Release date: Sept. 18, 2006

Chicagoland Libraries Leader Receives Emory's Top Alumni Award

Contact: Eric Rangus: 404-727-3390, eric.rangus@emory.edu

Chicagoland's most passionate advocate for the importance of libraries has received Emory University's highest alumni honor.

Sarah Ann Long, director of the Wheeling, Ill.-based North Suburban Library System (NSLS) and columnist for the Daily Herald, was selected by the Emory Alumni Board to receive the Emory Medal, which honors distinguished service to the university and its alumni as well as outstanding professional achievement.

Long received her medal, along with Eugene Zimmerman, a 1954 graduate of Emory's Candler School of Theology, at a formal ceremony Sept. 14 at the Miller-Ward Alumni House on the Emory campus.

Since earning a master's degree from Emory's librarianship program in 1969, Long's library career has taken her around the world. From England to Ohio, Pennsylvania to Oregon, and, since 1989, Wheeling, Ill., she has delighted in introducing libraries to the people around her.

Long has always made it a point to stay ahead of the game in technology and has creatively sought new ways to reach her neighbors. In 1999, she and several NSLS staff began production of a monthly cable television show called "What's New in Libraries?" The half-hour program features library staff and promotes a wide range of innovative library services and events. The show is broadcast to more than 70 Chicagoland communities with a population of 1.9 million people.

In the early 1990s she pioneered Internet access in libraries throughout the NSLS area. She also assists many other library professionals' public relations and marketing needs when she is not responding to requests from the American Library Association Public Information Office to be a media resource herself.

In 2001, Long set out to conquer another mediumthe printed word. On April 14 of that year, the first of her weekly columns on libraries ran in the Daily Herald, Illinois' third largest newspaper. Since then, she has added a bimonthly libraries column in the British publication, New Library World.

Long is past president of both the American Library Association and the Public Library Association. She has earned several professional awards, as has NSLS, which was named one of Chicago's "101 Best & Brightest Companies To Work For" in 2005.

Her numerous awards and honors range from the YWCA of Lake County's Woman of Achievement Award to a declared Sarah Long Day in Fairfield County, Ohio.

"Sarah Long has shown tremendous leadership throughout her career," says Allison Dykes, vice president for alumni relations at Emory. "She passionately expresses her love for libraries and through her hard work and devotion has transferred that love to many people in her community. We are proud to present her with the Emory Medal."

The Emory Medal is the highest University award given exclusively to alumni. The medal is awarded annually by the Association of Emory Alumni (AEA); honorees are selected by the Emory Alumni Board and are recognized for their accomplishments in at least one of the following areas: distinguished service to Emory, the AEA, or a constituent alumni association; distinguished community or public service; or distinguished achievement in business, the arts, the professions, government or education.

Emory University is known for its demanding academics, outstanding undergraduate college of arts and sciences, highly ranked professional schools and state-of-the-art research facilities. For nearly two decades Emory has been named one of the country's top 25 national universities by U.S. News & World Report. In addition to its nine schools, the university encompasses The Carter Center, Yerkes National Primate Research Center and Emory Healthcare, the state's largest and most comprehensive health care system.

Subscribe to News@Emory RSS feeds for automatic updates of the latest news at Emory.

Back