A book by School of Information Studies professor R. David Lankes won the American Library Association’s ‘Best Book in Library Literature’ award for 2012, and it is sparking conversation throughout the librarian community.

Lankes said he felt honored and proud to receive the ALA’s recognition for his book, ‘The Atlas of New Librarianship.’

‘This book represents close to four years of work and working with some great people,’ he said. ‘To get recognized by the target group, the profession itself, is very, very gratifying.’

The ALA praised the novel for its innovativeness and facilitation of librarianship community, according to a March 1 SU News release. The MIT Press and the Association of College and Research Libraries, a division of the ALA that represents more than 12,000 college and research librarians, co-published the book, according to a Feb. 28 ALA press release.

Lankes, director of the Information Institute of Syracuse and SU’s library science program, has been teaching at the university since 1998. He said during his time at Syracuse University, he has worked to move the future of libraries and librarians forward because ‘they are an increasingly important part of the world around us.’ His book reflects this vision, Lankes said.

The book confronts the issue of the changing world of libraries and transfer of information from one place to the next.

‘A lot of people ask the question, ‘Do we still need libraries and librarians?” Lankes said. ‘This book is about why we very much need librarians and how we need librarians who are not focused on books and buildings, but on community and knowledge and information.’

Lankes’ goal in writing the book struck a chord within the library science community. Kathryn Deiss, content strategist at ACRL, said she supported Lankes’ idea from the beginning.

‘I was the first person he came to with his idea,’ Deiss said. ‘He said, ‘I’ve got this idea. I’ve got a lot of work done, and it’s going to be very different, and what do you think?’ And I said, ‘ACRL has to publish this.”

Deiss said Lankes’ book challenged librarians’ own assumptions about their field and raised questions such as: What do librarians do? What should they be doing? And what is their mission?

‘(Lankes) thinks that it’s the librarians that make the difference in communities, and not the buildings or even the stuff inside the buildings,’ she said.

Lankes has authored, co-authored or edited 15 books and written more than 30 pieces for professional audiences. This award will be formally presented at the ALA’s annual meeting in Anaheim, Calif., in June, according to the ALA release.

‘This book will most likely become a library textbook and will be one of those books that is a mark in time,’ Deiss said. ‘People are going to reference this book for many years.’

sjtaddeo@syr.edu 

Published on March 6, 2012 at 12:00 pm