We are pleased to announce that an inspiring and innovative educator has won this year’s SLA Europe Information Professional Award (SLA Europe IP 2010).
Dr Geoff Walton (BA (Hons), MA, PhD PgCHPE, FHEA, MCLIP) is currently Academic Skills Tutor Librarian and Research-informed Teaching Project Co-ordinator at Staffordshire University in Stoke-in-Trent, England. In this joint role he is involved in identifying synergies between research, teaching, learning, and information literacy. His recent PhD thesis focused on a blended approach to fostering information literacy among undergraduates.
Geoff is co-author of Teaching Information Literacy for Inquiry-Based Learning and co-editor of three books: Information Literacy: Infiltrating the Curriculum, Challenging Minds (forthcoming), Web 2.0 and Libraries: Impact, Technologies and Trends, and Teaching Information Literacy: Recognising the Need. He also contributed to the IFLA document for UNESCO Guidelines on information literacy for lifelong learning. Geoff recently spoke at the Librarians’ Information Literacy Annual Conference 2010 (LILAC 2010) in Ireland.
SLA Europe President, Kate Arnold, says “It’s great to have an academic winner, as SLA has a large membership in that sector. This quote from a testimonial we received in support of Geoff’s nomination is a good summary of the qualities that so impressed us: “…he’s driven and passionate…an educator…iconoclast and innovator – he enjoys the challenge of the new…constantly pushing and searching, questioning and challenging and yet rooted in the discipline and rigour required by the profession.”
The Award covers Geoff’s expenses for attendance at the SLA Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana, 13-16 June 2010, where Geoff will be a speaker at the International Session arranged by SLA Europe in conjunction with the Arabian Gulf, Australia and New Zealand, and Asian Chapters. A dinner will be hosted by the SLA Europe Board in honour of the Award winner on Monday night, after the formal presentation by Award sponsor Dow Jones at the International Reception.
Dow Jones & Company is a News Corporation company. (NASDAQ: NWS) (NASDAQ: NWSA) (ASX: NWS) (ASX: NWSLV) Dow Jones is a leading provider of global business news and information services. Its Consumer Media Group publishes The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, MarketWatch and the Far Eastern Economic Review. Its Enterprise Media Group includes; Dow Jones Business & Relationship Intelligence, Dow Jones Newswires, Dow Jones Factiva, Dow Jones Client Solutions, Dow Jones Indexes and Dow Jones Financial Information Services. Its Local Media Group operates community-based information franchises. Dow Jones owns 50 percent of SmartMoney and provides news content to radio stations in the U.S.