Sue Polanka, left. Pictured with Past President Krista McDonald

The Jay Ladd Distinguished Service Award recognizes an individual who has been an ALAO member for at least 5 years, and who has promoted academic libraries and librarianship not only on his or her own campus, but also within the state. The award also recognizes someone who has provided leadership in the promotion of ALAO through service such as committee membership, executive board office, or interest group office.

At the annual conference, I had the honor of presenting the 2017 Jay Ladd Distinguished Service Award to Sue Polanka, Associate University Librarian for Public Services at Wright State University.  Sue has been a very active member of ALAO. She served on a number of conference planning committees, has served President, and as Vice President in 2012 hosted one of ALAO’s largest conferences. Since leaving the executive board, she has continued her involvement with ALAO by participating in the Assessment Interest Group and helping to plan the preconference at the 2016 ALAO Conference.

Sue has promoted academic libraries and librarianship not only on her campus, or even within our state, but both nationally and internationally through her:

• Recognition as a Library Journal “Mover and Shaker” in 2011
• Founding of No Shelf Required, a blog about ebooks in libraries that was voted #1 Academic Library Blog in Salem Press’s Blog Awards
• Authorship of books and articles on electronic books, thus making her a renowned “ebook guru”
• Numerous presentations at ALAO and ACRL conferences
• Years of service on the OhioLINK User Services Committee
• Service on the ALA Council

As her nominator wrote, “Sue is one of those librarians that we all aspire to be.” She never backs away from a challenge and is an amazing problem solver. She approaches everything with a smile, good humor, and a “let’s get to work attitude.” She is highly respected in our profession, and as you can see from the partial list of her accomplishments above, that respect is well earned. She is a mentor and leader both in her home library and in ALAO.

Congratulations to Sue Polanka!

-Krista McDonald, Miami University-Hamilton, Past President