contact us
search
Patricia Harris named Distinguished Alumna
May 17, 2007 – Patricia R. Harris (’70 MSLS) has been named the School of Information and Library Science (SILS) 2007 Distinguished Alumna. She received the school's alumni award that recognizes those who exhibit a strong commitment to librarianship or information science and demonstrate outstanding professional achievements at the international, national, state or local level during the school’s spring commencement ceremony on May 13.
“Today, we recognize a distinguished alumna who more than meets the criteria for the SILS Distinguished Alumni Award,” said Mark Sanders, president of the SILS Alumni Association. “She is a SILS graduate who has made professional and personal contributions to librarianship and information science, and she has demonstrated continued support and advocacy for SILS. Although her career has included many different paths, her expertise lies in developing standards at the national level that have contributed to education and training, as well as to human resources development.”
Harris is a technical information specialist for the Global Standards and Information Group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which supports the National Center for Standards and Certification Information and the U.S. Inquiry Point for the WTO Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement. For 20 years, she served as the executive director of the National Information Standards Organization, developing the organization’s program and services on behalf of the library, information services and publishing communities to international recognition and prominence. Harris has also served as a consultant to the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and to various associations involved in standards development work focusing primarily on education, training, standards processes and methods and human resource development.
Harris also delivered the School’s commencement address, expressing pride and happiness in being included in the day. She described the path that led her to Chapel Hill and then onto the position she now holds working with standards at national and international levels, and credits her success in the information field to the education and experiences she received at SILS.
“It is the integrity I recognize in a program of study that understands at its core that information is powerful and transformative and recognizes that discipline and training are needed to connect people to information,” said Harris. “This was true 30 years ago and remains true today. It is about a faculty that is not only teaching, but exploring and engaging their students in that exploration. It is about people who put the emphasis on science in information science and library science. It is because what you take-away from this program is a set of skills and a world-view that is critical to success today, no matter how you earn your living.”
“As a graduate of SILS you will not leave your information skills at the office each day,” Harris continued. “On the contrary, you will draw on those skills and come to depend on them as a parent, perhaps a patient, definitely as a consumer, as an investor, as a care-giver, and as a boss. My work has taken me in unexpected directions. This will likely be true for many of you. In fact, this is likely inevitable because the institution of the library will be reinvented for the next generation of users. What you have learned at SILS and who you have met here, and the larger community of SILS graduates, will support you in that journey.”
The Alumni Association selects the distinguished alumni from nominations submitted to the organization throughout the year. Those selected are announced during the spring and winter commencement ceremonies. Click here for a list of previous SILS Distinguished Alums.