Current Members

Jason De Castro, Chair
Skyline College
decastroj@smccd.edu

Jeff Benedetti-Coomber
Cal State University, Channel Islands
jeff.benedetti-coomber@csuci.edu

Emily Campbell
College of the Sequoias
emilyc@cos.edu

Shawn Heiser
City College of San Francisco
sheiser@ccsf.edu

Rachel Fleming
Irvine Valley College
rfleming@ivc.edu

Charge

The Ilene F. Rockman CARL/ACRL Conference Scholarship Committee shall consist of three at-large CARL members appointed by the President. The Committee shall: 1) convene every year; 2) communicate scholarship opportunity, including details and deadlines; 3) select and recommend award recipient(s) to the Board of Directors for its approval; and 4) notify applicants and recipient(s) of Committee selection; and 5) carry out other duties as assigned by the Board of Directors.

See the Ilene F. Rockman CARL/ACRL Conference Scholarship Award for more information and to apply for this award.

History

Ilene Rockman was a long time member of CARL and over the years, served in various capacities on the CARL Board of Directors. She was manager of the CSU Information Competence Initiative for the California State University Chancellor’s Office from 2001-2005. Ilene worked in the CSU for more than 30 years as a librarian, faculty member and most recently as an administrator.

As Manager of the CSU Information Competence Initiative, Ilene worked closely with the Educational Testing Service to develop and implement a realistic, scenario-based, web-based instrument to assess higher education student information literacy skills. Ilene served as editor of Reference Services Review for many years. She was also on the editorial boards of American Libraries, Administration and Management, the Journal of Academic Librarianship, Library Hi Tech, and Reference Quarterly.

Recipient of numerous awards including the 2005 ACRL Instruction Librarian of the Year and the 2003 ACRL Distinguished Education and Behavioral Sciences Librarian, Ilene was a visionary in our profession, a dedicated librarian, a wonderful colleague to work with, and an extraordinary mentor to many fellow librarians. Ilene passed away November 26, 2005.

"For Ilene librarianship was a passion not a career. She read vociferously, participated actively in ALA and ACRL, and developed a huge network of friends and acquaintances in the library community throughout California and the country. She published books, articles, presented at conferences, and was the recipient of numerous awards.

If I ever had a question about anything in librarianship all I had to do was go to Ilene’s office or give her a call. She would respond as if it were the lightening round in Jeopardy. She'd synthesize an entire field within a few minutes and back it all up by citing books, articles, ACRL spec kits, white papers, web sites, and librarians around the country which, of course, she knew personally. She was a major contributor to our profession.

As academic librarians Ilene always said we should be, "making the difference in the life of a student each day." She always admired people who had good ideas, but had little patience for hearing ideas and never seeing results. “Thought into action,” was her mantra. As a close friend I had numerous experiences to see Ilene do quite a few things that would seem uncharacteristic of her. Picture Ilene in her best blazer playing air hockey with a high school junior in the Cal Poly Student Union? Can you see her laughing totally out of control till her eyes start to water, her side starts to hurt, and she’s waving me to stop telling a story? Can you see her watching a UCLA basketball game after a long ACRL conference day shouting, "They’re standing around again! This never happened when Johnny Wooden was coaching!" Ilene’s biggest contribution to librarianship is the impact she had on so many individual careers. She constantly called me and countless others to be more and encouraged us to put our thoughts into action. She encouraged us to publish, speak at conferences, implement our ideas, and make a contribution. These individual careers have had a positive impact on our profession. I can’t tell you how many people gave me a call after Ilene's passing and said, "If it weren't for Ilene….". "
Paul Adalian, December 2005 CARL Newsletter.

The late Ilene Rockman was chosen as the CARL Member of the Year for 2006. Her husband, Fred Gertler, and his parents were there to receive the award. They were also available to attend the poster session breakfast where a poster remembering Ilene was presented. At that event, a raffle helped to raise over $500 to support the Ilene F. Rockman CARL/ACRL Conference Scholarship Award, based on a travel scholarship award that had been created in 2002 by Locke Morrisey, Suellen Cox and Karen Schneider. Other generous donations also helped fund the award.