Posted on Nov 14, 2007

Steven Watkins, one of CSU Monterey Bay's founding librarians, was awarded the first ever lifetime membership by a marine science library association for his contributions throughout the years.

The International Association of Aquatic and Marine Science Libraries and Information Centers' executive board created the award specifically to honor Mr. Watkins and his many years of service to the organization.

"We expect senior librarians to influence the profession beyond their institution. In addition to the contributions he makes every day to CSUMB, our organization has benefited from Steve's background in technology and his interest in the use of open source software for library applications. He has clearly influenced the profession of marine and aquatic science librarianship on a global scale," said IAMSLIC's president Barbara Butler in presenting the award at the group's annual conference in Saratoga, Fla.

Mr. Watkins was instrumental in creating IAMSLIC's very successful international resource-sharing program. This pioneering project enables member libraries to locate and obtain scientific publications from other libraries around the world to support research being conducted at their institutions. As marine and aquatic research has become increasingly global in scope, this system enables students and researchers in CSUMB's Coastal and Watershed Science & Policy program, for instance, to gain access to important studies being conducted on coastal environments worldwide. During the past year alone, 110 IAMSLIC libraries in 44 countries obtained nearly 4,000 documents using this system. Five libraries in the Monterey Bay region are active contributors to the resource-sharing program, including CSUMB.

Mr. Watkins is currently the coordinator of technology development at CSUMB's library. He joined the faculty in 1995 and is a past chair of the CSUMB Academic Senate. He is a frequent presenter on technology-enabled library services and a longtime contributor to collaborative library programs in the Monterey Bay region. He holds a master of library science degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and a bachelor's of science degree in biology from Stanford University.