Emeryville, CA—Innovative Interfaces announced the winners of the 2005 Be Innovative! Awards during the recent Innovative Users Group (IUG) Annual Conference held in San Francisco. Innovative's Vice President of Marketing, Gene Shimshock, presented the annual awards at the All-Conference Luncheon on May 3rd. This year's honors went to C/W Mars (Massachusetts), The University of Maine System Libraries, The University of North Carolina, Wilmington, and Union College (New York). Winners were treated to a celebratory dinner hosted by Innovative's Chairman and CEO, Jerry Kline, a travel award of up to $1,000, free registration to a training workshop, and a “starfire” crystal trophy to recognize the library's accomplishments.
The Be Innovative! Award program is held annually with the goal of demonstrating the creative and outstanding uses of Innovative products. A panel consisting of Innovative senior management and IUG leadership evaluated dozens of entries and determined first and second place awards in two categories: "Most Innovative Public Access Application" and "Most Innovative Staff Application." IUG members participating in the judging were Carol Wu of Brock University (Canada), Chair, and Cheryl Gowing of University of Miami, Vice Chair/Chair Elect. The 2005 winners were:
Most Innovative Staff Application
First Place
C/W Mars (Central/Western Massachusetts Automated Resource Sharing) - The library system developed a fun and effective training program for Millennium Circulation that takes the form of a game show called, "Circ Challenge." Joan Kuklinski, Member Services Supervisor, accepted the award.
Second Place
University of Maine System Libraries – This award recognized the library's creation of 10-minute training modules based on materials in CSDirect, Innovative's customer service website. Laura Gallucci, URSUS Library Systems Manager, accepted the award.
Most Innovative Public Access Application
First Place
Union College - The library was recognized for an online catalog that achieves fine design and consistency with College conventions, while providing a customized "brief hit list," a custom-designed thesis search form, and a clever new acquisitions list. David Fuller, Systems Librarian, accepted the award.
Second Place
University of North Carolina, Wilmington - The library was recognized for its use of Innovative's XML Harvester to integrate over 1,400 math and science digital learning objects into their iLumina portal. Arlene Hanerfield, Associate University Librarian for Technical and Collection Services, accepted the award.
Note: A photograph of award recipients is available on request through email address below.
About the IUG
The Innovative Users Group (IUG) was formally organized in 1991 as an international organization of member libraries that use Innovative Interfaces' integrated library software products. It is an independent organization from Innovative Interfaces. The IUG is led by the Steering Committee whose members are elected by the general membership. It consists of a Chair, Vice Chair/Chair Elect, Past Chair, Secretary/Treasurer, and four Members at Large. All members of the Steering Committee volunteer their services to the organization. In addition to archiving all conference presentation materials, IUG also maintains a website which includes an Online Clearinghouse of member-developed resources including tutorials, scripts, training documents, and promotional materials. These resources represent a level of customer involvement and support unmatched in the library technology arena.
About Innovative
With over 25 years of partnership with the library community, Innovative Interfaces (www.iii.com) is the leader in providing Web-powered, Java-based automated library systems. Its flagship product offering, Millennium, is an acknowledged market leader installed in thousands of libraries in over 40 countries. The company is headquartered in Emeryville, California, with offices in Australia, Canada, France, Hong Kong, Korea, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, and the United Kingdom.
