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Four Corporate Information Specialists Winners of the 2004 North American InfoStars Awards

The 2004 North American winners of the Dialog annual Quantum² InfoStars Awards are: Michelle A. Burylo, supervisor, Corporate Business Information Center, Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (Allentown, Pennsylvania); Marcia Schemper-Carlock, manager, customer research, Verizon Communications (Irving, Texas); and as a joint award, Marygrace E. Record, senior manager, information services, and Anitha Steventon, information scientist, both from Wyeth Consumer Healthcare (Madison, New Jersey).

As part of its Quantum² program offering professional education and career development services to information professionals worldwide, Dialog annually designates recipients of its InfoStar Awards in various regions around the world. The awards are given to information professionals whose creativity and innovation are inspirational to others.

"Each of this year's North American winners has made impressive contributions to their companies, helping to deploy information as a strategic asset and competitive advantage," said Libby Trudell, Dialog senior vice president of information professional development. "And each is a unique success story for our profession. We are delighted to honor them as InfoStars."

Michelle A. Burylo joined Air Products in 1975 to start the company's first Corporate Business Information Center. Now part of the Information & Library Services Department (ILS), the unit provides services and solutions for the company's executives and business groups, including reference services, analysis, consulting, information agent support and development of various end-user subject guides for the ILS Web site. She says that she is "fearless and shameless in promoting ILS," working to find new ways to market the department's services across her company. "One of my most important roles is to be an advocate for my company's information needs," she says. Burylo earned her undergraduate degree in Library Science at Kutztown University and holds a Master of Library Science from Drexel University.

Marcia Schemper-Carlock has more than 20 years of experience in corporate research. Prior to her current position as manager of customer research for Verizon Communications, she worked for Raytheon, Texas Instruments and Compaq. Schemper-Carlock has a particular expertise in exploring new research tools and services as she looks for ways to integrate them into her company's workflow and bolster its strategic business decision-making. She designed and implemented a customized research tracking system for logging incoming research requests, a process that helps her department analyze and measure its effectiveness. "We work hard to earn and maintain a solid reputation for exceptional customer service by focusing our research teams on delivering bottom-line results," she says. Schemper-Carlock is active in the Special Libraries Association Texas Chapter and has served as president of the Music Library Association, Texas Chapter. She holds a Master of Library Science from the State University of New York (Geneseo), a Master of Arts in Music from the University of Iowa, and an undergraduate degree in Library Science and Music from Northwestern College.

In an unusual move, Dialog this year presented a joint award to colleagues from the same company, Marygrace E. Record and Anitha Steventon of Wyeth Consumer Healthcare. Both oversee the company's Consumer Information unit and are active in departmental strategy setting and marketing its services across their division. The two created an innovative current awareness process to track and distribute news that impacts the company's businesses and constituents. The two also recently organized an InfoFair to increase awareness of information resources available to employees. Before joining Wyeth, Record worked for Merck Research Laboratories, Harvard Medical School's Conway Library of Medicine and Hoffman LaRoche Inc. She holds both a Master of Library Science and an undergraduate degree from Rutgers University. Steventon previously worked for Merck-Medco and Allied Signal Inc. She also holds a Master of Library Science from Rutgers. She did additional post-baccalaureate work in chemistry at Kean University, where she also earned her undergraduate degree.

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