with the labor community and by doing so has brought recognition to the history and contribution of the labor movement to the development of the United States.

The 2007 award recipient was the James B. Carey Library, School of Management and Labor Relations, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey. "Under the stewardship of Constance Finlay, the James B. Carey Library has been transformed in recent years into a dynamic agent for providing in-depth and specialized information resources and services to a wide range of the labor community that includes students, scholars, union leaders and public policy practitioners," said Theodora T. Haynes, 2007 award committee chair.

The 2006 award recipient was Joan Cassidy, librarian, New York State United Teachers, Latham (NY). Ms. Cassidy created the Albert Shanker 'Where We Stand' database which was called “one of the most outstanding research tools for labor and education historians” by Dan Golodner, the 2006 award committee chair.

The 2008 award will presented at the RUSA Awards Reception during the ALA Annual Conference, June 26–July 2, 2008, in Anaheim, CA.



For more information, please contact the Sessions Committee Chairperson as soon as possible:



Jannie R. Cobb, Librarian

The George Meany Memorial Archives Library

National Labor College

10000 New Hampshire Avenue

Silver Spring, MD 20903

301-431-5447

jcobb@nlc.edu