NEWPORT, R.I. — The Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division Newport Corporate Research and Information Center (CRIC) was recently selected by the Library of Congress to receive the Federal Library and Information Network (FEDLINK) national award for federal librarianship, in the Small Library/Information Center with a staff of 10 or fewer federal and/or contract employees.
Library staff members include Elizabeth Peimer, director, and William Hine, both government employees in the Corporate Operations Department, and contractors with McLaughlin Research Corp., Christa Albrecht-Vegas, Timothy Gould, Chelsea Watts, Kendalyn Banks and Scott Reilly. Retired team members include Kelsey Sawyer and Christine Rapoza.
The FEDLINK awards recognize the many innovative ways that federal libraries, librarians and library technicians fulfill the information demands of the government, business and scholarly communities and the American public. Federal libraries and staff throughout the U.S. and abroad competed for the awards. The CRIC is being recognized for outstanding service as a hub for innovation to expand and enhance digital access via its Research Commons portal.
In fiscal year 2018, the library doubled its digital depository to more than 16,000 full-text items. It also expanded its access to allow other Navy warfare center libraries to streamline access to content and increase cross-command research collaboration and knowledge sharing. The library pilot program has become so successful that five of the 10 Department of the Navy warfare center division commands have signed on to use Research Commons as their primary research knowledge management solution. The information center is now recognized as the most progressive library within the 10 Navy warfare center divisions.
The library team was honored at a FEDLINK event held on May 7 at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. The names of the winners will remain on permanent display in the Library’s FEDLINK offices. Commanding Officer Capt. Michael Coughlin and Peimer attended the event.
NUWC Division Newport, part of the Naval Sea System Command, is one of two divisions of the Naval Undersea Warfare Center. NUWC Division Newport’s mission is to provide research, development, test and evaluation, engineering and fleet support for submarines, autonomous underwater systems, undersea offensive and defensive weapons systems, and countermeasures. NUWC’s other division is located in Keyport, Washington.