KINGSTON, R.I. — April 14, 2017 — University of Rhode Island Librarian and Professor Mary MacDonald received a national award earlier this year and the first thing she thought of was her colleagues.

“Receiving this award is a wonderful honor, but it is because I work with such dedicated and knowledgeable URI librarians, that I have had so many successes. We have the common goal of creating effective, successful information literacy instruction programs for students,” said the winner of the Association of College and Research Libraries Miriam Dudley Instruction Librarian Award. Her URI colleagues, as well as librarians from across the country, nominated her.

MacDonald was at lunch with a colleague when she received a call from the library association’s awards chair. “I was in complete shock. So many people all over the country are involved in the same work. For me to receive national recognition is extremely humbling” said the Wakefield, R.I. resident.

The association is dedicated to supporting librarians serving in higher education and to improving learning, teaching and research. MacDonald’s work at the University has advanced information literacy through the courses she teaches and the programs she organizes for URI students.

“Information literacy is understanding how to find, evaluate, and use information” MacDonald said. “We treat information too casually. Students might think we just want to point a finger and tell them to cite their work. It’s really the joy of discovery and being able to critically think of information.”

Macdonald frequently meets with students to guide them in their research. “The most rewarding part of my job is teaching students about our resources and witnessing the ‘aha’ moment when they’ve learned something new.”

MacDonald will receive the award on June 24 at the national American Library Association Conference in Chicago.

This release was written by Josh Reyes, a sophomore Public Relations and an intern at URI’s Department of Marketing and Communication.