Loida Garcia-Febo

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
CONTACT:
Roxana Benavides, Chair
REFORMA Dr. Arnulfo D. Trejo Librarian of The Year (LOTY) Award & the Elizabeth Martinez Lifetime Achievement (LAA) Award Committee
awards@reforma.org
 

 
REFORMA is proud to announce the recipient of the 2015 Elizabeth Martinez Lifetime Achievement (LAA) Award, Loida García-Febo.
 
Loida’s first job as a librarian was in August 1998.
 
She served as REFORMA President 2009-2010, during which she coordinated partnerships with ALA New Members RT, IFLA Latin America & Caribbean Section (LAC), SALALM and PLA to present programs during the annual conference. A book with presentations at the program with IFLA LAC was published by UNAM (Autonomous University of Mexico) during this time.
 
As part of INW (Information New Wave), she has lead efforts that have directly served more than 1,000 students, professionals and those providing access to information in Dominican Republic and Panama.
 
Since 2012, Loida García-Febo coordinates and develops IFLA’s Continuing Professional Development and Workplace Learning Section (CPDWL)  online continuing developing sessions for librarians and LIS students in Latin America & the Caribbean in Spanish and Portuguese in partnership with the University of Sao Paulo (1,700+ attendees), and in English in partnership with ALA.
 
From 2012-2013, she served as Chair of Legislative Committee, where she coordinated a joint webinar with the ALA Washington Office entitled “Taking Action: legal barriers to library services to immigrants & access to information.”
 
Since January 2014, Loida has represented IFLA at the Post2015 development agenda meetings at the United Nations in New York where she advocates for inclusion of access to information in the Sustainable Development Goals to be launched in January 1, 2016. These guidelines are used by countries globally to move forward their own development. Therefore, we can see how her work has impacted from the local and regional to the global arena.
 
Fellow Reformistas say this about Loida:
 
“Chances are you would have seen her involvement in REFORMA in many capacities; speaking at conference about the importance of serving diverse communities; to appearing on the side of public transportation vehicles stating  ¡Yo soy Queens Library!”   And if that were not enough Loida has pushed the envelope once again. As a thriving consultant and President of Information New Wave she is ensuring that librarianship is embraced at the global level.”  Salvador Avila
 
“More than anything she understands and works to develop the mission of REFORMA in an extensive and unparalleled strategy reaching out to the world.” Ninfa Trejo
 
The Elizabeth Martinez Lifetime Achievement Award (LAA) was created to recognize those who have achieved excellence in librarianship over an extended (over 20 years) period of service and who have made significant and lasting contributions to REFORMA, as well as to the Latino and the Spanish-speaking communities.
 
Loida García-Febo will be honored at the 2015 American Library Association (ALA) annual conference in San Francisco at the 2015 REFORMA GALA on:
   
The REFORMA Dr. Arnulfo D. Trejo Librarian of the Year (LOTY) Award & the Elizabeth Martinez Lifetime Achievement (LAA) Award Committee

• Roxana Benavides, (Chair)
• Silvia Cisneros- REFORMA President
• Beatriz Guevara - REFORMA Vice-President
• Jean Hatfield
• Libbhy Romero

For more information about the LAA and REFORMA, visit  www.reforma.org

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