Steve Witt, Head of the International and Area Studies Library and Associate Professor at the University Library, and Director for Global Studies at the University of Illinois, has been named the recipient of the American Library Association’s Library History Round Table’s Donald G. Davis Award. The award recognizes Witt’s article, “Agents of Change: The Rise of International Librarianship and the Age of Globalization” from the journal Library Trends.

The Donald G. Davis Award is given biennially to “the best article written in English in the field of United States and Canadian library history including the history of libraries, librarianship, and book culture.” Witt’s article, “Agents of Change,” examines the American Library Association’s (ALA’s) creation of the Paris Library School between 1923 and 1928 as part of the broader history of the development of international librarianship. The award will be officially presented at the ALA 2016 Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida, at the Library History Round Table’s Research Forum.

Steve Witt joined the University of Illinois Library in 2011 as the Head of the International and Area Studies Library, and was named Director of the Center for Global Studies at Illinois in May of 2016. His research focuses on the trajectory and impacts of international developments in library and information science, placing global trends in librarianship and knowledge production in the context of wider social and technological developments. He is the editor of IFLA Journal.