Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman saluted five staff members of Cornell University's Albert R. Mann Library by presenting them with the 1999 Secretary's Honor Award in a ceremony in Washington recently.

The award, one of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) highest distinctions, was presented for the Cornell librarians' work in creating and maintaining the much publicized USDA Economics and Statistics web site.

The Cornell award recipients are: Gregory W. Lawrence, Mann's government information librarian; William R. Kehoe, programmer-analyst; and Mann technical services staff members Sandra B. Driscoll, Josephine P. Jaynes and Julie Peterson. All received the award with their colleagues at the USDA's Economic Research Service, National Agricultural Statistics Service and World Agricultural Outlook Board from Glickman on June 9 in a ceremony on the west lawn of the Jamie L. Whitten Federal Building. Glickman thanked the team for "establishing an innovative USDA-university partnership for cost-effective and timely delivery of important economic information."

Inaugurated in 1994, the USDA's Economics and Statistics System is a partnership between Mann -- the country's largest academic agriculture library -- and the statistical agencies of the USDA. The system provides the public with instant, free access via the Internet to vital USDA agricultural information.

Every year the Mann Library sends via e-mail more than 600,000 USDA publications to 5,000 businesses, researchers, government agencies and individuals worldwide. Every day more than 7,000 users visit the Mann web site, where they download an average of 3,700 files. In addition, Mann reference staff assists more than 1,000 patrons a year by answering e-mail queries, ranging from the number of horses in Nevada to how to start a catfish farm.

Janet McCue, director of the Mann Library, said the award was an "acknowledgment of the creativity, dedication and efficiency of the staff who provide excellent service to users around the world."

The award follows the recognition by the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) in May of Mann's achievements in improving the quality and reducing the costs of higher education programs and services.