Jennifer Richard to Receive the 2012 APLA Merit Award The Atlantic Provinces Library Association is pleased to announce that this year's recipient of the APLA Merit Award is Ms. Jennifer Richard, Head of Research Services at Acadia University's Vaughan Memorial Library in Wolfville, NS. The APLA Merit Award is presented annually to someone who has made an outstanding contribution to library services in our region. This year, APLA has chosen a candidate who has shown herself to be a passionate and engaged advocate for libraries, and someone who never hesitates to volunteer her services on behalf of libraries and the library profession. One supporter writes of Jennifer, "She believes deeply that libraries make a significant difference in the lives of students and the lives of the public." She is highly regarded by friends and colleagues alike and is a familiar name in the Atlantic Provinces library community. Jennifer's accomplishments include having served as President of APLA in 2005-2006; establishing the APLA Grow-a-Library project which provides financial support to libraries in developing countries; organizing not one but two successful APLA conferences; and laying the foundation for, and continuing to maintain, the APLA archives. On the wider stage, Jennifer is the Founding Editor of Partnership: the Canadian Journal of Library and Information Practice and Research, and has been both a Member-at-Large of the Canadian Library Association Board and a CLA conference organizer. Closer to home, Jennifer was instrumental in establishing Acadia's e-theses project, as well as in developing the E. C. Smith Digital Herbarium database. Please join us in congratulating Jennifer Richard for her many accomplishments, and thanking her for her service to our region and our profession. And come celebrate with us as the award is presented on Wednesday, May 24, 2012, at the annual Merit Award Banquet to be held during the APLA conference in Wolfville.