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 2018 Jay Ladd Distinguished Service Award to Brian Gray, Team Leader of Research Services at Case Western Reserve University. Brian received a joint nomination by two of his colleagues at CWRU, Jen Starkey and Mark Eddy. For over a decade, Brian has served in many capacities on the ALAO Executive Board as well as serving as chair and member of numerous committees including:

• Board Member at-Large from 2007 to 2009, which included membership on the budget and planning committee and professional development committee.
• Member of the conference planning committee from 2007 to 2009, coordinating the exhibitors and vendors.
• In addition, from 2008 to 2013, he served in roles to support membership and the website. Brian’s development and vast knowledge of the ALAO website has informed the process of web redesigns and assisted with subsequent webmaster training.

Most recently, Brian served as ALAO President between 2015 and 2016. During his presidency, among many other initiatives, he developed meaningful partnerships with consortiums like SWON and Northeast Ohio Regional Library System to coordinate jointly sponsored programming to connect our members with professional development and social activities around the state.

Here are statements from his nominations:

When asked about their nominee’s activities that promote academic libraries and librarianship on their campus, they said: “He has been a leader in co-developing the Personal Librarian Program and has served on the campus-wide First-year experience advisory group.”

For statewide support of academic libraries, he has not only been a significant leader in ALAO but also in support of OhioLINK as chair and valuable contributing member of CIRM, the Cooperative Information Resources Management committee.

He also promotes academic libraries on a nationwide scale by planning and organizing the Personal Librarian and First Year Experience Conferences at Case Western Reserve University held in 2014, 2016, and 2018.

Lastly, the nominators wrote, “he has a positive attitude even in the face of stressful and difficult situations. He cares deeply about his work and about contributing to statewide and national professional organizations.”

Congratulations to Brian Gray!

Thank you to the 2018 awards committee that reviewed the nominations and selected our winners: ALAO President Eric Resnis, ALAO Vice President, President-Elect Katy Matheuws, Sue Polanka, 2017 Jay Ladd Award recipient and Jenny Donley, the 2017 Kathryn Venditti Award winner. Many thanks to Eric, Katy, Sue and Jenny for serving with me in order to recognize our colleagues and their important work.

-Katy Kelly, University of Dayton, Past President