VRA Honors VRA Core 4.0 Developers Esme Cowles, Ben Kessler, Trish Rose-Sandler, and Jan Eklund with 2015 Nancy DeLaurier Award

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASETHE VRA HONORS ESMÉ COWLES, JAN EKLUND, BEN KESSLER, AND TRISH ROSE-SANDLER WITH 2015 NANCY DELAURIER AWARDMarch 18, 2016 -¬- The Visual Resources Association is pleased to announce Esmé Cowles, Jan Eklund, Ben Kessler, and Trish Rose-Sandler as the 2015 of the Nancy DeLaurier Award in recognition of their groundbreaking work in developing VRA Core 4.0 and the accompanying XML schema. The award was presented by Johanna Bauman and Maureen Burns at the third ARLIS/NA + VRA joint conference convocation ceremony held in Seattle, Washington on Friday, March 11, 2016.The Nancy DeLaurier Award, named for one of the pioneers of the visual resources profession, annually honors a visual resources professional or a group of visual resources professionals for distinguished achievement in the field. “Achievement” is measured by immediate impact, and may take the form of published work, oral presentation, project management, software development, technology application, website creation, or other outstanding effort. Johanna Bauman observed, “as a data structure standard, VRA Core 4.0 now stands along Cataloging Cultural Objects and the Getty Vocabularies in receiving official recognition with the receipt of this DeLaurier Award, and the colleagues primarily responsible for this standards trifecta have now been fully acknowledged.”The many letters of support for the VRA Core 4.0 nomination highlight the distinction of this accomplishment. Marcia Zeng remarked, “VRA Core 4.0 has charted a patch to transcent the information silos of past systems by facilitating the construction of interoperable and sharable data…The impact of VRA Core 4.0 is so significant that virtually all ALA accredited library and information science programs now teach it.”In Trish’s acceptance speech she noted: "Our goal with Core 4 was to provide a data structure that was both modular and flexible so that it could easily be adapted to … changes and the recent RDF expression of the Core indicates its inherent versatility." She continues with a warning, “…a data standard is not just something you publish and walk away from if you really want to see it survive and thrive. It is a living, breathing thing that has to be actively sustained.”The members of the VRA Awards Committee are: Margaret Webster (Chair), Linda Callahan, Lise Hawkos, Jodi Hoover, Erin, McCall, Martine Sherrill, Marsha Taichman, and John Trendler (Awards Committee Board Liaison).About the Visual Resources AssociationThe Visual Resources Association (VRA) is a multi-disciplinary organization dedicated to furthering research and education in the field of image and media management within the educational, cultural heritage, and commercial environments. The Association is committed to providing leadership in the visual resources field, developing and advocating standards, and offering educational tools and opportunities for the benefit of the community at large. VRA implements these goals through publication programs and educational activities.::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::VRA Core on the WebVRA Core Schemas and Documentation (Library of Congress Official Site)VRA Core Support Pages