University of Hawaii at Manoa LIS professor and associate chair Dr. Violet H. Harada is the 2011 recipient of the American Association of School Librarian’s Distinguished Service Award. Established in 1978, the award, sponsored by Baker and Taylor, recognizes an individual member of the library profession who has, over a significant period of time, made an outstanding national contribution to school librarianship and school library development.

Harada was nominated by Carolyn Kirio and Debora Lum.

"Harada is a visionary mentor, instructor, colleague and advocate," read the nomination submitted by Kirio. "She continues to mold/influence librarianship with her expertise and knowledge. [She] is definitely a leader in the field."

Working to advance the profession, Harada has served on many AASL and other national educational association committees. Most recently, she was a member of the learning standards indicators and assessment task force that was charged with developing indicators, benchmarks and model examples from the AASL learning standards. The task force’s work culminated in the publication of "Standards for the 21st-Century Learner In Action." She has represented school library interests as an invited participant of the U.S. Department of Education's America Reads Challenge roundtable and as a member of the Student Learning through Ohio School Libraries international advisory panel.

Locally, Harada has served as an executive board member of the Hawaii Association of School Librarians (HASL) since 1993 and as member of the school library services advisory board in the Hawaii Department of Education. With the DOE, Harada has worked to establish guidelines and models for effective library programming. From 1995-1997, Harada was a commissioner for the Hawaii State Public Library System on the Oahu Public Library Advisory Commission. For her dedication and contributions to school librarianship in Hawaii, HASL awarded Harada with the 1990 Golden Key Award.

Harada has served as a professor in the computer sciences, library and information science program at the University of Hawaii since 1984. According to the nomination application submitted by Lum, "whether teaching graduate students or facilitating workshops for school librarians, Harada creates opportunities to connect theory to practice when developing their programs." For this exceptional teaching, Harada received the 2010 Sarah K. Vann Award for Professional Service and University of Hawaii-Manoa's 1998 Presidential Citation for Meritorious Teaching Award. Her students' success is a testament to her dedicated mentoring, as one has received AASL's School Library Program of the Year award and another was recognized as part of AASL President Nancy Everhart's Vision Tour.

"Dr. Violet Harada exemplifies the qualities worthy of the AASL Distinguished Service Award," said Janice Ostrom, award committee member. "She has received many grants and awards including the AASL ABC-CLIO Leadership Grant to further her research. Dr. Harada's career includes a lifetime of library research and dissemination of the knowledge gained through workshops, conferences, and professional writing. She has influenced the profession as a researcher, teacher, mentor and advocate. It is with great pleasure we honor Dr. Harada's service to the library profession."

Many State Library Administrative Agencies are reporting steep and sudden declines in state revenues for library services, according to a report released today by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The majority of states reported reductions, with six states reporting losses of greater than 15 percent in one year. Overall, 51 SLAAs collected $34 million less in state revenue in FY 2009 than they did in FY 2008. During the same period, SLAAs lost 227 full-time employees, a one-year decrease of 6.7 percent.

SLAAs play an important role in planning and evaluating library services in the states. While the range of services each SLAA provides differs state by state, all are tasked with administering the IMLS Grants to States program, which helps libraries embrace technology, serve underserved populations, and develop new service models.

"State Library Administrative Agencies are part of the educational and economic fabric of the nation," said Susan Hildreth, director of IMLS. "SLAAs assess needs for library services in the state and support a wide range of programs that support the nation's libraries as they help people get work, pursue their education, and strengthen the civic life of communities everywhere. It is important for us to track and report about the health of these essential state agencies."

The Technical Services Section is delighted to announce that Nancy Sack of the University of Hawai`i at Manoa Library has agreed to serve as the Section Chair. Nancy is planning some exciting programming related to the implementation of RDA (Resource Description and Access) and other developments in technical services. You may contact her at [email protected].

The ALA Public Programs Office, in partnership with the National Constitution Center and the National Endowment for the Humanities, is accepting online applications for a large-scale tour of the traveling exhibition "Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War" through May 5 at www.ala.org/civilwarprograms. Eligible institutions include but are not limited to public, research and special libraries; historical societies; museums; civic, community and heritage organizations; and institutes of higher learning. Funding for the exhibition and tour is provided by a major grant from NEH.

Using the U.S. Constitution as its cohesive thread, "Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War" offers a fresh and innovative perspective on the Civil War that brings into focus the constitutional crises at the heart of this great conflict. The exhibition identifies these crises—the secession of the Southern states, slavery and wartime civil liberties—and explores how Lincoln sought to meet these political and constitutional challenges.

Two hundred sites will be selected to host the 1,000 square foot exhibition for a period of six weeks each from September 2011 through May 2015. Each site will receive a $750 grant to support expenses related to exhibition programming. Participating institutions are expected to present at least two free public programs featuring a lecture or discussion by a qualified scholar on exhibition themes. All showings of the exhibition must be free and open to the public.

"Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War" is supported by NEH's We the People initiative, which aims to stimulate and enhance the teaching, study and understanding of American history and culture. For more information, including project guidelines, programming resources and the online application, visit www.ala.org/civilwarprograms.