Maria Jankowska, social sciences librarian at UCLA’s Charles Young Research Library, has received the 2016 Library Association of the University of California – LA Librarian of the Year Award.
The award, established in 1993, recognizes excellence in librarianship that furthers the teaching and research mission of UCLA and responds to the intellectual, informational and cultural needs of the university community.
Jankowska was selected for the award in recognition of her service to and support of sustainability at UCLA and for furthering the role of academic libraries in sustainability initiatives nationwide through her research and publications. A member of the Academic Committee of the UCLA Sustainability Committee for the past five years, she serves as editor in chief of the UCLA Library’s Electronic Green Journal, a peer-reviewed digital publication that has provided open access to scholarly, international environmental information since 1994.
Among her many contributions, Jankowska organized and led the panel discussion “Sustainability Across the Academic Library: Best Practices, Initiatives, and Solutions in Teaching, Learning, and Scholarship” at the 2015 conference of the Association of College and Research Libraries. She was the editor of “Focus on Educating for Sustainability: Toolkit for Academic Libraries" (Library Juice Press, 2014).
A colleague who nominated Jankowska for the award wrote: "Maria has educated me about the critical importance and future vision of the role of the Library in educating our students and faculty and advancing our understanding of sustainability and how we organize our thinking about this incredibly broad, often sprawling topic."
The award also recognizes Jankowska’s efforts to support use of the Bruman Map Collection; see this UCLA Library news story to learn more.