Toshie Marra, a librarian in the UCLA Richard C. Rudolph East Asian Library, has been named the 2010 Librarian of the Year by the Librarians Association of the University of California, Los Angeles.

This award recognizes excellence in librarianship, particularly as it furthers the teaching and research mission of UCLA, and meets the intellectual, informational, and cultural needs of the university community. The award, conferred during the Association’s spring meeting in May 2010, recognized specific achievements of the Award recipient.

Toshie Marra was recognized for her leadership, courage, and perseverance in her efforts on the behalf of the UCLA Library in the purchase of the microform edition of the Gordon W. Prange Collection. The collection contains magazines and newspapers published in Japan during the Allied Occupation for the years 1945 to 1949. The magazines and newspapers collection is part of the Gordon W. Prange Collection at the University of Maryland at College Park Libraries. In addition, by building on her relationship with the UCLA Terasaki Center for Japanese Studies, Toshie was also able to obtain additional support by the Center for the purchase of special storage cabinets and for a new microform reader. The Center also agreed to provide a visiting researcher fellowship to pay for outside scholars to visit UCLA to use the Prange Collection.

Toshie is also being recognized for her efforts in the establishment of reciprocal library privileges between UCLA and Japanese universities. The Association is the system’s primary organization for professional librarian and governance affairs.

Original article may be viewed on UCLA Today.