Edward Holley was Dean of SILS from 1972 to 1985 and a major figure in 20^th century American librarianship. Dr. Holley was an inspirational leader who often spoke about “the good of the order” and he always stressed the importance of putting the good of the total institution above the individual good of the people who worked there. He set a wonderful example of someone who devoted himself to the greater good.

Established in 2009, the Edward G. Holley for the Good of the Order Award recognizes an individual or individuals who has/have given selflessly for the good of SILS. The award is not presented every year, only when an individual’s service merits the recognition.
2022: Francesca Tripodi, SILS Assistant Professor and Susan Sylvester, SILS Executive Assistant
2020: Aaron Brubaker, SILS Information Technology Director and Brian Nussbaum, Desktop Support and Help Desk Manager
2018: Cal Lee, SILS Professor
2017: Aaron Brubaker, SILS Information Technology Director
2015:  Susan Sylvester, SILS Executive Assistant
2012: Drs. Claudia Gollop and Stephanie Haas
2010: Dr. Evelyn Daniel, Dean and Professor Emerita
2009: Dr. Katherine Wisser, Director of Instructional Services at SILS

The Dean’s Achievement Award is presented annually to one information science student and one library science student who produce the highest quality masters’ papers in a given year. The papers are judged by a faculty committee. A cash prize accompanies the honor, which is intended to encourage student research and writing.

2022–2023: Shir Bach and Owen King

2021–2022
Emma L. Stout: “Public-Private Partnerships for Digitization: A Case-Study of UNC Libraries and Ancestry”

2020–2021
Laura Carroll: “Have You Heard Any Rumors Lately? Depictions of Librarians in Video Games.”
Kennedy McGuinness: “Climate Chat: An Integrative Review of Emerging Literature in the Field of Online Climate Change Communication.”

2019–2020
Jon Clancy: Breakdowns in Human-AI Partnership: Revelatory Cases of Automation Bias in Autonomous Vehicle Accidents
Meg McMahon: A Makerspace of One’s Own? An Exploratory Study of Women and Gender Non-Conforming Individuals’ Experiences of an Academic Makerspace

2018–2019
Qu Jiaming: A Medical Literature Search System for Identifying Effective Treatments in Precision Medicine
Kimberly J. Reisler: Cognitive Authority and the Christian Worldview: An Examination of Goodreads Reviews of Christian Books

2017–2018
Julia Gootzeit: “The Zine Scheme”: A Comparison of Five Institutions’ Methods of Zine Description and an Assessment of the xZINECOREx Metadata Schema for the Creation of a Zine Union Catalog
Jesse Moore: Product, Process and Photographs: Archival Workflows and More Product Less Process (MPLP) in Large Film Photography Collection

2016–2017
Erin Dickey: “Her Own Version of History”: A Case Study of the Guerrilla Girls Oral Histories at the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution
Natalie Ornat: Reading for your Life: The Impact of Reading and Writing During the Siege of Sarajevo

2015–2016
Emma Boettcher: Predicting the Difficulty of Trivia Questions Using Text Features
Meredith Hale: Searching for Art Records: A Log Analysis of the Ackland Art Museum’s Collecion Search System

2014–2015
Aaron Kirschenfeld: Yellow Fever: Describing Negative Legal Precedent in Citators
Rachel Walton: Looking for Answers: A Usability Study of Online Finding Aid Navigation

2013–2014
Curt Arledge: Filled-in vs. Outline Icons: The Impact of Icon Style on Usability
Meredith Lewis: Learning Styles, Motivations, and Resource Needs of Students Enrolled in a Massive Open Online Class

2012–2013
Kevin Michael Klipfel: Authentic Engagement: Assessing the Effects of Authenticity on Student Engagement and Information Literacy in Academic Library Instruction
Hilary Zelko: Reasoning about Relevance

2011–2012
Hannah Pierce: A Content Analysis Study of the Equivalenc of Publishers’ Easy Reader Leveling Systems
Cheryl Thompson: Answering the Call for Data Curation: An Exploration of the Careers of LIS Professionals Managing Data

2010-2011
Brooks J. Breece: Local Government Use of Web GIS in North Carolina
Elizabeth S. Dorner: Motivation of Undergraduate Student Employees in Academic Libraries
Kimberly A. Hirsh: The Transformational Leadership Practices of National Board Certified Librarians in North Carolina

2009-2010
Allison M. Long: Career Choice of Young Adult Librarians in a Public Setting: A Narrative Analysis of Motivations with Implications for Recruitment
Shannon A. Walker: From Science to Librarianship: Career Motivations of the Scientist-Turned-Librarian

2008-2009
Laura Carey O’Neill: A Usability Study of E-book Platforms.
Laura Westmoreland: The Environmental Protection Agency and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Libraries Internship Program: Its History and an Analysis of Former Interns Careers.

