2009 Award Winner - Marcia Stockham

Marcia, Associate Professor, Chair of Social Sciences and Humanities, and Education Librarian at K-State Libraries, was selected as the winner of the fifth Brice G. Hobrock Distinguished Library Faculty Award. The Selection Committee received a record number of nominations this year from across the University. Ms. Stockham stood out because of her outstanding record of service to the Libraries, the University, and the profession. She has successfully balanced this service with her scholarship and her responsibilities as Education Librarian and Department Chair.

Ms. Stockham’s nominators frequently cited her dedication to the faculty in the Department of Education at K-State. One nominator remarked, “She has made a difference, and I appreciate that she has been so willing to go beyond the standard and continues to work to better the educational experience of our current and future students.” This sentiment was echoed by several of Ms. Stockham’s nominators, one of whom refers to her as “an outstanding professional who goes out of her way (and even beyond her schedule)” to support the students and faculty in the Department of Education. In addition her impact here on campus, Ms. Stockham has been actively publishing and presenting at the national level, has assumed leadership roles at the state level, and has also been active in national professional organizations.

2008 Award Winner - Dale Askey

Web Development Librarian and Associate Professor Dale Askey was selected by his peers to received the fourth Brice G. Hobrock Distinguished Library Faculty Award. Mr. Askey’s efforts to bring interactive tools to K-State Libraries’ technology offerings were cited in support of his nomination. He successfully obtained student funding for the Libraries’ initial purchase of SFX and a Google Search Appliance. He currently serves as the publisher for the Libraries’ new open-access journal imprint, New Prairie Press, and serves on the editorial board of Germany’s largest-circulation library journal, BuB. Forum für Bibliothek und Information. Mr. Askey’s nominator remarks, “He…shows a strong commitment to working with…K-State Libraries’ staff to foster a spirit of camaraderie, spread a ‘can-do’ attitude, and improve understanding of each unit’s activities and challenges.”

2007 Award Winner - Beth Turtle

Associate professor Beth Turtle was chosen by her peers to receive the third Brice G. Hobrock Distinguished Library Faculty Award. Turtle’s contributions to the “Moving beyond Paper” initiative were cited in support of her nomination. Turtle presently serves as chair of the Kansas Regents’ Database Consortium, which works to secure statewide contracts for many of the electronic databases and journal packages now used at K-State. She has also been involved in two Regents libraries projects providing virtual reference service.

Other activities include serving as a faculty senator and chairing a library faculty search committee through five searches. Turtle is the subject librarian for chemistry, biochemistry and chemical engineering. A colleague comments, “I appreciate Beth’s ability to see the big picture, yet not lose track of the details. She is a wonderful collaborator who always does her share of the work in an efficient manner.”

2006 Award Winner - Gayle K. Willard

Gayle K. Willard is the recipient of the 2006 Brice G. Hobrock Distinguished Faculty Award presented by the Friends of the K-State Libraries. Gayle's nominator says it best, “She has excelled in service, team-building, and in bringing internationally-recognized collections to our college and to Kansas State University .”

In recent years, Gayle has received several honors and awards, including Animals in Society grants funded in 2004 and 2005 by the State of Kansas. Gayle was awarded the Loise Darling Medal for Distinguished Achievement in Collection Development in the Health Sciences in 2004 from the Medical Library Association. In 2003, Gayle was appointed by the governor of Kansas to serve a 3-year term on the Kansas Library Network Board. Gayle is a member of several professional organizations, including the Midcontinental Chapter of the Medical Library Association, the Kansas Veterinary Medical Association, and the Veterinary Medical Libraries Section of the Medical Library Association, to name a few. Since 1999, Gayle has served as an information consultant and member of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee.

2005 Award Recipient - Mike Haddock

Mike has done himself and the Libraries proud in many arenas. Mike's book (based on his highly successful web site) Wildflowers and Grasses of Kansas: A Field Guide was recently published by the University Press of Kansas. Mike has also been a leader in areas of great importance to our land-grant mission such as AgNIC, the Agricultural Network Information Center. On campus he has served as a faculty senator, chaired the Faculty Senate Committee on Technology, and currently chairs the Information Resource Management Council.

As Mike's nominator concludes, "Mike is indeed a role model for academic librarians. He is an effective mentor and a great leader for his professional colleagues."