Cutright receives LITA/Gaylord Award for achievement in library and information technology

by C.J. Gish
Media and publication writer
University Advancement
541-962-3585 / fax 541-962-3680

EOU Library Director Patricia Cutright received her fourth major award in the past year recently.

La Grande, Oregon - When Eastern Oregon University Library Director Patricia Cutright answered here phone recently, it was a call from a fellow librarian she didn't even know. So you could imagine Cutright's surprise when that librarian - Diana Davis of California State University-Fullerton - told Cutright she not only had been nominated for a national award, but that she was also the winner.

Davis is the chairperson for the Library and Information Technology Association/Gaylord Association, which presented Cutright with its 2003 LITA/Gaylord Award for Achievement in Library and Information Technology. The award will be presented to Cutright on June 23 during the LITA President's Program at the American Library Association Conference to be held in Toronto, Canada. LITA is a division of the American Library Association.

"(Davis) took it upon herself to make the nomination. She had seen some of my work at a conference presentation," Cutright said. "You never expect something like this, but it's always nice to have your work acknowledged in a broader spectrum. It was a heart-stopping thing."

Davis said Cutright's, "achievements in the planning and implementation of the Pioneer Library System, combining the holdings and unifying services of over 70 multi-type libraries in eastern Oregon, in an area of 38,430 square miles, is just one of her many accomplishments that led to her consideration for this award."

During her career, Cutright has taken leadership roles in the development of the Pioneer Library System - a consortium of 70 public, school and college libraries in eastern Oregon - and brining electronic document delivery to the College of Micronesia-FSM, chairing the Orbis Consortium and working to create the Orbis Cascade Consortium in the Northwest covering Washington and Oregon.

"I find it an interesting thing for me. We work so hard in the library, we have a tendency to focus, finish, and move ahead to the next project. We are always looking for ways to improve services for our students that we don't always think about how wide that net gets cast. We don't realize the attention we get at times. We become so involved in that service that we don't realize other people are watching. It's a good reflection on the University and its commitment to the students and community service."

Cutright, EOU's library director since 1993, is coming off a year in which she has received several awards, including 2002 Oregon Librarian of the Year, the Jean McKenzie 2002 Woman of the Year Award from the La Grande chapter of the Soroptomist International, and EOU's 2002 Distinguished Support Faculty Award. She has been at EOU since 1986.

 

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