By UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS
Megan Householter, a sophomore from Salina majoring in history and secondary education, was selected as the recipient of the Lynn Haggard Undergraduate Library Research Award for 2023. This prestigious award, presented annually by Forsyth Library, recognizes excellence in undergraduate research that incorporates the use of Fort Hays State University’s Forsyth Library resources and demonstrates sophisticated information literacy skills.
“I feel very honored to have been selected for this award,” Householter said. “This was the first major research project I had been a part of, and I could not have done it without the help of Forsyth Library.”
The award honors Lynn Haggard, retired Forsyth librarian, and her 18 years of service to the FHSU community. Students who apply for the award provide a copy of their research project, a bibliography, and a reflective essay detailing the search process and lessons learned. A committee of librarians, graduate students, and faculty from each of the five colleges evaluated the applications.
“Megan’s work is truly commendable. This was her first major research project, and her reflective essay makes a solid case for how the library can help beginning researchers in their work,” said Mary Elizabeth Turner, digital curation librarian and chair of the selection committee.
Householter will receive a $500 cash award for her research project, “Catalytic Discrimination: How Homophobic Law Enforcement in the 20th Century led to the Modern Gay Rights Movement.” Householter completed her project as part of the Historical Methods course taught by FHSU lecturer of history Hollie Marquess. The research of the winner will be preserved and accessible in the FHSU Scholars Repository at scholars.fhsu.edu
“Megan’s work demonstrated both creativity in source-finding as well as originality in her argument. She demonstrated that she took seriously her role as a historian,” Marquess said.
“She utilized time with the liaison librarian for History, Brian Gribben, in two class meetings to hone her skills in source finding, use of databases, and source analysis. Over the course of the project, Megan became adept at finding sources by cross-referencing the notes and bibliographies of other sources”, Marquess added.
“This is the 5th consecutive year that we’ve recognized outstanding undergraduate research skills through this award,” said Ginger Williams, dean of library services, “This year in particular, the positive impact of library instruction sessions and librarian-faculty collaboration was clearly evident.”