Gerlich receives University of Pittsburgh alumni award
August 25, 2013
UAF Dean of Libraries Bella Karr Gerlich has been honored by her alma mater, University
of Pittsburgh, with the 2013 University of Pittsburgh School of Information Sciences
Professional Achievement Award. It is an annual award given to an alumna/us who has
demonstrated solid achievement in the fields of information science, community, public
or humanitarian service.She earned her doctorate in Library Information Science from the university in 2006. In the letter announcing the award, it was noted that she was chosen because her “successful and dynamic career in the field of librarianship.”
Gerlich has been UAF's Dean of Libraries since 2011. She oversees all aspects of the Elmer E. Rasmuson and BioSciences libraries academic and administrative programs and services, is an advisor to the UAF rural campuses and fosters national and international partnerships with the libraries. She draws expertise from more than 25 years experience working in academic libraries.
Gerlich's research interests include assessment, organizational behavior and valuation of services. She has authored/co-authored a number of peer-reviewed publications, is a frequent guest lecturer, presents at conferences in the U.S. and abroad, and enjoys mentoring students.
As an administrator, Gerlich has worked to identify, quantify and acknowledge the hidden work done by library staff in developing qualitative data-gathering methodology.
Inspired by her dissertation research at University of Pittsburgh, Gerlich created the READ Scale, a 1 - 6 scale for recording the effort, knowledge, skill, and teaching that occur during reference transactions. More than 100 libraries worldwide use the tool, which has been incorporated in commercial data analysis products. Gerlich is currently collaborating with other libraries to test her LEAD Scale (Library Effort Assessment Data) that evolves the 1 – 6 scale tool to record qualitative data across all library work functions.
For more information contact Suzanne Bishop, development officer at the Rasmuson Library, at 907-474-6997 or sbishop@alaska.edu.