2007-2008
Nicholas A. Johnson: An Investigation of the Aesthetic Fidelity of Live Websites
Ann K. Irvine:Natural Language Processing and Temporal Information Extraction in Emergency Department Triage Notes

2006-2007
Laura E. Barwick: The Opinions of Literature Faculty and Students on Back-of-the-Book Indexes in Fiction.
Phillip J. Binkowski: The Effect of Social Proof on Tag Selection in Social Bookmarking Applications.
Megan Z. Perez: From New Graduate to Competent Practitioner: Rethinking the Architecture of Post-MLS Residency Programs in ARL Libraries.

2005-2006
Cynthia S. McCracken: Bringing Order to Intranet Chaos with Information Architecture: A Case Study
Alison A. Raab: Manga in Academic Library Collections: Definitions, Strategies, and Bibliography for Collecting Japanese Comics

2004-2005
Rebecca L. Kemp: Selectors’ Choices: Statistics for Evaluating E-Resources
Susan E. Teague Rector: Accessing Information Based on a Combination of Document Structure and Content: Exploiting XML Tags in indexing and searching to enhance content retrieval of online document-centric XML encoded texts

2003-2004
Donald Chalfant: Born Digital? Appraise Traditional!: A Pilot Study on Intrinsic Value and Electronic Records of State Government.
Miriam Intrator: Avenues of Intellectual Resistance in the Ghetto Theresienstadt: Escape Through the Ghetto Central Library, Reading, Storytelling and Lecturing

2002-2003
Corey Johnson: Online Chat Reference: The Awareness of, Use of, Interest in, and Marketing of This New Reference Service Technology
Joby M. Topper: Francis Douce and His Collection: An Antiquarian in Great Britain, 1957-1834

2001-2002
Laura Agnew: Characteristics and Benefits of Online Support Groups.
Andrew Smith: Readers’ Advisory Service: Adoption and Implementation of an Innovation in Select Public Libraries

2000-2001
Anna Kemp: An Evaluation of the Business Plan and Web site of ECB, an E-commerce Business
Kristin Martin: Analysis of Remote Reference Correspondence at a Large Academic Manuscripts Collection.

1999-2000: Kelly Maglaughlin and Ron Bergquist

1998-1999: Kathleen Feeney and Stephen Kell

1997-1998: Nora Armstrong and Kiduk Yang

1996-1997: Ryan Patrick Womack and Kristin Hays Chaffin

1995-1996: Thomas Kevin Cherry and Anandasivam Gopal

1994-1995: Lewis L. Caviness, Jr. and Ernesto M. Evangelista

1993-1994: Nancy Ryan and Lois J. Wildmer

1992-1993: Cheryl A. Karr and Robert G. Summer, Jr.

1991-1992: Ronald Ray Bass and Lori Irene Drum

1990-1991: Kathryn Lesley Knieriem and Walter Dean Stine

1989-1990: Nan Marie McMurry and Andrea Louise Rohrbacher

1988-1989: Joel Brett Sutton and Paul Staley Williford

1987-1988: Leslie Carrol McCall and Daniel G. Wheeler, Jr.

1986-1987: Diane Shaw and Deborah Barreau

1985-1986: James Timothy Shaw and Susan E. Bello

1984-1985: Paul Hesling

1983-1984: David Downing

1982-1983: Cheryl Karr and Robert Summer

1981-1982: Deborah Fay Rubin

1980-1981: James Allen Curtis

1979-1980: Martha Marshall Smith

1978-1979: Priscilla Caplan

1977-1978: Alma Patricia Sweeney

The Elfreda Chatman Research Awards are given to masters’ students who demonstrate creative and scholarly vision in their research proposals. The award was created by the SILS Alumni Association in 2002 to honor Dr. Chatman’s interest in original research. Proposals submitted as part of the Proposal Development (INLS 781) course are eligible for this award.

In judging the submissions, equal emphasis is placed on each of the following:
• Creativity
• Originality
• Clarity
• Validity of methodology
• Potential significance to the field

Past Recipients
2021: Allison Ruvidich (fall)
2021: Jess Epsten (fall)
2020: Alyssa James (spring)
2019: Jordan Wrigley (spring), Lauren Wise (fall), Lynnee Argabright (fall)
2018: Diane Judith Rodden (spring), Meg Foster (fall)
2017: Lia Walberg (spring)
2016: Erica Brody (spring), Rebecca Tatum (fall)
2015: Justin Kreft (spring), Emma Boettcher (fall)
2014: Brooke Guthrie (spring), Katie Meyer (fall)
2013: Lindsay Conway (spring), Erin Morris (fall)
2012: Courtney Minton (spring), Megan England Ward (spring), Danielle Lois Fasig (fall)
2011: Nic Willcox
2010: Casey Rawson
2009: Adam Mack, Julia Steed
2008: Morgan Stoddard, Erin White
2007: Nicholas Johnson
2006: Monica McCormick, Phil Binkowski
2004: William Hannah, Jessica Zellers

The Outstanding Service to the School Award is presented annually by the SILS Alumni Association (SILSAA), which asks members of the faculty to select a student who has contributed outstanding service to the school and their fellow students. When deemed appropriate, more than one award may be presented in a given year.

