Now in its fourth year, the NISO Plus 2023 conference is swiftly approaching, and as in prior years, a highlight of the event is the NISO Plus scholarship awards ceremony. Supporting NISO’s strategic goal to improve diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, the scholarship awards are intended for anyone who feels that their voice and views are currently under-represented in the information community.
Many thanks to Digital Science, who supported this year’s scholarships, and to our Review Committee,* which included several past and present scholarship winners. The Committee took on the challenging task of selecting awardees from a group of strong candidates.
We are delighted to introduce you to the 15 recipients of this year’s NISO Plus scholarships:
- Doyin Adenuga, Electronic Resources Librarian, Houghton University
- Joanna Bailey, Course Reserves Manager, Western Washington University
- Whitney Bates-Gomez, Electronic and Continuing Resources Librarian, Georgia State University
- Janaynne Carvalho do Amaral, Postdoctoral Research Associate, School of Information Sciences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
- Tarenta Daniels, Assistant Operations Officer, U.S. Navy
- Amir Rabiyah El-Chidiac, Diversity Resident/Research and Instruction Librarian, Susquehanna University
- Stanislava Gardasevic, PhD Candidate; Teaching Assistant/Instructor at LIS, University of Hawaii at Manoa
- Rosy Salman Khan, Library Assistant, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR)
- Grace Kim, Electronic Resources Librarian, Transitioning from Touro University Nevada to Nevada State College
- Nancy Kwangwa, Scholarly Communication and Publishing Manager, University of Zimbabwe
- Mubanga Lumpah, Senior Library Assistant, The University of Zambia Library
- Shima Moradi, Instruction & Research Librarian, University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences
- Caterina Reed, Instructional Support Associate, Stony Brook University
- Milo Santamaria, Webmaster, YouthFacts
- Sonali Sugrim, Electronic Resources Librarian, Queens College, CUNY
As you can see, they represent a great mix of job roles and organization types. We will officially welcome them to the community at the NISO scholarship awards ceremony (11:00 am EST on February 15) during NISO Plus. In the meantime, please join us in congratulating them all!
As well as attending the NISO Plus conference, we will also meet with the awardees regularly throughout the year, encouraging them to learn about—and get involved with—our work and sharing opportunities for professional development and networking. You’ll be hearing more from (and about!) them in the coming months.
On that note, we’re delighted that so many members of past cohorts of scholarship winners are continuing to engage with NISO and with our work. In addition to their work on the Review Committee, they are also participating in all aspects of the conference, including as speakers, moderators, and on the Planning Committee; joining other NISO committees and groups; contributing as writers and speakers; and more.
Finally, a group of past and present scholarship winners are also responsible for organizing our annual Standards Trivia game. Back by popular demand, this Jeopardy-style activity is sponsored by Silverchair and will be held at 6:00 pm EST on February 14. All NISO Plus 2023 attendees are encouraged to join the fun!
* This year’s Review Committee members were Bethany Arsenault (NP ’22, Edmonton Public Library), Amy Castillo (NP ’21, University of Texas at Arlington), Sandy Hirsh (San Jose State University), Ira Tam Keung Kit (NP ’21, Hong Kong Vocational Training Centre), Rebecca McLeod (Harvard Data Science Initiative), Alex Mendonca (SciELO), Johanssen Obanda (NP ’21, Jabulani Youths for Transformation), Merrilee Proffitt (OCLC), Rhonda Ross (CAS), and Amanda Wilson (National Library of Medicine).
