By Tami Back, W&M Libraries
William & Mary librarian Liz Bellamy ‘13 has been chosen for the 2019 Academic Innovator Award by the Virginia Library Association (VLA).
Bellamy was recognized for her work at Radford University, where she served as an instruction librarian before coming to W&M. She and Alyssa Archer, Susan Van Patten and Charley Cosmato of Radford were selected for their successful initiative to re-envision and renovate an information literacy center in Radford’s McConnell Library through the Active Learning Center (ALC) Steelcase Grant program. With the $67,000 in grant funding, the team was able to transform a traditional classroom into a beautiful and flexible new space for collaboration.
“I feel fortunate to have worked with such amazing, dedicated educators and researchers as part of the Active Learning Center team at Radford University, and that I’m able to continue contributing to the research project tied to this grant remotely,” said Bellamy. “Even though I’m now all the way across the state from Radford, the research into active learning that this grant has enabled has taught me valuable lessons that inform my instruction whenever I teach workshops in Swem’s active learning classrooms.”
The VLA Awards honor librarians and library project teams from academic, public and special libraries across the commonwealth for their exemplary contributions to their communities and profession. Award winners will be recognized at the VLA Annual Conference being held in Norfolk in October 2019.
“I’m honored that our work has been recognized by VLA, and I look forward to sharing what we’ve learned so far with other educators,” said Bellamy.
Bellamy joined W&M Libraries in August 2018 as a research and instruction librarian. She serves as liaison to the English, Linguistics and American Studies departments. Her research largely focuses on pedagogy in librarianship, with emphasis on critical information literacy, digital literacy and student-centered instruction.