2022–2023: Andrew Price & Mya McCoy
2021-2022: Jade Angelique Stevenson
2020-2021: Jess Epsten
2019-2020: Katie Kehoe
2018-2019:  Rachel~Anne Spencer
2017-2018: Amelea Kim
2016-2017: Meggie Lasher
2015-2016: Mark Riddle and Rachel Sanders
2014-2015: Brittney King and Mary Peterson
2013-2014: Marcos Prieto and Erin Holmes
2012-2013: Katherine A. Barr and Chelcie J. Rowell
2011-2012: Benito Luciano
2010-2011: Katy Vance
2009-2010: Adam Rogers
2008-2009: Erin Rebecca White
2007-2008: Devan Donaldson
2006-2007: Christie L. McDaniel, Cassidy R. Sugimoto and Arthur L. Taylor
2005-2006: John Walker, Joan Petit, Maggie Hite and Ronald Berquist
2004-2005: Christie McDaniel and Marisa Ramirez
2003-2004: Jennifer Bullock and Amanda Wilson
2002-2003: Jennifer Weil Arns
2001-2002: Sambhavi Cheemalapati
2000-2001: Clint Chamberlain
1999-2000: Shayera Tangri
1998-1999: John LaBarre
1997-1998: Mark Koyanogi and Deborah Balsamo
1996-1997: Tracy T. Ansley and Robert G. Henshaw
1995-1996: Michael Jon Albrecht
1994-1995: Peter McCracken
1993-1994: David S. Goble
1992-1993: John D. Jones, Jr.
1991-1992: Elizabeth Leigh Roberts

Established in 1981, the Distinguished Alumni Award recognizes alumni who have demonstrated outstanding professional library or information science achievements at national, state, or local levels, or who have provided outstanding service to SILS or its Alumni Association at the time of the award. Anyone may submit a nomination for a SILS alumna or alumnus to receive the honor. Recipients are selected by the SILS Alumni Association board each year.

2024: Anne Cooper Moore
2023: Donna Nixon
2022: Jane Williams
2021: Nathaniel King and Jennifer Manning
2020: Kathryn Cole and Meredith Evans
2019: Rose Timmons Dawson and Gerald Holmes
2018: Mary Jane Petrowski
2017: Donna Shannon
2016: Xin Fu
2016: Tim Shearer
2015: Mae Lipscomb Rodney and Tim Bucknall
2014: Susan Brown and Demetria Tucker
2013: Joyce L. Ogburn and Cal Shepard
2012: Lee Dirks and Peter McCracken
2011: John Ulmschneider and David Goble
2010: Deborah Balsamo and Robert Molyneux
2009: Hampton “Skip” Auld and Ray English
2008: Janet Flowers and Frieda Rosenberg
2007: Maurice C. York and Patricia R. Harris
2006: Dr. Irene Owens and Evelyn M. Poole-Kober
2005: Susan Perry and Larry Alford
2004: Susan Tarr and W. Davenport “Dav” Robertson
2003: Mary L. Boone
2002: Joan Durrance and Angela Ruffin
2001: Charles Bryan Lowry and Bernie Todd Smith
2000: Marshall Keys
1999: June Fulton, Joe Hewitt and Duncan Smith
1998: Martha Harris Davis and Barbara Semonche
1997: Robert G. Anthony, Jr., James V. Carmichael, Jr., Jane Bliss Downs, and Robert S. Martin
1996: Ridley R. Kessler, Jr., Edwin S. Clay III, and Judith K. Sutton
1995: Rebecca S. Ballentine
1994: Dale M. Bentz, Barbara Branson and Lesley Farmer
1993: Ray L. Carpenter
1992: Mary Edna Anders, Evan Ira Farber, Lucia Johnson Rather, and Katina P. Strauch
1988: Jerry Campbell
1987: Gene Lanier
1986: Fred W. Roper
1981: Emerson Greenaway, Herman Howe Fussler, Mary Elizabeth Poole, William Stevens Powell, and Mary Eunice Query

Established in 2023, the SILS Rising Star Alumni Award recognizes recently graduated alumni who have demonstrated exceptional growth in their profession or chosen field, early professional library or information science achievements at national, state, or local levels, and/or who have provided outstanding service to SILS or its Alumni Association.

