Lisa Lepore (left) Mark Hower, Jamila Gaskins, Noah Christensen, Kenneth Pienkos at the 5th Annual Library Research Awards.
The winners of the 5th Annual Library Research Awards were honored in the Antioch University Los Angeles Library where they discussed their papers, research strategies, and academic growth during the process. Two additional students were given an honorable mention for their papers.
The topics of the papers covered a wide range of subjects which reflect the diverse areas of study of students. The Awards not only celebrate students and their creative uses of the resources the library offers, it also puts a well-deserved spotlight on the importance of libraries and the hard work and dedication of the librarians who run them.
“Libraries are not moneymakers and at a time of neo-liberal ‘everything must make a profit’ libraries are vulnerable. We only need to look at the state of our public schools’ K-12 libraries to see what happens when libraries are not supported,” said Lisa Lepore Director of Library Services in her introductory speech. “It’s not that libraries are not important maybe, in fact, they are too important to sustain.”
Winners and their papers include:
- Jamila Gaskins, MA in Urban Sustainability: How Did Forced Migration and Forced Displacement Change Igbo Women’s and Their African American Daughters’ Environmental Identity?
- Precious Rasheeda Muhammad, MFA in Creative Writing: ‘I Could Be of Great Use to My Benighted People’: Service Learning, Shifting Canons, and Authority
- Noah Christensen, Undergraduate Studies: Selling Rainbows
Honorable mentions and their papers include:
- Vanessa Rios, MA in Urban Sustainability: Frontline Workers: Urban Solutions for Developing a Sustainable Workforce in the Homeless Sector of Los Angeles County
- Erica Charis-Molling, MFA in Creative Writing: “NOT THERE ANY LONGER: NEGATION AND WORKING THROUGH TRAUMA IN ROBIN COSTE LEWIS’ ‘LURE’ AND PAUL CELAN’S ‘PSALM’”
Victoria Chang presented Precious Rasheed Muhammad’s paper and findings, while Vanessa Rios’ advisor, Jane Paul, presented on her behalf. For Rios, her research was being put into action as she was currently meeting with city councilmen to help address the homelessness crisis in Los Angeles County.
Erica Charis-Molling presented her paper through a video conference call from her residence in Boston. Provost Mark Hower awarded Gaskins and Christensen with certificates in honor of the hard work and dedication that they poured into their final papers.
The Library Research Awards are hosted by the Antioch Los Angeles Library and funded by the AULA Library Council. The awards were created by Amy Smith, an Antioch College alumna who wanted to put a spotlight on the school’s library and its invaluable resources. Winners received a prize of $800 from the Library Council and the honorable mentions received a $200 bookstore certificates.
