Library-sponsored student awards range from fun contests to formal recognition of accomplishments.

T-shirt contest

The top contender for "fun" awards is the Fine Arts Library's (FAL) T-shirt Contest. The goal of the competition was to develop a unique T-shirt that identified FAL student employees. The winner was Quham Olayinka Adeniyi '07, a textiles and apparel major, who also won a $50 award toward a restaurant meal of his choice. Library judges felt his design "captured both the energy of our library and the richness of our resources."

Fuerst Outstanding Library Employee Awards

William F. Fuerst Jr. '39 was a devoted supporter of Cornell University Library, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Big Red Athletics and Cornell Plantations. He was named "foremost benefactor of Cornell" in 1989 and received the Frank H.T. Rhodes Exemplary Alumni Service Award in recognition of his extraordinary service and leadership in 2000.

In 1995 he created the Fuerst Outstanding Library Student Employee Awards to recognize five student employees each year for their exceptional performance, leadership and library service to the campus. The library system employs approximately 500 students a year, so being nominated is in itself an honor. Each winner receives $500, the largest monetary award for student employees on campus.

The following students, all from the Class of 2006, are this year's winners:

Book collection contest

Building on a tradition established by the Arthur H. Dean and Mary Marden Dean Book Collection Contest, held in Uris Library from 1966 to 1987, the Cornell Library Advisory Council sponsored the first annual Book Collection Contest. Now in a new format, the contest provides Cornell undergraduates the opportunity to show their aptitude for assembling and organizing book collections. This year a graduate student category was added to the competition. Prizewinners received monetary awards, first-prize winners being awarded $1,000. All three levels of prizewinners received bookplates that acknowledged their winning entries.

The winners are:

Undergraduate Category

Graduate Category

Lynn Brown is interim director for library communications.