IU librarian’s work honored

The head of the Government Information and Kent Cooper Services Department in IU’s Herman B Wells Library, Lou Malcomb, was honored with the 2011 Documents to the People Award.

The award was presented by LexisNexis, Government Documents Round Table, or GODORT, and the American Library Association.

GODORT is an American Library membership group whose mission is to provide a forum for the discussion of issues and for the exchange of ideas by librarians working with government documents.

Malcomb was honored for “commitment, creativity and dedication to the principles embodied in the phrase ‘Documents to the People,’” the organization wrote in a statement.

“As government information librarians, we take pride in being sure that we provide access to government information and that information are equitably distributed,” Malcomb said. “Our work has represented an effort to further the goal of making government information readily available to students, faculty, citizens, so that’s very much of an honor to receive this award.”

During her 40 years with the IU Libraries, Malcomb’s methods of finding information have expanded from frequent phone calls to government agencies and “knowing where to look” in books to the addition of web searches, emails and live online chats with library patrons.

“During the time that Lou has been here, there have been phenomenal changes in how government information is delivered,” said Carolyn Walters, executive associate dean of the libraries at IU. “So to have her recognized by her peers is very special, and it is a wonderful recognition for the service that she provides here at the library to students and faculty.”

Malcomb facilitates access to government information by helping faculty in their research and students with figuring out how the library works.

“I really like working with Lou and having her involved in my classes because of her energy and excitement about doing research,” said associate professor of journalism Mike Conway. “She is trying to show students what a great resource the library is, and she does a great job in demystifying the process and helping to understand where things are.”

Recently, Malcomb and her working group have formed the basis of the Indiana Light Archive for Federal Documents, a partnership among various libraries in Indiana whose goal is to preserve one print copy of historically significant documents in Indiana.

“Over the past 15 years, Lou has been instrumental in many creative projects that recognize the value of government information to the citizens of Indiana as well as Indiana University,” Walters said. “So all of those demonstrate how Lou has led transformation from print to electronic.”

Currently, Malcomb staffs the web-based service Government Information Online: Ask a Librarian. Launched a couple of years ago, the service enables the public to ask librarians from federal depository libraries nationwide questions related to any federal agency through live chat or email.

“It is one place where citizens throughout the U.S. can come in, ask a question, and they will get the reference librarian to answer it from a government perspective,” Malcomb said. “I think that is a marvelous service that makes our expertise available to anyone throughout the nation.”

Malcomb said thanks to this award she hopes to call attention to how easy it is nowadays in the digital environment to get access to federal historical documents.
The way she wants to do it is through the HathiTrust, a collaborative repository of digital content from research libraries where documents are digitized and put on the Internet.

“We want to put as many federal historical documents up on the Internet so that citizens can get to them without barriers,” Malcomb said.

Malcomb explained the advantages and disadvantages to online information.

“The development of the Internet and online searches has radically made government information much more findable, discoverable and easy to use, but a lot of it is still very intimidating,” Malcomb said. “That’s why I think librarians are critical in this area of operation to make sure students and faculty are not put off by the quantity of information. That’s where the IU libraries can help.”