At its annual business meeting held last month in conjunction with the annual conference of the American Library Association, the Beta Phi Mu International Library and Information Studies Honor Society (BPM) announced the award winners for its 2018 scholarship season.
Each year, Beta Phi Mu provides $10,000 worth of scholarships and awards for study and research related to the library and information science field, in addition to administering the Eugene Garfield Doctoral Dissertation Fellowships.
A current doctoral student and two alumnae from the School of Information Studies were selected as 2018 scholarship recipients.
Ph.D. student Brian Dobreski was recognized with the Eugene Garfield Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship. This $3,000 award provides support for doctoral students working on their dissertations in library and information science and related fields.
Dobreski’s dissertation is titled “Values in Knowledge Organization Standards: A Value Analysis of Resource Description and Access.” He received his M.S. in Library and Information Science from the iSchool in 2006. Prior to returning to the iSchool as a Ph.D. student, Brian worked as a catalog librarian for the Eastman School of Music and Syracuse University. He has also been an adjunct instructor for Syracuse LIS courses since 2013.
Emily Drabinksi, a 2003 graduate of the iSchool’s Library and Information Science program was presented with the Harold Lancour Scholarship for Foreign Study. This $1,750 award supports original research into the politics of cataloging and classification in the academic libraries of former colonies of the United States. Drabinski is coordinator of library instruction at Long Island University Library.
Alexa Hirsch Lalejini, a 2017 graduate of the iSchool’s Library and Information Science program received the Frank B. Sessa Scholarship for Continuing Professional Education. She will receive $150 towards expenses associated with a professional continuing education opportunity of her choice. Lalejini works as a youth and teen librarian at the Clarkston Independence District Library in Clarkston, Michigan.