News Release

2000-18

Sixth Annual Agatha Bystram Award Presented to Industry Canada’s Nora Hockin for Canada’s Digital Collections

Ottawa, November 6, 2000  --  Roch Carrier, National Librarian and Chair of the Council of Federal Libraries (CFL), announced today that the 2000 winner of the CFL’s Agatha Bystram Award for Leadership in Information Management is Nora Hockin of Industry Canada for her leadership of the Canada’s Digital Collections program. Michelle d’Auray, Chief Information Officer for the Government on Canada was on hand to present the award.

"This initiative is an excellent example of a federal government manager using creativity and initiative to inspire and motivate others in the use and application of information management techniques," said Roch Carrier. "Ms. Hockin is to be congratulated on her success in bringing together partners from many communities: libraries, archives, museums, and organizations from both the private and public sectors, and in providing an opportunity for the youth of our country to develop their skills. The quality of the product speaks for itself."

Canada’s Digital Collections helps organizations across Canada to create and manage Canadian content on the Internet. It provides funds to museums, libraries, archives, firms, schools and other organizations to hire teams of youth to digitize significant Canadian holdings and create multimedia Web sites. One of the most important sources of Canadian content on the Internet, Canada’s Digital Collections houses over 375 Web sites and receives over 1.5 million visits per month.

The Awards luncheon, held on November 6 during the 16th Annual Fall Seminar of the Council of Federal Libraries at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Hull, was sponsored by Carswell Thomson Professional Publishing, CEDROM-Sni, EBSCO Canada, and Micromedia.

Members of the 2000 Award jury were Roch Carrier, National Librarian of Canada and Chair of the Council of Federal Libraries; Bill Collins, President, Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation; Martin Foss, University Librarian, Carleton University; Paul McCormick, Director General, Information Resource Management, National Library of Canada; and Vicki Whitmell, Executive Director, Canadian Library Association.

Nora Hockin was selected from among 14 nominations received for the 2000 Award.

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For more information:

Julia Goodman
Acting Assistant Director
Canadian Agriculture Library
Telephone: 613-759-7084
Fax: 613-759-6643
E-mail: goodmanj@em.agr.ca

Media Contact:

Pierre Ostiguy
Media Relations Coordinator