News & Noteworthy

Congratulations to Colby Lewis, Winner of the 2018 LITA/Ex Libris Student Writing Award

Photo of Colby Lewis

Colby Lewis is the winner of the 2018 Student Writing Award sponsored by Ex Libris Group and the Library and Information Technology Association (LITA) for her paper titled “The Open Access Citation Advantage: Does It Exist and What Does It Mean for Libraries?” Lewis is a Master of Science in Information candidate at the University of Michigan School of Information.

“Lewis’ paper was selected as the winner because it is an excellent treatment of a timely and important topic. The paper was educational, well-written, and provided a comprehensive review of the scholarship assessing the open access citation advantage,” said Eric Phetteplace, the Chair of this year’s selection committee.

When notified she had won, Lewis remarked, “I am extremely excited and honored to accept the LITA/Ex Libris Writing Award for 2018. I would like to thank my family for all of their support and Professors Levine and Courant for encouraging me to submit my paper. I look forward to continuing my research and publishing this paper.”

The LITA/Ex Libris Student Writing Award recognizes outstanding writing on a topic in the area of libraries and information technology by a student or students enrolled in an ALA-accredited library and information studies graduate program. The winning manuscript will be published in Information Technology and Libraries (ITAL), LITA’s open access, peer reviewed journal, and Lewis will receive $1,000 and a certificate of merit.

The members of the 2018 LITA/Ex Libris Student Writing Award Committee are: Eric Phetteplace (Chair), Rebecca Rose (Past Chair), Margaret Heller, and Ken Varnum (ITAL Editor).

Thank you to Ex Libris for sponsoring this award.
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