2003 WA ALIA Special Librarian Award

At the Library and Information Week launch on 12 May, KISWA announced that Terena Solomons is the winner of the 2003 Special Librarian Award. Terena was not able to be present to receive the award but Lothar Retzlaff, her work colleague, accepted it on her behalf from Tony Delauney of the Law Shop, sponsor of this year's award.

Terena currently holds the position of library manager at Hollywood Private Hospital, a position she has held since late 1997. She is the chair of the Hospital Policy Committee, and also chair of the Hospital Intranet Working Committee. An active member of ALIA, Terena is currently a member of the WA mentoring committee and is also a member of the Steering Committee for the State-Wide Library Marketing Campaign. Previous ALIA positions include branch councillor and advertising co-ordinator for Biblia.

Terena was the sponsorship co-ordinator for the ALIA New Librarians' Symposium, (better known as the "Bright and Funky" conference), held last year in Brisbane. This successful and innovative symposium actually made a profit due to the level of sponsorship achieved. Terena also gave a presentation on the Myer-Briggs personality indicators. Last year Terena was selected to attend the Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Workshop in Adelaide and has shared this knowledge at a workshop held in February this year.

Terena's excuse for not being able to accept the award in person is itself an indication of how worthy a recipient of the award she is. Terena is currently in the US as a result of being awarded the 2002 Victorian Association for Library Automation Travel Scholarship. Her research project is "to investigate how North American Medical Libraries are supporting clinicians in the use of PDA's".

This involves investigating how medical libraries in North America are implementing and managing hand-held computer technology for their clients. She is also examining the impact that hand-held technology is having on the practice of librarianship, and on the work practices of healthcare professionals.

Lisa Kidd and Camille Peters

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