British Library celebrates awards success in 2007
11 January 2008
The British Library won an unprecedented number of awards in 2007. Colleagues and departments across the Library, including Human Resources, Web Services, Business, Publishing and Corporate Communications, were all recognised for their varied contributions to the research community.
The British Library's creative and web services teams were delighted to be presented with the Web-based Technology Project Award for British Library Turning the Pages 2.0 at the 2007 British Computer Society Awards. “The Turning the Pages 2.0 project was described as showing “how the UK leads the world in the delivery of rich internet applications” and its use to showcase Windows Vista at the UK launch in January, was considered to “raise the bar in how some of the most important and valuable books in the world can be accessed by users across the world.”
Clive Izard, Head of Creative Services at the British Library, commented:
“This is an amazing reward to receive. It demonstrates how well regarded Turning the Pages is alongside some other very impressive web offerings."
The British Library scooped two awards at the CorpComms 2007 Awards: Best Online Report for its Annual Report and Accounts 2006/07 and Best Communications by a Public or Voluntary Sector Organisation. The judges described the online report as “simply stunning” and praised its innovative use of video clips, interactivity and animation. The report can be viewed online at http://www.bl.uk/mylibrary. The Library's communications programme was acclaimed as “very strong and credible” in the way that it has sought to “replace the notion of an elitist, irrelevant and inaccessible institution with the impression of a dynamic and exciting library for the 21st century.”
Several awards were received by British Library colleagues, past and present, for their individual contributions to the research community. British Library Chief Executive Lynne Brindley was made a Dame of the British Empire in the New Year Honours. She receives the honour for services to education, having led the Library since July 2000.
Rob Perks (Curator, Oral History) was awarded an honorary doctorate (DLitt) from the University of Huddersfield in recognition of his contribution to oral history and sound archives in the UK. Crispin Jewitt (formerly Head of Sound Archive until July 2007) was presented with the IASA Special Recognition Award 2007. Clive Field, the British Library's former Director of Scholarship & Collections was also awarded an OBE in 2007.
Lynne Brindley, Chief Executive of the British Library, commented:
“The British Library won many awards in 2007, and it was wonderful to see so many colleagues, from many different parts of the Library, receive the recognition that they deserve. These successes reflect a high level of achievement that I am sure we will sustain throughout 2008.“
Full list of awards received in 2007
African, Pacific & Asian Collections
GW Shaw (Director, APAC); M O'Keefe (Head, S Asia Section APAC); B Quessel (Tibetan Curator, APAC); and Jonathan Jackson, Senior Imaging Technician were awarded medals by the Duke of Edinburgh in connection with a Jain community project.
BIPC and Business Marketing
Black Women in Business Awards 2007 – winner – corporate category
British Library Publishing
Rare Book Review Best Book on Rare Books 2006-2007 – for The Bedford Hours: The Making of a Medieval Masterpiece by Eberhard König, published by the British Library.
British Library Sound Archive
Rob Perks (Curator, Oral History) was awarded an honorary doctorate (DLitt) from the University of Huddersfield in recognition of his contribution to oral history and sound archives in the UK.
Crispin Jewitt (formerly Head of Sound Archive until July 2007) was presented with the IASA Special Recognition Award 2007.
Conservation
The LIFE project and Web Archiving Tool were both shortlisted for the Digital Preservation Award
Corporate Communications
CorpComms 2007 Awards - Best Online Report for its Annual Report and Accounts 2006/07 and Best Communications by a Public or Voluntary Sector Organisation.
Creative Services/Web Services
2007 British Computer Society Awards - Web-based Technology Project Award: British Library Turning the Pages 2.0
Web Marketing Association's WebAwards Competition 2007 – awards for the entrypoint and Sacred web pages
AXA Art Exhibition Catalogue Award 2007 – runner-up
Human Resources
HR Magazine - Winner - Best change management programme 2007
Disability Standard Submission to the Employers Forum for Disability - Winner - Gold Award Banding
Diamond Awards for Disability Equality - Winner - Listening - Consultation with disabled customers
Diamond Awards for Disability Equality - Winner - Accessible goods & services
Employers Forum on Age - Winner - Best Newcomer
CBI Human Capital Awards - Highly Commended - Excellence in the Public Sector
HR Magazine - Most healthy and effective workforce 2007- Highly Commended
Science/Technology/Medicine
Stephen Andrews co-authored a paper with Microsoft colleagues, Roger S. Barga and Savas Parastatidis entitled A Virtual Research Environment (VRE) for Bioscience Researchers. This paper won Best Paper Award at ADVCOMP 2007 (International Conference on Advanced Engineering Computing and Applications in Sciences held November 4-9 2007).
Clive Field, the British Library's former Director of Scholarship & Collections was also awarded an OBE in 2007.
For further information, contact Ruth Howlett at the British Library Press Office: +44 (0)20 7412 7112 or ruth.howlett@bl.uk
The British Library is the national Library of the United Kingdom. It provides world class information services to the academic, business, research and scientific communities and offers unparalleled access to the world's largest and most comprehensive research collection. Further information is available on the Library's website at www.bl.uk