Monday, November 6, 2017

UNL Librarians Chosen For ATG Media’s Up and Comer Award


Congratulations to University of Nebraska–Lincoln librarians Kiyomi Deards and Jennifer Thoegersen for receiving the Up and Comer Award from Against the Grain Media. Twenty recipients of the brand-new award were nominated and selected from across the United States for being rising stars in the library and information profession.

A faculty member of University Libraries since 2010, Deards is an innovative thinker and creative who makes partnership a priority in order to benefit as many people as possible –students, faculty, community, and professional colleagues. Coming from a chemistry and environmental science background, she co-created the SciPop talks in the Adele Hall Learning Commons in 2014. Since then, the talks have evolved to supply speakers for the Nebraska State Science Olympiad. 

Deards credits her colleagues for their support in her endeavors. “You can’t do something like SciPop by yourself,” she said. “You need a great group of people and I’ve been fortunate enough to have dozens of great collaborators.” 

Thoegersen came to the University Libraries in 2014. Among many other things, she has since helped implement the Rosetta digital preservation system and developed workflows for depositing digital materials into Rosetta for long-term preservation. Thoegersen also worked to develop educational escape rooms at both the Nebraska City Public Library and at the C. Y. Thompson Library on UNL’s East Campus.

From showing people how to manage their digital information, to preserving and providing access to content in varied digital formats, to finding new ways to connect communities with vital information, Thoegersen is passionate about her career and optimistic for the future.  

“At their core, libraries are about access to information, and I'm excited about the possibilities and challenges that we are encountering,” said Thoegersen. “It's an energizing time to be working in libraries.”

Against the Grain organizes the Charleston Conference, an annual gathering of professionals in the library industry in Charleston, SC. Deards and Thoegersen will receive their awards at the conference in November 2017.

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