NEWS For Immediate Release April 12, 2013

Contact: Cheryl Malden

CHICAGO - The American Library Association (ALA) proudly acknowledges Carrie Russell as winner of the 2013 ABC-CLIO Greenwood Award for the Best Book in Library Literature for Complete Copyright: An Everyday Guide for K–12 Librarians and Educators, published by the American Library Association. This award recognizes books that assist library professionals or information specialists in areas of management, technique and education.

Russell is director of the Program on Public Access to Information in the Washington D.C.-based ALA Office for Information Technology Policy. She is a policy analyst on such topics as copyright, e-books and accessibility to information for people with disabilities. Prior to her tenure with ALA, Russell was an academic librarian at the University of Arizona, where she advocated for balanced copyright law, open access and reform of scholarly publishing archetype. She was actively engaged in organizational change and the benefits of process improvement, in addition to holding positions in undergraduate, media and cataloging departments. She is the recipient of the 2001 ALA Staff Achievement Award and author of the best-selling Complete Copyright: An Everyday Guide for Librarians, now in its second edition. In addition to her publications, she is a popular speaker at conferences and copyright workshops.

Complete Copyright for K–12 Librarians and Educators encourages librarians to play a leadership role at their schools by advocating for the information rights of educators and students. The book was selected as the award winner for its unique approach to the copyright law, emphasizing the role of K-12 librarians in maximizing fair use through critical thinking rather than focusing on arbitrary guidelines and old institutional policies. Her work has been described as “refreshing to read” and “having universal appeal and applicability,” despite the challenging nature of copyright law. Russell’s examples and coverage of non-print formats makes for a very handy primer on copyright for its target audience.

In addition, Russell studies emerging information technology policy issues that affect libraries and their communities. . In addition to writing a number of articles published in library journals, she pens a monthly copyright column for the School Library Journal. She has an earned master's degree in Library and Information Science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and a Master of Arts in Media Arts from the University of Arizona.

Members of the 2013 ABC-CLIO Greenwood Award jury include Angela Williams, Chair, Syracuse University, New York; Jennifer Paustenbaugh, Brigham Young University, Utah; William Schultz, Jr., Eastern Illinois University, Illinois; Joyce Wright, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois; June Deweese, University of Missouri.

The 2013 ABC-CLIO Greenwood Award will be presented in June at the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago, Illinois in June. Learn more about the ABC-CLIO Greenwood Award for the Best Book in Library Literature

To comment, share, or see related resources and images, go here.