The Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN) is pleased to announce Tony Horava as the recipient of the 2020 Ron MacDonald Distinguished Service Award. The award will be presented on October 22, 2020, at a virtual award ceremony as part of the CRKN Virtual Conference.
For over 30 years, Mr. Horava has contributed to the advancement of scholarly communications and knowledge infrastructure in Canada, while continuously demonstrating vision, integrity, and a passion for collaboration. In 2019, Mr. Horava retired as the Associate University Librarian (Content and Access) at the University of Ottawa, a role he held since January of 2010.
Mr. Horava contributed extensively to CRKN and other international, national, and regional committees and task groups. He joined the Negotiations Resource Team, which later became the Content Strategy Committee, in 2007 and served until 2016. From 2011 to 2012, Mr. Horava chaired the Perpetual Access Task Group, setting forth recommendations to advance national preservation and access. Mr. Horava also served on the Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL)’s Information Resources (IR) committee and contributed extensively to OCUL’s patron-driven acquisition and ebooks platforms. In 2014, he won the OCUL Outstanding Contribution Award, in recognition of his contributions to OCUL and the wider library community.
Mr. Horava was a member of the Coordinating Committee for the Keep@Downsview Project, a print preservation project between five Ontario universities that provides a sustainable and long-term solution for preserving the scholarly record in Ontario. The project won the OCUL Outstanding Contribution Award in 2017. Keep@Downsview continues to operate as a model of inter-institutional collaboration. Through his committee and task group work, Mr. Horava was widely known as a key contributor, always providing thoughtful feedback and new ideas, with an eye to collaboration.
Mr. Horava has also been a prolific contributor to the field of librarianship through numerous presentations and publications on a variety of topics such as ebooks, collection management, open access, copyright, library and university press collaboration, and the role of consortia. He held numerous speaking engagements and presented at many conferences over the years, both in Canada and internationally. His regular participation in, and organization of, the Charleston Conference has also made Mr. Horava a valuable ambassador for Canadian academic libraries on a North American stage. He was recognized in 2015 with the Vicky Speck ABC-CLIO Leadership Award for being “a leader in the Charleston Conference who has made a lasting contribution to the Conference’s mission”. Mr. Horava also left his mark with the University of Ottawa Press, where he served on the editorial board for several years. In 2019, Mr. Horava was instrumental in launching the Press’ “Perspectives on Open Access Series”.
Mr. Horava is also known as a mentor to many colleagues within Canada, including his support of emerging library and information studies researchers across Canada through his involvement as a peer mentor with the CARL Librarians’ Research Institute. He also taught as a Cross-Appointed Professor at the School of Information Studies at the University of Ottawa, where he taught Library Collection Management to the next generation of Information Studies students.
“Over the course of my career I’ve been privileged to work with so many talented and dedicated colleagues from across the country and beyond,” says Mr. Horava. “Together we accomplished many things at the national, regional, and institutional levels, of which I am quite proud. I always felt energized by challenges and opportunities in librarianship, and the diverse ways to contribute to a rapidly evolving landscape. Sustained collaboration and a sense of commitment remain central to who we are in academic libraries and archives and our various consortia.”
On behalf of the CRKN Board of Directors, we congratulate Tony Horava on his career and achievements and thank him for his service to the academic community in Canada.
Award Ceremony
Registration is now open for the virtual award ceremony and more information is available on the CRKN website. Please register here: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/2020-crkn-conference-award-reception-october-22-2020-tickets-114185911134.
We invite you to extend your congratulations to Tony Horava on being honoured with the 2020 Ron MacDonald Distinguished Service Award. We are requesting congratulatory notes to be submitted digitally at https://www.kudoboard.com/boards/vwai5GLm. In addition to text, we invite you to share pictures of Tony throughout his career. Content from the Kudoboard will be shared on screen at the virtual reception for all attendees to read. We encourage you to participate in this virtual card and ask that comments be added by October 21.
About the Award
The Ron MacDonald Distinguished Service Award was introduced by CRKN in September 2008 to honour the late Ron MacDonald who was a member of CRKN’s Negotiations Resource Team from February 2000 to July 2007 and who played a key role in establishing CRKN’s collaborative programs and services.