CHICAGO — The MAGIRT (Map and Geospatial Information Round Table) Nominations and Awards Committee selected Louise Ratliff, social sciences and maps cataloging librarian at UCLA, as the recipient of the 2019 MAGIRT Honors Award. This award is presented in recognition of outstanding achievement and major contributions to map and geospatial librarianship and to the round table. The presentation was made on Friday, June 21 at the Honors Award Dinner held at Gordon Biersch Restaurant in Washington D.C. during the American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference. The award was presented by Paige Andrew.
Ratliff’s nomination recognized her long-standing membership in MAGIRT and admirable service to the cartographic community for a number of years.
Her nomination statement read, “As if all of the above-mentioned service and leadership activities were not good enough to honor Louise for all she has done to benefit MAGIRT, ALA, and the broader profession, she is also a consummate professional and most important, a superb person. She cares, she is an energetic “go-getter”, and she always has a smile for anyone and everyone.”
Ratliff was chair, vice-chair and past chair of MAGIRT from 2015-2018. She also chaired its education committee. In addition, Ratliff was chair of MAGIRT’s program planning for the 2017 ALA Annual Conference, member guide to its Emerging Leaders Group in 2016 and assistant webmaster for MAGIRT and its newsletter, base line.
She wrote and/or revised bylaws not only for MAGIRT, but also at the ALA level. She was also an active member of the Cataloging and Classification Committee and contributor for the MAGIRT/CaMMs Cartographic Resources Interest Group.
In addition, she was an early adopter, user and cheerleader of/for ALA Connect, a 2017 MAGIRT Program presenter on the topic of “How to Put your Family on the Map,” instrumental in setting up the new MAGIRT Connect website, including establishing its design and layout, and the leader and coordinator of the MAGIRT LibGuide download project.
Originally published at https://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2019/09/louise-ratliff-receives-2019-magirt-honors-award
