ALA Annual 2011: Reviewers of the Year Reception
By Heather McCormack Jun 26, 2011| From top row, left to right: Book Review Editor Heather McCormack with Michele Lauer-Bader in background; EBSCO NoveList cofounder Duncan Smith; Senior Editor Wilda Williams; Managing Editor Bette-Lee Fox; LJ/SLJ Editorial Director Brian Kenney, Marketing Manager Krista Rafanello, and VP-Group Publisher Ian Singer; Jaime Corris-Hammond and LJ 2011 Fiction Reviewer of the Year Jeanne Bogino; and Barbara Fister with NoveList's Kathryn Stewart. Photos Copyright 2011 Sean Gardner/Getty Images |
Last night at New Orleans landmark restaurant Antoine's, Library Journal hosted a lively dessert reception sponsored by EBSCO NoveList to recognize the significant contributions of its book, audiobook, and video reviewers. Veterans with more than 20 years under their belts mingled with relative newcomers, trading stories of favorite assignments and their relationships with LJ's Book Review editors while sampling champagne and baked Alaska, lit on fire with Southern flare toward the evening's end.
"We've been away for a few years, and we're so happy to be back because this is the one time during the year where we get to recognize the people who make LJ the viable magazine that it is," said Book Review Editor Heather McCormack. "You contribute what has long been rightly referred to as the meat of the magazine."
McCormack, Managing Editor Bette-Lee Fox, and Senior Editor Wilda Williams presented awards to Carol Elsen, 2011 Nonfiction Reviewer of the Year; Jeanne Bogino, 2011 Fiction Reviewer of the Year; Joan Pedzich, 2011 Video Reviewer of the Year; Janet Martin, 2011 Audiobook Reviewer of the Year; and Carol J. Binkowski, recipient of a Special Reviewer's Citation, offered periodically to nonlibrarians for their outstanding work.
Only Bogino, who started on LJ's Xpress Reviews roster four years ago before becoming LJ's point person for tricky mashup genre fiction, was able to attend. To demonstrate her wit and readers' advisory know-how, Williams read a Bogino take on a work of, yes, really, Jane Austen erotica that was as playful as the story she'd ingested.
"I don't know what to say other than this is just such a labor of love for me," Bogino remarked over appreciative giggles and applause.
Duncan Smith, cofounder of EBSCO NoveList, offered a moving word of thanks, emphasizing the work that these under-appreciated subject specialists do results in rich, relevant resources for patrons across U.S. public and academic libraries; in essence, more opportunities for entertainment and a higher quality of life.
"Ezra Pound said the artist is the antenna of the race. If that's true, then I believe LJ reviewers are the antenna of the profession."
See our ALA Conferences site for complete event coverage from the editors of Library Journal and School Library Journal.
