NFAIS Selects EBSCO's Tim Collins to Receive 2015 Miles Conrad Award at Annual Conference

Annapolis, MD, December 16, 2014 (Newswire.com) - The National Federation of Advanced Information Services (NFAIS™), the nation’s leading membership association for the information services industry, announced Tim Collins, President & CEO of EBSCO Industries, has been selected the to receive the NFAIS 2015 Miles Conrad Award.

The 2015 Miles Conrad Award, long considered the information industry’s premier annual honor for achievement in fostering the growth of information services, is being given to Tim Collins for his longtime leadership role in the information services community and for growing EBSCO Industries into one of the largest private companies in the United States. 

"Tim Collins truly deserves the recognition given through the Miles Conrad Award. Tim is both a leader in the information services community and an important ambassador for the contributions information services professionals make in advancing the availability of and access to research and scholarly activity."

Marcie Granahan, NFAIS Executive Director

Collins has played a vital role in leading the EBSCO Information Services division’s growth from a provider of print indexes in the 1980s into one of the world’s leading for-fee internet research services, serving the research needs of a variety of organizations including educational institutions and public libraries. Now, as President and CEO of the EBSCO’s parent company, Collins oversees more than 40 divisions with more than 5,000 employees and $2.4 billion in annual revenue. 

“Tim Collins truly deserves the recognition given through the Miles Conrad Award,” said Marcie Granahan, NFAIS Executive Director. “Tim is both a leader in the information services community and an important ambassador for the contributions information services professionals make in advancing the availability of and access to research and scholarly activity.”

Collins, who will be honored at the NFAIS 2015 Annual Conference, February 22-24, 2015, in Crystal City, VA, also will deliver the annual Miles Conrad Memorial Lecture at the conference. Collins will talk about the story behind his 30-year journey building EBSCO Information Services into one of the globe’s preeminent discovery service and online research content providers as well as provide a look into what he believes the future holds for information services.

“I’m honored to receive this award and be designated the Miles Conrad Memorial Lecturer for the 2015 NFAIS Annual Conference,” said Tim Collins. “Without doubt the information industry has undergone dramatic change over the years and it continues to change to this day. With NFAIS and the professionals in this space, the key will be to continue our ability to cooperate and share new advances in making quality research and information more readily accessible than ever before.”

The NFAIS Miles Conrad Award and Memorial Lecture are named in honor of G. Miles Conrad (1911-1964), a co-founder of NFAIS. Conrad, a former president of BIOSIS, had an early grasp of the potential of computer technology when applied to the creation, organization and dissemination of research information. The Miles Conrad Lecturers are industry leaders, innovators and opinion-makers representing the full breadth of the information services community.

Recent past winners of the Miles Conrad Award include Marjorie M.K. Hlava, President, Access Innovations, Inc.; Robert N. Snyder, Chairman, Cambridge Information Group; Dame Lynne Brindley, Chief Executive, The British Library; and Donald A.B. Lindberg, National Library of Medicine.

About EBSCO (www.ebsco.com):
EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO) is the leading discovery service provider for libraries worldwide with more than 6,000 discovery customers in over 100 countries. EBSCO Discovery Service™ (EDS) provides each institution with a comprehensive, single search box for its entire collection, offering unparalleled relevance ranking quality and extensive customization. EBSCO is also the preeminent provider of online research content for libraries, including hundreds of research databases, historical archives, point-of-care medical reference, and corporate learning tools serving millions of end users at tens of thousands of institutions. EBSCO is the leading provider of electronic journals & books for libraries, with subscription management for more than 360,000 serials, including more than 57,000 e-journals, as well as online access to more than 650,000 e-books. EBSCO Information Services is a division of EBSCO Industries Inc., a family owned company since 1944.

About NFAIS (www.nfais.org):
The National Federation of Advanced Information Services ( NFAIS™) is a global, nonprofit, volunteer-powered membership organization that serves the information community - that is, all those who create, aggregate, organize, and otherwise provide ease of access to and effective navigation and use of authoritative, credible information. Member organizations represent a cross-section of content and technology providers, including database creators, publishers, libraries, host systems, information technology developers, content management providers and other related groups. They embody a true partnership of commercial, nonprofit and government organizations that embraces a common mission – to build the world's knowledge-base through enabling research and managing the flow of scholarly communication. NFAIS exists to promote the success of its members and for more than 50 years has provided a forum in which to address common interests through education and advocacy.