Earlier this week, I ran across this short news article in my inbox:
22 March 2004
Sirsi Leader In Library Technology Grant Winner Announced
The American Library Association (ALA) has announced the winner of the
Sirsi Leader In Library Technology Grant, sponsored by the Sirsi
Corporation.
The award of $10,000 and a citation is provided to encourage and enable
continued advancements in quality library services for a project that makes
creative or groundbreaking use of technology to deliver exceptional
services to its community.
This year's grant is awarded to The Mid-Illinois Talking Book Center,
OverDrive, Inc, and TAP Information Services for their group project
proposal for "E-Books Open Up the World of Print to Visually Impaired
Readers."
The goal of the project is to create a rich collection of multi-format
e-books that have been optimized for use by print-impaired library patrons,
including the blind, visually impaired, physically challenged and dyslexic.
All technologies supporting accessible digital content will be included
in the project, including software, systems, and hardware playback devices.
Digital talking books in various file formats, including recorded audio and
text-to-speech technologies, will be included in the creation and use of
the collection.
"The Sirsi Leader in Technology jury salutes Mid-Illinois Talking Book
Center for the promise of its initiative, the quality of its proposal, and
the soundness of its project," said Alan Kirk Gray, award chair. "The jury
was impressed with the potential of the program to provide a rich
collection of multi-format e-books that have been optimized for use by
print-impaired library patrons, including the blind."
The SIRSI Grant will be presented Tuesday, June 24, during the ALA
Annual Conference in Orlando, Fla.
*********
I realized the driving force behind the award was none other than list
member Lori Bell who also coordinates the excellent ebookworm interviews on
digital book access and book discussion groups, both on Audio Avenue. these
programs have been well publicized on the list. Her peer-reviewed award
winning proposal that is truly visionary and future forward can be found at:
http://www.tapinformation.com/SIRSIprop.htm.
Lori imagines the library services of tomorrow and delivers them today.
Here is her profile that just appeared in "Library Journal."
Kelly
Library Journal
The Idea Generator--Lori Bell
by Staff -- 3/15/2004
LORI BELL, Mid-Illinois Talking Book Center, East Peoria
Anyone who hires Lori Bell is getting two librarians: one who
enthusiastically does the job, and another who develops new ideas, secures
grants to fund them, and swiftly puts the ideas into action.
There's nothing that makes a job more attractive to Bell than the
freedom to try out new things. Jenny Levine, Internet development
specialist at Illinois's Suburban Library System, says that wherever Bell
has gone, 'Boom! Suddenly that library is doing exciting new projects.'
Bell's career has been remarkably eclectic. She's been a children's
librarian, a reference librarian, an outreach librarian, a technology
consultant for library systems, and a hospital librarian. The constant in
all of this has been her love for 'working with new technologies and
identifying and using these in whatever library system I happen to be in.'
As director of automation services at Alliance Library System, East
Peoria, IL, she wrote $1 million worth of successful technology grants,
helped 45 rural and small-town libraries connect to the Internet, and
coordinated several collaborative digitization projects, including
'Illinois Alive!' and 'Early Illinois Women and Other Unsung Heroes.' At
the same time, she organized, and in many cases presented, 50 technology
programs a year for member libraries. Bell also collaborated with academic
libraries on one of the first 24/7 virtual reference projects.
As a medical librarian at the OSF Saint Francis Medical Center, Peoria,
Bell wrote a grant to put PDAs in the hands of the physicians, provide
appropriate software and databases for the PDAs, and train the doctors. One
offshoot of this project was the web log she created to share ideas with
colleagues, The HandHeld Librarian.
At the Mid-Illinois Talking Book Center (MITBC), Bell is project leader
for InfoEyes, a multistate virtual reference project for the visually
impaired. She's made MITBC one of the first talking book centers in the
country to offer digital audiobooks through Audible.com's Audible Otis.
This tiny MP3-like player can be mailed to participants preloaded with up
to three books of their choice. Bell is also experimenting with Voice-over
Internet Protocol for her outreach programs.
The trick to winning grants, Bell says, is sheer persistence; you just
need to keep trying. She likes what her boss, Valerie Wilford, says about
her: 'I'm like an ant. If I want to try a project and something doesn't
work out, I may be squashed for a moment, but I get right back up and try
from another direction.'
If she only applied technologies in inventive ways to improve library
service, she would be a certified 'mover and shaker.' But Bell has the
librarian's compulsion to share what she knows, so her other, equally
important role is that of salesperson, evangelist, teacher, and inspiration
to librarians throughout Illinois and beyond.
And yet, since one of the things she values most about work is 'not
being in the same place doing the same thing every day,' don't be surprised
if she moves on to other jobs, other challenges, other new technologies.
Which means that one of these days, her employer is probably going to
have to find a replacement for her. Or rather two replacements: one to meet
the job description and one to transform the job.
Vitals
Current Position: Director, Mid-Illinois Talking Book Center, East
Peoria
Degree: M.S. in LIS, University of Illinois at Urbana, 1982
Awards:
MCI Cybrarian of the Year Award for Illinois, 1998; Illinois Library
Association's Alexander Skryzpek Award for Outstanding Contribution to
Library Services for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, 1994
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