In 2016, the Medical Library Association awarded the Association of Vision Science Librarians the Louise Darling Medal for Distinguished Achievement in Collection Development in the Health Sciences. The award was given for the paper “Standards for vision science libraries: 2014 revision“, published in the Journal of the Medical Library Association and written by Kristin Motte, Brooke Caldwell, Karen Lamson, Suzanne Ferimer, and Chris Nims.
AVSL members were given the award during the Presidents’ Award Dinner in Toronto on May 17th, 2016. According to MLA, “The Louise Darling Medal is presented annually to recognize distinguished achievement in collection development in the health sciences. The medal honors Louise Darling’s significant accomplishment in this professional specialty. The award was established in 1987 and first awarded in 1988, with a contribution by Ballen Booksellers International, Inc.”.
In addition to the medal and certificate, AVSL was also awarded a $1,000 prize, which the members decided to donate to the SEVA Foundation. SEVA has partnered with AVSL in the past, and their mission is to create self-sustaining programs worldwide that preserve and restore sight.