Chou and Pho win 2019 ACRL WGSS Significant Achievement Award

CHICAGO – Rose L. Chou, budget and personnel manager at American University, and Annie Pho, instruction coordinator and assessment librarian at the University of San Francisco, are the winners of the 2019 Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Women and Gender Studies Section (WGSS) Award for Significant Achievement in Women and Gender Studies Librarianship. The WGSS award honors a significant or one-time contribution to women and gender studies librarianship.

A plaque and $750 award, donated by Duke University Press, will be presented to Chou and Pho at a WGSS event during the ALA Annual Conference in Washington, DC.

“Chou’s and Pho’s book 'Pushing the Margins: Women of Color and Intersectionality in LIS' is an extremely important contribution to our discipline, bringing critical thought and knowledge for consideration at a time when a focus on diversity and inclusion is greatly needed,” said award chair Dolores Fidishun, head librarian at Penn State-Abington. “Their emphasis on intersectionality will help all of us in LIS grow as we learn about ways in which multiple social and cultural identities impact individual experience. It is a must read for any librarian!”

Using intersectionality as a framework, "Pushing the Margins: Women of Color and Intersectionality in LIS" explores the experiences of women of color in library and information science (LIS). With roots in black feminism and critical race theory, intersectionality studies the ways in which multiple social and cultural identities impact individual experience.

Libraries and archives idealistically portray themselves as egalitarian and neutral entities that provide information equally to everyone, yet these institutions often reflect and perpetuate societal racism, sexism, and additional forms of oppression. Women of color who work in LIS are often placed in the position of balancing the ideal of the library and archive providing good customer service and being an unbiased environment with the lived reality of receiving microaggressions and other forms of harassment on a daily basis from both colleagues and patrons. This edited collection examines how lived experiences of social identities affect women of color and their work in LIS.

Chou received her M.L.I.S. from the San Jose State University and Pho received her M.L.S. from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

For more information regarding the ACRL WGSS Award for Significant Achievement in Women and Gender Studies Librarianship, or a complete list of past recipients, please visit the awards section of the ACRL website.

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About ACRL
The Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) is the higher education association for academic libraries and library workers. Representing nearly 10,500 individuals and libraries, ACRL (a division of the American Library Association) develops programs, products, and services to help those working in academic and research libraries learn, innovate, and lead within the academic community. Founded in 1940, ACRL is committed to advancing learning and transforming scholarship. Find ACRL on the web, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

About Duke University Press
Duke University Press supports scholars in doing what they are passionate about: learning, teaching, and effecting positive change in the world. This bold, progressive spirit drives both what and how we publish. Each year we publish about 120 new books, more than 50 journals, and multiple digital collections that transform current thinking and move fields forward. We thrive as a nonprofit publisher because we adapt, innovate, and form strong global partnerships. It is our mission to find, curate, enrich, and disseminate scholarship that is vital to readers working at the forefront of their fields in the humanities, social sciences, and mathematics. Our work supports Duke University’s mission to advance the frontiers of knowledge and contribute to the international community of scholarship.