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The Karl Lo Award was established in 2007 by the Pacific Rim Digital Library Alliance to honor
Karl Lo’s leadership in forming the Pacific Rim Digital Library Alliance and his contributions to
global libraries and librarianship.

About Karl Lo

Karl Lo

In 1995, Lo obtained a grant to the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Libraries from the U.S. National Security Education Program. The NSEP grant funded development of a multilingual computer server to provide international access via the Internet to online information in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean scripts. As part of the project, Lo organized a technical planning conference hosted by UCSD during which the Pacific Rim Digital Library Alliance was conceptualized.

Lo held key leadership roles in the East Asian library community:

  • Head, East Asia Library, University of Kansas, 1959-1968
  • Head, East Asia Library, University of Washington, 1968-1990
  • Director, UCSD International Relations and Pacific Studies Library and East Asia Collection, 1990-2002
  • Acting Chief, Asian Division, Library of Congress, 2002

He was active and honored in many professional venues:

  • Chair, OCLC-CJK Users Group
  • Vice President, Chinese Historical Society, Seattle, WA
  • Board Member, San Diego Chinese Historical Society
  • Trustee, Lingnan Foundation, 1994-2007
  • Chinese American Librarians Association/American Librarians Association Distinguished Service Award, 1998

See also: http://www.chiamonline.org/People/lpwas/Karllo.htm

Karl Lo Award—Criteria and Application

The Karl Lo Award provides support to PRDLA librarians for professional development and
research focused on Pacific Rim library collaboration and digital library issues.
Applicants must be employed as a librarian in a PRDLA member library. Award money may be
applied to:

  • conference fees
  • travel costs including transportation, lodging, and meals
  • direct expenses in support of research, publication, and presentation

US$10,000 is available each calendar year. An individual may apply for part or all of that
amount. The amount awarded to an applicant is dependent upon the projected expenses.
There is no application deadline. Applications are reviewed upon receipt. The PRDLA Steering
Committee reviews applications and provides final approval for awards. Upon approval of an
award by the Steering Committee, the awarded funds are made available immediately.
Note: When the annual allocation of US$10,000 is fully committed each year, no additional
awards will be considered until the beginning of the next calendar year.

Each award winner must provide a formal report to PRDLA membership. Written reports will be
posted on the PRDLA web site. Award winners are encouraged to attend the PRDLA annual
membership meeting and will be allocated time to present a report to the membership at the
meeting. Award funds may be used for attendance at a PRDLA meeting.

Applications should include:

  • brief narrative description (200 to 500 words) of proposed professional development or
  • research statement of relevance to global libraries and librarianship
  • requested total amount of funding with simple budget to justify costs
  • statement of approval from director of library

Applications should be sent via email to:
Zhu Qiang, Secretariat Chair
Pacific Rim Digital Library Alliance
prdlasecretariat@lib.pku.edu.cn

Awardees

2008

Robin Chandler, UC San Diego Libraries

2009

Paolina Martin, Singapore Management University, Li Ka Shing Library

Patrick Pu, National University of Singapore Libraries