by Matt Lee
Quick Summary
The Minitex Reference Outreach and Instruction (ROI) unit has been awarded the "Library Team of the Year" award at the State History Day competition.
The Minitex Reference Outreach and Instruction (ROI) unit has been awarded the "Library Team of the Year" award at the State History Day competition. Beth Staats, Carla Pfahl, and Linda Mork accepted the award at a ceremony at Williams Arena on Saturday, May 4.
In conveying the news to Beth, History Day official Sammi Jo Papas included this note:
“You and the rest of the team do so much to support History Day students throughout the year, between actual classroom visits and the development of ELM, we couldn't think of a better group to award this year.”
This year, ROI librarians visited 64 middle and high school classes to introduce 1,783 students to ELM and the U of M’s Wilson Library, where those students conduct research field trips in preparation for their National History Day projects. As a long-form research project that happens over months and encourages primary source research, History Day motivates students to use the library. The best projects tend to be informed by a combination of school, public, academic, and even special library collections and expertise.
I may be biased, but I’d say the best projects also tend to be informed by Beth, Carla, and Linda. Please join me in congratulating each of them on this exciting and well-deserved award!
Minitex ROI’s involvement in History Day is a team effort. University of Minnesota Libraries staff make History Day research field trips to Wilson Library successful and fun for students. Minitex Resource Sharing staff support metro area K12 interlibrary loan in partnership with media specialists and educators.
Ron Hustvedt of Salk Middle School, who won History Day "Teacher of the Year" at Saturday’s event, summed it up with these words of thanks to both Minitex and UMN Libraries staff:
“We have been partners with all of you for over a decade now and ...I can't tell you how many times I've heard students say that, thanks to their experience, they can now "see themselves" going to college. The actual impact of the visit is so much more than finding books and online resources and it's something impossible to fully measure.”
