EIU’s Knight-Davis wins ILA Reference Services Award
Jul-22-2019(Charleston, IL) – Stacey Knight-Davis, Professor and Head of Library Technology Services at Eastern Illinois University’s Booth Library, has been selected to receive the 2019 Illinois Library Association Reference Services Award, given annually for excellence in providing assistance to library users as they seek and use information. The Reference Services Award will be presented at an Awards Luncheon October 22, during the 2019 Illinois Library Association Annual Conference in Tinley Park.
“I’m honored to have been recognized for this award,” Knight-Davis said. “While this is an individual award, all of the projects mentioned in the nomination were team projects. Collaboration, in the library, on campus, and with other universities, made these projects successful. I am grateful for my colleagues, delighted that they nominated me for this award, and I look forward to future partnerships to support and advance teaching, learning, and librarianship.”
Library Technology Services provides a variety of resources to the Eastern Illinois University community, including one-on-one support for students, working with faculty to integrate library services into online courses, and building and maintaining the library’s online services. Library Technology Services also provides unique equipment like electric guitars and LP and cassette digitization equipment. The department also manages the library’s collection of DVDs and CDs. Knight-Davis and her staff provide service and expertise to students, faculty, and community members to help them use information and technology to learn and create.
One example of Knight-Davis’ dedication to assisting users is her work with STEP—Students with Autism Transitional Education Program—a specialized support program for students with autism. Knight-Davis began this project by interviewing autistic students to learn if the library was effective in assisting them with their informational needs. She then used the feedback provided in those interviews to improve programs and services, and to enhance learning and communal spaces throughout the library. JJ Pionke, Applied Health Sciences Librarian at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, and Steve Brantley, Head of Research, Scholarship and Engagement at Booth Library, were partners in this project.
In addition, Knight-Davis has spearheaded a number of exhibits that provide cultural and educational value, including a Quidditch display for “Twenty Years of Harry Potter: Celebrating a Phenomenon.” The Quidditch display was a collaboration with Chelsea Duncan from Kinesiology and Sports Studies at EIU. Knight-Davis worked with Pionke to display his exhibit “Symbols of Service” at EIU and assisted the team that created the exhibit “Designs of Duty,” a traveling exhibit on Illinois veterans and their service-related tattoos. Brad Tolppanen and Beth Heldebrandt led the Designs of Duty team. Because of its unique narrative, “Designs of Duty” earned national recognition for both Booth Library and Eastern Illinois University. The project and partnership between libraries is described in an article in the journal College and Undergraduate Libraries.
Knight-Davis also has co-authored a chapter with Lauri DeRuiter-Willems of EIU’s Department of Health Promotion in the book The Evolution of Affordable Content Efforts in the Higher Education Environment on faculty-library collaboration without assigned textbooks. This publication showcases a campuswide academic endeavor she planned, developed and helped facilitate at EIU called “The Flu Then and Now,” as well as describing how Knight-Davis works with faculty to seamlessly integrate library resources into courses at EIU.
Knight-Davis has been serving EIU’s Booth Library since 2002. In addition to her role as head of Library Technology Services, she also is the subject librarian for Health Promotion and Nursing. Her professional roles include committee work for the National Network of Libraries of Medicine Great Midwest Technology Working Group and serving as a past president of the Health Science Librarians of Illinois.
For more information about EIU, or to learn more about its growing assortment of programs and services, visit the university’s website at www.eiu.edu, or call EIU’s public information office at (217) 581-7400.
