Santa Barbara, CA—April 1, 2005—ABC-CLIO is proud to announce the Oregon Historical Society is the first recipient of the ABC-CLIO Online History Award, administered by the History Section of the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA).
The Oregon Historical Society is receiving the award for its Oregon History Project (
http://www.ohs.org/education/oregonhistory/index.cfm), an online resource for learning about Oregon history that brings primary source documents and digitized artifacts together with web-based thematic and regional narratives, biographies, a K-12 learning center, and "focused digital packets" highlighting African American, Asian Pacific, Gubernatorial, Native Reservation, Women's History and Wartime Portland. "We were impressed by the skillful combination of hundreds of amply captioned digitized sources (maps, journal entries, photographs, and newspaper accounts), commissioned essays, lesson plans, instructions for teachers, and bibliography," said Jim Niessen, award committee chair. "The material is beautifully organized, with a clear pedagogical purpose and appealing presentation that is well conceived for its student-teacher audience."
The award, which consists of a citation and $3,000 donated by ABC-CLIO, is given to encourage, recognize and commend professional achievement in historical reference and research librarianship. This award will be offered every other year beginning in 2005.
"We're very pleased to support the Oregon Historical Society with this project." Said Ron Boehm, CEO of ABC-CLIO. "For 50 years, our focus has always been on building the most useful and innovative historical tools available. Recognizing the achievements of others in the field is a natural extension of our mission."
Marianne Keddington-Lang, the Director of the Oregon Historical Society Press, will accept the award on behalf of the Oregon Historical Society.
The award will be presented at the RUSA Awards Ceremony on June 27, 2005, from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m., during the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago.