UT Dallas McDermott Library to Be Honored with Highsmith Award

The Eugene McDermott Library at The University of Texas at Dallas next week will be honored as one of two winners of the Texas Library Association’s (TLA) 11th annual Highsmith Library Award.

The award recognizes two libraries each year that have implemented creative marketing projects or promotions to enhance visibility within their service community.  The campaigns can take place on the library’s Web site or through other promotional avenues.

The McDermott Library’s Information Literacy Department, led by Loreen Phillips, created the marketing program named “Call! Click! Come In!” which involved a promotional blitz in the form of bookmarks, posters, campus newspaper advertisements and campus flyers.  Also included were giveaways such as pens, erasers and magnets.

The award will be presented on April 13 at the 2007 TLA conference in San Antonio.  Each winning library will receive a $1,000 check and a plaque.  The McDermott Library won in the “Public, Academic or Special” category.  The other award, presented in the “School” category, went to Midlothian Independent School District in Midlothian, Texas.

Phillips said goals of the UT Dallas program included “improving the visibility of the McDermott Library and making faculty and students more aware of its services.”  

Part of the initiative, called “Librarians on the Loose,” involved librarians venturing across campus to set up tables with remote computer links to the library’s electronic resources and catalog.  Additionally, a newsletter titled “Since You’re Here” was taped to the inside walls of library restrooms.

“We received many excellent applications about exciting programs that promote libraries, but your application stood out because of your willingness to take the library to the students and faculty rather than wait for them to come to you, and because your librarians were willing to take creative risks,” said Deidre Buckman of Highsmith, Inc. “What an asset your group is to the UT Dallas campus!”

As a result of the program, Phillips said requests for instruction sessions increased by 142 percent and personal research sessions with a librarian increased by 52 percent.  Also, librarians found students less reluctant to ask questions in the bookstore or student union.

The McDermott Library is only the second collegiate-level library to win the Highsmith Award since it was inaugurated in 1997. The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio won the award in 2001 for its “Alamo Area Medical Information Project.”

Highsmith, Inc. is a Wisconsin distributor of supplies, furniture and equipment to public, academic, secondary schools and special libraries throughout the United States and abroad.  The company sponsors several awards and grants for schools throughout the year.

About UT Dallas

The University of Texas at Dallas, located at the convergence of Richardson, Plano and Dallas in the heart of the complex of major multinational technology corporations known as the Telecom Corridor, enrolls more than 14,500 students.  The school’s freshman class traditionally stands at the forefront of Texas state universities in terms of average SAT scores.  The university offers a broad assortment of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs.  For additional information about UT Dallas, please visit the university’s website at www.utdallas.edu.