Timothy Cole, head of the Mathematics Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has been named a recipient of the 2017 Frederick G. Kilgour Award for Research in Library and Information Technology. This award is sponsored by the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) and the Library and Information Technology Association (LITA).

The Kilgour award honors research related to the development of information technologies, and includes a $2,000 award, travel funding, and a recognition at the LITA awards ceremony at the American Library Association Annual Conference in Chicago. The award is meant to represent work that takes place over a span of years, or even throughout a career, and takes its name from the founder of OCLC.

Professor Cole’s information technology work dates back more than 20 years, encompassing research in digital libraries, metadata design, and discovery and access of scholarly content. He has published widely and received more than $11 million in grants throughout his career. His recent work with the WC3 consortium and their newly published web annotation standards represent significant contributions to improving how information is organized and accessed on the web. Beth Namachchivaya, Associate University Librarian for Research, and JoAnn Jacoby, Associate University Librarian for User Services, praised Cole’s “impressive record of research and practice” in their nomination letter, noting that he has “pushed librarians and technologists world-wide to develop new methods of discovery and access in a largely digital information universe.”

Cole is the second University of Illinois faculty member to receive this honor. It was previously awarded to Acting Dean of Libraries William Mischo in 2009. Cole’s award makes the University of Illinois the second institution, and first academic library, to have two recipients.

LITA is a division of the American Library Association dedicated to exploring and enabling new technologies and their use in libraries. The division was first established in 1966. OCLC is a global nonprofit that provides technology services, research, and programming to fuel learning in libraries. The worldwide library catalog WorldCat is maintained by OCLC.

Some information in this post adapted from the official ALA press release.