Earlham College | News from Public Affairs

RICHMOND, Ind. — No stranger to accolades and awards, the Earlham College Library added to its list of plaudits this summer when a committee of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) saluted its “outstanding” Web site.

Honored in 2001 by the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) for its positive impact on the College’s academic program, the Earlham College library is newly recognized by the ACRL for the outstanding quality of its Web site. Lilly Library is pictured above.

The honor was bestowed by the ACRL’s Communications Committee of the College Library Section from a pool of colleges with enrollments of fewer than 5,000 students.

The Earlham Library Web site — www.earlham.edu/~libr/ — was cited for, among other features, its ease of access in terms of timely connection and relatively quick loading of graphics; its currency, as in its being frequently updated; for being “content-useful and relevant, containing breadth and depth and characterized by accuracy;” and for its handy navigation features and appealing overall look.

“This honor comes completely out of the blue,” said Tom Kirk, Earlham library director and coordinator of information services. “We did not submit anything. Rather, it appears the jury reviewed all sites in the category of the award and we were selected.”

As for who deserves credit for this latest honor, Kirk turned the spotlight immediately to his professional staff, notably Neal Baker, information technology and reference/instruction librarian; Sara Penhale, science librarian; Christine Larsen, reference librarian; “and others who helped develop the site.”

The Earlham library Web site not only contains data on the collections of Lilly and Wildman Science Libraries, the Earlham Archives and Friends Collection, it also is a gateway to a wide range of electronic resources, including databases, online reference works, and the Web sites of other academic, government and general use libraries through out the United States and around the world.

Kirk added that perfecting the library’s Web site is an ever-continuing process. “We have been talking about revising the site for the past few months, and will probably do that next spring and summer,” he said.

The importance of a library’s Web site cannot be underestimated, stressed Kirk, who in 2004 was honored individually by the ACRL — a division of the American Library Association (ALA) — as its Academic/Research Librarian of the Year.

“The library really has two access points these days,” Kirk said, “the front door and the Web site. So we want the Web site to be as inviting and informative as walking into the building.”

In 2001, the ACRL also presented Earlham with its Award for Excellence in Academic Libraries in acknowledgment of the library’s positive impact on the College’s academic program.

Contact:
Tom Kirk, library director and coordinator of information services
765/983-1360 — E-Mail Tom