2024: Alena (Principato) Manjuck and Xavier Nonez

In 1995, UNC Chancellor Paul Hardin and SILS Dean Barbara Moran established the SILS Award for Teaching Excellence. In February 2012, the award was renamed the Deborah Barreau Award for Teaching Excellence in memory of Dr. Deborah Barreau, who received the award twice for her masterful teaching and mentoring. The award recognizes one faculty member, who is nominated by the students within the school, for outstanding teaching. In 2006, an additional award recognizing the outstanding teaching by an adjunct professor was added. Both awards are presented at the annual spring commencement ceremony.

2023
Faculty Award – Elliott Kuecker

2022
Faculty Award – Francesca Tripodi
Adjunct Award – Elizabeth Ott

2021
Faculty Award – Yue (Ray) Wang
Adjunct Award – Megan von Isenburg and Sarah Cantrell

2020
Faculty Award – Maggie Melo
Adjunct Award – Emily Roscoe

2019
Faculty Award – Amelia N. Gibson
Adjunct Award – Patrick Hodges

2018
Faculty Award – Mary Grace Flaherty
Adjunct Award – Leslie Thomson

2017
Faculty Award – Stephanie Haas
Adjunct Award – Casey Rawson

2016
Faculty Award – Ron Bergquist
Adjunct Award – Emily Vardell

2015
Faculty Award – Mohammad Hossein Jarrahi

2014
Faculty Award – Jaime Arguello
Adjunct Award – Rachael Clemens

2013
Faculty Award – Robert Capra
Adjunct Award – Joan Boone

2012
Faculty Award – Stephanie Haas
Adjunct Award – Rebecca Vargha

2011
Faculty Award – Phillip Edwards
Adjunct Award – Carolyn F. Hank

2010
Faculty Award – Sandra Hughes-Hassell
Adjunct Award – Susan Rathbun-Grubb

2009
Faculty Award – Gary Marchionini
Adjunct Award – Evelyn Daniel

2008
Faculty Award – Deborah Barreau
Adjunct Award – Thomas Nixon
Adjunct Award – Pamela Sessoms

2007
Faculty Award – Diane Kelly
Adjunct Award – Ron Bergquist

2006
Faculty Award – Stephanie Haas
Adjunct Award – Lisa Norberg

2005
Faculty Award – Jerry Saye

2004
Faculty Award – Deborah Barreau

2003
Faculty Award – Barbara Moran

2002
Faculty Award – Brian Sturm

2001
Faculty Award – David Carr

2000
Faculty Award – Barbara Wildemuth

1999
Faculty Award – Evelyn Daniel

1998
Faculty Award – Jerry Saye

1997
Faculty Award – Stephanie Haas

First presented in 2007, the School of Information and Library Science (SILS) Staff Excellence Award annually recognizes SILS staff members who have demonstrated commitment, teamwork, and outstanding service to the School. All permanent, full-time, or part-time SHRA and non-research EHRA non-faculty who have been employed with SILS for at least one full fiscal year are eligible. Winners from the previous year are excluded from eligibility. Nominations are solicited from faculty, staff and students at SILS. Employees selected for the award receive a framed certificate, $500, and three additional paid days of leave. Their names are also submitted for the campus-wide Chancellor’s Award.

2023
Michelle Taylor, Accounting Technician
Tracy Velez, Executive Assistant, Center for Technology Policy

2019
Susan Sylvester, Executive Assistant to the Dean
Tiffany Harris, Undergraduate Student Coordinator

2018
Brian Nussbaum , Desktop Support and Help Desk Manager
2017
Maggie Hite, Front Desk Coordinator
2016
Martha Martin, Contracts and Grants Administrator
Larisa Rodgers, Program Coordinator for the Carolina Health Informatics Program (CHIP)
2015
Tiffany Harris, Undergraduate Student Coordinator
2014
Michelle Taylor, Accounting Technician
Susan Sylvester, Executive Assistant to the Dean
2013
Lori Haight, Career Services Coordinator
2012
Kaitlyn Murphy, Undergraduate Student Services Coordinator
Mark Snyder, Desktop Support and Help Desk Manager
2011
Aaron Brubaker, Director of Information Technology
Susan Sylvester, Executive Assistant to the Dean
2010
Tammy Cox, Assistant Dean of Administration
2009
Michael Penny, Departmental Assistant
2008
Aaron Brubaker, Director of Information Technology
Stephanie Peterson, Undergraduate Student Manager
2007
Lara Bailey, Graduate Student Coordinator
Susan Thomas, Administrative Manager