UC editor wins national John Harris literary award

UC editor wins prestigious national John Harris literary award

August 20, 2012

A University of Canterbury (UC) editor Bronwyn Matthews has just been award the Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa’s prestigious John Harris literary award for her work on the Treasures of the UC Library book.

Only 20 people have received the award since 1961. Librarian Matthews wrote the Treasures collection book along with senior history lecturer Chris Jones. The book looks at the history and significance of 60 historical items held in the university’s library collection.

Matthews is UC’s liaison librarian for special collections. She works as a reference and liaison librarian in European languages and music, and is particularly interested in the use of rare books for teaching.

The Treasures project was led by Dr Jones. As one of the general editors Matthews worked closely with him and played a pivotal role in all aspects of the book’s production. She made many of the selections for books to be included in Treasures, and suggested many of the authors.

"Bronwyn was crucial to the production of the book and without her it would not have achieved the high academic standards that I believe it has done; nor would it have reflected the breadth and range of our collections in the way that it does,’’ Dr Jones said today.

"I considered her, throughout, very much my partner in this enterprise. I found her own contributions to the volume to be extremely well-researched and exceptionally well-written.”

Matthew’s role was as one of the general editors. She possessed in-depth of knowledge of the UC collection, without which the project would have been impossible to complete, Dr Jones said.

The citation mentions her article on the history of UC library which prefaces the volume, which was considered an important service to librarianship.

ENDS

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