February 17, 2006—Ray English, the Azariah Smith Root Director of Libraries at Oberlin College, is being recognized by his peers for more than two decades of dedication and hard work. English has been named the 2006 Association of College and Research Libraries' (ACRL) Academic/Research Librarian of the Year.

A division of the American Library Association, the ACRL represents 13,000 academic and research librarians. The annual award recognizes an outstanding member of the library profession who has made a significant national or international contribution to academic/research librarianship and library development.

"Ray [English] is an influential librarian," says award committee chair Les Canterbury. "He is a leader in many state and national organizations, including the Oberlin Group of Liberal Arts Colleges, OhioLINK, ACRL, and other units of the American Library Association. Under his direction, Oberlin College has led a Mellon Foundation initiative to attract a more diverse population to the library profession through undergraduate internships."

English's advocacy for open access to the results of scholarly research impressed the selection committee, as did his leadership role in information policy-setting arenas. English has been an influential member of the ACRL scholarly communications program and an expert contributor to national policy on public access to federally funded research, including the recent National Institutes of Health Public Access Policy.

"I was delighted when ACRL President Camila Alire called to tell about this award," said English. "It's a wonderful honor to be recognized by my peers in this way. I want to express a special word of thanks to those colleagues who put forward my nomination. I'm very grateful that I've been in a position to make contributions that are perceived to be important for the profession."

English is a founding member and chair of the ACRL Scholarly Communications Committee and recently was elected chair of the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition's (SPARC) steering committee, of which Oberlin College is a founding member. English has also lectured and written extensively on scholarly communication and open access issues.

During English's tenure, Oberlin became the first private, liberal arts college library to join OhioLINK. He led the cooperative effort to establish the Five Colleges of Ohio, a consortium of five private colleges in Ohio that received a major grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for library resource sharing. In addition, English coordinated a $475,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation to incorporate information literacy into the liberal arts curriculum of each of the Ohio Five schools.                         

As the co-director of an Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Leadership grant, English helped direct a library diversity intern program at Oberlin College from 2000 to 2002. The Oberlin College Library received the 2002 ACRL Excellence in Academic Libraries Award in the college category under his guidance.

English received his BA with honors in German from Davidson College in 1969. He earned his MA in German literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1971, where he also received his MSLS in 1977 and his PhD in German literature in 1978.

English will receive a $3,000 award on June 26, 2006, at a ceremony and reception during the American Library Association annual conference in New Orleans.