30 January 2006
Monash University ePress manager Ms Michele Sabto has won the Council of Australian University Librarians Achievement Award for 2005.
Ms Sabto is the first non-librarian to receive the annual award.
She was recognised for her innovative use of information technology in developing a self-sustaining model for the online publishing of scholarly material, the Monash University e-press.
Monash University ePress ( www.epress.monash.edu ), located at Monash's Clayton campus, was established in 2003 to advance scholarly communication. It publishes books and journals online and in print, mainly in the humanities and social sciences.
Ms Sabto said she was delighted to receive the award.
"This cements the idea of a natural relationship between the role of the library and the publication of online 'scholarly' information," Ms Sabto said.
Monash University Librarian Ms Cathrine Harboe-Ree said Ms Sabto had demonstrated national leadership by drawing on traditional library values and expertise to make a wider university contribution.
"What is particularly interesting about Michele's award is that she is demonstrating the value of libraries in an area that has not been their traditional role, but which is of growing importance."
Monash University ePress has streamlined conventional publishing processes by using custom-built xml content-conversion software. Content is converted directly from Microsoft Word into print- and web-ready material, making it a cost- and time-efficient operation.
Recent ePress publications include Fault Lines Exposed: Advantage and Disadvantage across Australia's Settlement System (Nov 2005), Struggle Country: The Rural Ideal in 20th Century Australia (October 2005) and Monash Business Review (August 2005).
Ms Sabto will receive her award in September in Perth. She has also been invited to speak on the ePress at an Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers seminar in London in March.
The Council of Australian University Librarians Achievement Award was first presented in 2002.
For information and photo contact Ms Michele Sabto on +61 3 9905 4227 or Ms Karen Stichtenoth, Media Communications on +61 3 9905 1253. Photographs of Ms Sabto are available.
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