Washington, DC - February 14, 2011 - The Coalition for Networked Information (CNI), the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), and EDUCAUSE are pleased to announce that Christine L. Borgman, Professor and Presidential Chair in Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), has been named the 2011 recipient of the Paul Evan Peters Award. The award recognizes notable, lasting achievements in the creation and innovative use of information resources and services that advance scholarship and intellectual productivity through communication networks.

 

Named for CNI’s founding director, the award will be presented during the CNI Membership Meeting in San Diego, CA to be held April 4–5, 2011, where Borgman will deliver the Paul Evan Peters Memorial Lecture. Previous award recipients include Daniel Atkins (2008), Paul Ginsparg (2006), Brewster Kahle (2004), Vinton Cerf (2002), and Tim Berners-Lee (2000).

One facet of Borgman’s work that was particularly compelling for the award committee was her wide-ranging research interests, which focus “not only on the new technologies, but, just as importantly, on the underlying social and policy changes that she describes as profound and having lasting effects on the future scholarly environment,” noted committee member Nancy Eaton of Pennsylvania State University.

“It's a delight to see my colleague Chris get this recognition for her work; in particular, at least for me, her books Scholarship in the Digital Age and From Gutenberg to Global Information Infrastructure capture and elucidate a tremendous amount of the intellectual agenda and context that has driven the work of CNI,” commented CNI Executive Director Clifford Lynch. “Indeed, it's particularly appropriate in that these are issues and ideas that the late Paul Peters, whose contributions we also commemorate through this award, cared deeply about.” 

A Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Borgman’s current research clusters in two areas. One area is empirical research on the creation, use, and management of scientific data and its implications for science policy, which is associated with the Center for Embedded Networked Sensing. Her second area of interest is analytical work on the changing nature of scholarship in an environment of ubiquitous computer networks and digital information. She has authored more than 200 publications in the fields of information studies, computer science, and communication, and both of Borgman’s monographs have received the American Society for Information Science and Technology Best Information Science Book of the Year award. 

Borgman has served on numerous national boards and committees throughout her career, including the Task Force on Cyberlearning for the National Science Foundation (NSF), for which she was chair. Currently, Borgman is a member of the US National Academies’ Board on Research Data and Information and the US National Committee on Data for Science and Technology (CODATA), as well as serving as a lead investigator for the Center for Embedded Networked Systems (CENS), an NSF Science and Technology Center, where she conducts data practices research.

“Chris has an impressive range of accomplishments including her widely read publications on digital libraries, her pioneering work in the areas of e-science and data stewardship, and her participation on national advisory groups,” remarked ARL Executive Director Charles Lowry. “As a faculty member at UCLA, she is preparing a new generation of information professionals who will have the skills needed to advance scholarship in the digital environment.”

EDUCAUSE President Diana Oblinger also noted, “Having had the chance to work with Chris as a member of the NSF Task Force on Cyberlearning, I have seen firsthand how effectively she frames and navigates emerging issues in the use of technology to advance teaching, learning, and research. I cannot imagine a finer candidate for the Paul Evans Peters Award, and I am pleased that EDUCAUSE can join with CNI and ARL in recognizing her contributions to higher education.”

A four-member committee selected Borgman for the award: Marjory Blumenthal, Associate Provost, Academic, at Georgetown University; Nancy Eaton, Dean Emeritus of University Libraries at Pennsylvania State University; William Hogue, Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer of the University of South Carolina;  and Joan Lippincott, Associate Executive Director of the Coalition for Networked Information.

CNI, ARL, and EDUCAUSE sponsor the Paul Evan Peters Award, which was established with additional funding from Microsoft and Xerox Corporations. The award honors the memory and accomplishments of Paul Evan Peters (1947–1996). Peters was a visionary and a coalition builder in higher education and the world of scholarly communication. He led CNI from its founding in 1990 with informed insight, exuberant direction, eloquence, and awareness of the needs of its varied constituencies of librarians, technologists, publishers, and others in the digital world.

CNI is a coalition of some 200 member institutions dedicated to supporting the transformative promise of networked information technology for the advancement of scholarly communication and the enrichment of intellectual productivity. ARL is an organization of 126 research libraries in the US and Canada. Its mission is to influence the changing environment of scholarly communication and the public policies that affect research libraries and the diverse communities they serve. An association with more than 2,200 members, EDUCAUSE actively engages with colleges, universities, corporations, foundations, government, and other nonprofit organizations to further the mission of higher education through the use of information technology.

For more information, visit the award Web site at http://www.educause.edu/PaulEvanPetersAward/852.