Congratulations to the NISO Plus 2022 scholarship winners!

Like the conference itself, the NISO Plus scholarship program is now in its third year. Intended for anyone who feels that their voice and views are currently under-represented in the information community, the program is part of our strategic goal to improve diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility.

This year’s scholarships are being supported by OCLC and, as always, deciding who — among so many strong candidates — should be awarded a scholarship was challenging. We are very grateful to the Review Committee* (which included several past and present scholarship winners) for tackling the task so thoughtfully. and we are delighted to introduce you to the 13 recipients of this year’s NISO Plus scholarships:

• Elham Abdallah, Assistant University Librarian for Public Services and Research, Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK) Library, Lebanon
• Bethany Arsenault, Digital Discovery Librarian, Edmonton Public Library, Canada
• Alice Eng, Electronic Resources Librarian, Wake Forest University, USA
• Stephanas Galinnya, Librarian, Uganda Christian University, Uganda
• Cindy Gruwell, Assistant Librarian/Coordinator of Scholarly Research, University of West Florida, USA
• Yuimi Hlasten, E-resources and Scholarly Communication Librarian, Denison University, USA
• Suzanne Heslan, Librarian, Manx National Heritage, Isle of Man, UK
• Benjamin Ignac, Policy Analyst, Taylor & Francis, Germany
• Lorin Jackson, Executive Director, NNLM Region 2, Medical University of South Carolina, USA
• Russell Michalak, Library Director, Goldey-Beacom College, USA
• Yetunde Omodele Oladipo, Librarian, Caleb University Lagos, Nigeria
• Anjaneya Reddy, Assistant Librarian, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, India
• Kasia Repeta, Analyst, Global Outreach and Publishing Systems, Duke University Press, USA

As you can see, they represent a great mix of job roles and organization types — and we are especially happy that, for the first time, more than half are from outside the US, taking us a little closer to our goal of being more globally inclusive (see map above). We will be officially welcoming them to the NISO community at the NISO awards ceremony during NISO Plus — in the meantime, please join us in congratulating them all!

As well as attending the NISO Plus conference, we will also be meeting with the group regularly throughout the year, encouraging them to learn about — and get involved with — our work, and sharing opportunities for professional development and networking. So you’ll be hearing more from (and about!) them in the coming months.

On that note, we’re delighted that so many members of our first and second cohorts of scholarship winners are continuing to engage with NISO and with our work. As well as 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.

We’d especially like to invite everyone attending NISO Plus 2022 to join many of our scholarship winners — past, present, and future! — at the social event they’re organizing at 2.30pm EST on February 16. Sponsored by Digital Science, it will once again be a gameshow-style event, building on the success of last year’s popular Jeopardy: Standards Edition. It’s open to all attendees, and we hope to see you there!

* This year’s Review Committee members were: Helena Cousijn (DataCite), Kelly Denzer (Davidson College), Roxana Dinu (National Library of Romania), Hannah Heckner (Silverchair), Ana Heredia (Consultant), Qiana Johnson (Northwestern University), Ira Tam Keung Kit (Hong Kong Vocational Training Centre), Luna (Jessica) Larsen (San Jose State University), Jihye Lee (Nova Southeastern University), Gabriela Mejias (ORCID), Alex Mendonça (SciELO), Johanssen Obanda (AfricArXiv), Peter Simon (NewsBank, Inc), and Sharon Whitfield (Rider University).