Lee Lipscomb, Assistant Librarian at the Federal Judicial Center named winner of the RUSA Federal Achievement Award

The Federal Achievement Award, presented by RUSA, recognizes an individual for achievement in the promotion of library and information service and the information profession in the Federal community.

Ms. Lipscomb made extraordinary efforts to ensure that the federal and armed forces library communities continued to have a voice within the American Library Association by ensuring that their interest groups, programs, activities flourished through two significant organizational changes.  She exhibits great leadership, focus and enthusiasm in her endeavors.   Ms. Lipscomb has promoted tirelessly library and information services throughout the federal library community and is a staunch advocate for the worth and value of librarianship, promoting career development, user services, and access to information. She has a talent for bringing people together.

In her endeavors within American Library Association, Ms. Lipscomb provided leadership, initiative and creativity.  Ms. Lipscomb was the chair of FAFLIG within ASGCLA, when AGSCLA dissolved and she was a driving force behind the solution to bring federal librarians into RUSA. Ms. Lipscomb labored tirelessly with precision and poise, considering the numerous second and third order effects to membership during this organizational change. Previous, to this organizational change, Ms. Lipscomb had worked with FAFLRT leadership to merge the round-table with ASCLA into ASGCLA.

In past years, Ms. Lipscomb provided relevant programming at ALA conferences and has advocated on numerous occasions for federal libraries. She contributed to a variety of programs at ALA, specifically focusing on programs and webinars on careers in federal libraries that were well-received and well-attended, one webinar of which was hosted under the aegis of RUSA.  She has a talent for bringing people together; she recruited a diverse force of federal librarians to show-case the wealth of opportunity in the federal government for aspiring librarians. Her commitment to the organization and federal librarians ensured that librarians had a home in RUSA.

In her current role at the Federal Judicial Center as an Assistant Librarian, Ms. Lipscomb provides knowledge management, metadata services, reference and user services. She has worked at the Federal Judicial Center since 2012, and from 2006 until 2011 was an attorney in North Carolina, working as prosecutor in rural counties.  Her M.L.I.S was attained from the Catholic University of America (2012), her J.D. from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2001), and her Bachelor of Arts from Hollins University (1995).  In addition to working at the Federal Judicial Center, Ms. Lipscomb also has contributed to the education and professionalism of librarians, by working as adjunct professors at Catholic University of America and University of Maryland.  Ms. Lipscomb’s volunteer activities have included chairing the Federal Libraries Interest Group, membership in the Federal Court Librarians Professional Development Working Group, and leadership role in the Widow’s Pantry, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organizational that provides encouragement to the homeless, as well as working as a member of the FEDLINK IT Working Group.