The Thurston plaque recognizes a contribution to the professional literature by a practicing documents or other librarian which improves access to government information at the international, Federal, state, or local level. Membership in GODORT of Michigan is not required.
The award is presented in the memory of Paul W. Thurston, who set exemplary professional standards during his career as a documents librarian. It is the hope of GODORT of Michigan that the award will encourage others in both new and ongoing contributions to the documents literature.
Requirements:
The contribution should have been published within the past three years. Electronic publication is acceptable. If unpublished, it should have been completed in the past three years.
Nominations must include or be followed by a letter of support. This letter should include the name and address of the nominee, present place of employment, a sample of the nominee’s work, and the nominating source (person and/or organization).
Deadline:
Nominations and the accompanying materials for the Thurston Award should be submitted to the Director-at-Large of GODORT of Michigan by February 28 of the calendar year the award would be made. If a person is selected to receive the award, it is presented at the GODORT Annual Business Meeting held in conjunction with the American Library Association Annual Conference.
Past recipients of the Thurston Award include :
- Saundra Williams and staff of the University of Memphis for their website, Uncle Sam, Migrating Government Publications, 1998.
- Sheila Nollen from Western Illinois University for A Guide to Programs and Subjects in Annual Reports of Illinois State Government Agencies in 1997.
- Grace York and Sue Davidsen for their work in sharing government information over the Internet in 1995.
- Carole Callard and the Public Services Division staff at the Library of Michigan for their efforts in compiling the five volume reference work Michigan1870 Census Index in 1993.
- Jim Walsh and A. James Bothmer for Vital and Health Statistics Series : An Annotated Checklist and Index to the Publications of the Rainbow Series in 1992.
- Suzanne Schulze for her three indexes: Population Information in Nineteenth Century Census Volumes; Population Information in Twentieth Century Census Volumes, 1900-1940; and Population Information in Twentieth Century Census Volumes, 1950-1980 in 1990.