University of Tennessee Professor Dr. Carol Tenopir has been awarded the 2009 ASIST Award of Merit.
The American Society for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T) Award of Merit is the Society's highest honor, bestowed annually to an individual who has made a noteworthy contribution to the field of information science, including the expression of new ideas, the creation of new devices, the development of better techniques and outstanding service to the profession of information science.
Dr. Tenopir has had a remarkable career as a researcher, teacher and contributor to the Information Science profession for almost three decades. A major study of information science scholarship recently found Carol Tenopir to be the most frequently cited researcher in the field and ranked her first in terms of scholarly productivity. Her research, with a strong user focus, covers the evolution and development of databases, online systems and searching, and, more recently, scholarly communications on a broad scale. Her bridging of the research and practice communities is outstanding.
An STM publisher supporting her nomination noted, “Her studies have been unique in bringing an evidence-based rigor to an area that has long been fraught with misinformation and controversy. Her exhaustive studies and their publication have been an inspiration to all those who seek better to understand how scholarly journals have been used and the role they perform for academics. Her book with Don King (Towards Electronic Journals) still provides the most complete survey of the use, usefulness, economic modeling, price development and future prospects for journal publishing. Her studies on the behavioral patterns of academics in their approach to the electronic literature have lain to rest many misperceptions.”
Dr. Tenopir is an international presence for information science, with over a third of her presentations delivered overseas in more than 18 countries. In addition, she is a popular consultant for national and international firms. Tenopir has authored five books and more than 200 journal articles.
She has been most successful in involving a large number of faculty and students in major research projects, giving them an opportunity to develop research skills and knowledge that immediately contributes to their personal and professional growth. Carol Tenopir has received national awards for teaching excellence from the American Society for Information Science and Technology and from the Association for Library and Information Science Education.
One juror noted, “Carol Tenopir is no mere researcher, she is a significant contributor to the scholarly and professional communities and to the lives and careers of individuals.” Another commented: “if Carol didn't exist, then we would have needed to invent someone just like her! Put most simply, Carol serves as a SET of bridges ... that cross multiple chasms: between research and practice; between practice and commerce; between evaluation and practice; between data and decision.”
