The SLA New Jersey Chapter (NJSLA) is pleased to honor three longstanding members who have led the chapter in planning, programming and member services. They've also always lent a hand and encouraged our colleagues to understand the value of membership and participation in SLA. In short, Liz Arnold, Arda Agulian and Barbara Burton have been great ambassadors for both the chapter and the association. They'll be recognized at the chapter's 2009 Annual Meeting and Holiday Party on 15 December in New Brunswick.
I decided to honor Liz with the President's Award. As Career Guidance and Employment Chair for the chapter, Liz serves the very important role of publicizing new job opportunities to chapter members via our
job listings blog. She is always ready to mentor members and provide them with career advice. As a former chapter president, Liz is very familiar with chapter and SLA practices, and keeps us on the right path in terms of reporting, producing meeting minutes and other procedures, so that we're communicating the right information in the right way to both members and to SLA headquarters.
I worked with a committee of three — the chapter's President-Elect, Sandra Baker; and former chapter award winners Kate Creegan and Kris Fitzpatrick — to decide to honor Arda and Barbara as our 2009 Members of the Year.
For the past three years Arda has served as the chapter's Director of Communications. Arda has ensured that members receive important news from SLA headquarters, and she maintains the chapter's listserv. Arda also has served as a liaison for the Rutgers SC&I Program Associates, which connects New Jersey's library school to the professional community. One of Arda's chapter projects for several years has been planning our Annual Meeting and Holiday Party, picking great locations such as the Morris Museum, Reeves-Reed Arboretum and in 2009, the Rutgers Club. Arda also has put together a charity event around the party, such as this year's drive for the
Franklin Township Foodbank.
Barbara is the chapter's immediate past president and recruited me to follow her in that post. As a member and formerly as a vendor representative, Barbara has brought many educational and fun programs to the chapter. She secured for us industry and SLA leaders as Alice Rankin Distinguished Lecturers, including Mary Ellen Bates and Stephen Abram. Barbara also started a new summer tradition of a summer baseball outing with the Somerset Patriots.
This year, Barbara chaired the Frank H. Spaulding Student Scholarship Committee. (The scholarship winner, Kristin Gahona, also is being honored at the annual meeting.) Barbara has a deep respect for history and archives, so I'm glad that she's continuing next year to serve as the chapter's archivist.
So it gives me great pleasure to honor Liz, Arda and Barbara. Short biographies and photos follow.
Eric Schwarz
NJSLA 2009 President
Liz Arnold
Liz received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy and Art History from Douglass College, and her MLS from Rutgers. After a somewhat divergent career path (Human Resources, gourmet food/art gallery sales consultant) Liz has spent the last 18 years in a variety of pharmaceutical and healthcare information management positions. Her current position is Manager, Knowledge Services for Celgene Corporation.
She has served SLA in a variety of roles, including President of the New Jersey Chapter and Membership Chair of the Knowledge Management Division. She is currently the Career Guidance/Employment Chair of the New Jersey Chapter, and she enjoys seeking out new roles for information professionals and mentoring Chapter members.
In her spare (?) time Liz likes to play with her grandchildren, garden, snorkel in tropical waters, travel to exotic locations, and tool around with her husband, Dennis, in their 1964 MGB.
Arda Agulian
Arda Agulian is a Senior Information Specialist at BASF Catalysts' Technical Information Center, primarily supporting the R&D function. BASF Catalysts is a part of BASF Corporation and is focused on surface and materials science in a wide range of business areas. Her roles include patent and technical literature searching, and business and market research. She has been at BASF (formerly Engelhard Corp.) for the past 12 years.
Arda is a Political Science/English graduate of Rutgers University and received her MLS from Rutgers as well. She is currently serving Director of Communications for the chapter, and has previously been a member of the NJSLA program committee as well as Program Associates Liaison.
Barbara Burton
Barbara Burton is a consultant in the information industry and a lecturer at the Rutgers University School of Communication and Information. She spent many years in the corporate world implementing marketing and training programs for online database providers including The New York Times, Dun & Bradstreet and Dow Jones.
She is active in the Westfield Historical Society, the Westfield Historic Preservation Commission, the Westfield Service League and the Agape Community Kitchen in Elizabeth. She is the librarian for the Westfield Presbyterian Church. She has a BA in History from Northwestern University and an MLS from Rutgers University
She authored "Connecting Users with Their Information" for
Business Information Review, December 2005. Her essay, “Westfield Votes for a Library,” won Honorable Mention in the
Westfield Leader essay contest in 2006.
She is a member of the Special Libraries Association, and served as New Jersey Chapter President in 2008. She is also a member of the Church and Synagogue Library Association and she was elected to Beta Phi Mu, the International Library and Information Studies Honor Society.
Barbara lives in Westfield with her husband, two teenagers, a cat and an attic full of books.