Madeline Mundt is the 2011 recipient of the American Library Association (ALA) International Relations Committee's "Bogle-Pratt International Library Travel Fund."

The Bogle Memorial Fund and the Pratt Institute School of Information and Library Science will provide a $1,000 cash award for Mundt to attend her first international conference in Bilbao, Spain.

"The grant is given specifically to send someone to their first international conference," she said. "It's a nice surprise, considering tight budgets." 

The award is in recognition of Sarah Comly Norris Bogle, a prominent U.S. librarian who made notable contributions to international library service.

Mundt and her colleague and co-author Ann Medaille, who both work in the University of Nevada, Reno Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center, are planning to present a paper titled "New Media, New Challenges: The Library and Multimedia Literacy in Higher Education" at the International Conference on Technology, Knowledge and Society. The conference will be held at the Universidad del País Vasco in Bilbao, Spain, at the end of March. Mundt said global connections are of vital importance and participating in an international conference will help build ties in the library and information profession.

"Through our paper and participation in the Conference's 'Technology and Education' stream, I will gain a global perspective on the library's role in helping students evaluate, use and produce multimedia content," Mundt said.

Mundt earned her master's in library and information science in 2008 from the University of Washington. She came to the University of Nevada, Reno to work in the Knowledge Center, where she now provides research help and instruction as a reference librarian and a teacher of research skills. She also purchases library materials for anthropology, Basque studies, social work and sociology.

"I was interested in how the Knowledge Center used technology for research and information," she said. "The Knowledge Center is different from traditional libraries - a blend of all kinds of information resources and technology resources. It's what we want libraries to be in the future."

Mundt and Medaille spend much of their time working with the University's @One multimedia and technology services center, which is the subject of their research paper. Mundt and Medallie began researching how members of the University used the expanded multimedia in 2009.

"We wrote the paper as a result of interviews with students and faculty about how they use multimedia in teaching and learning," Mundt said. "The purpose of the paper is to make an argument for the library's role as a partner in promoting multimedia literacy on campus."

Mundt also has another reason to be excited about the upcoming conference. She has an interest in Basque Studies and is even taking Spanish classes while working at the University because they assist in her work.

"I'm looking forward to the Basque Country in Spain," she said.

"Her background, her paper topic and the conference being held in the Basque region made her our choice for the Bogle Pratt Award," said Sharon Bostick, Bogle Pratt Committee chair.

Mundt will be recognized during the ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans in June.

"It's been a real pleasure working with Ann, and we're looking forward to presenting together," Mundt said.