Kevin McLean Davis, (MLIS ’13) has been chosen by the Florida State University School of Information as the recipient of this year’s F. William Summers Award. The Summers Award is given annually to an outstanding master’s or specialist alumnus who graduated during the past calendar year. Named in honor of F. William Summers, who was a graduate of Florida State University with a distinguished career in the field of library and information studies. He served as President of the American Library Association, Director of the State Library of Florida, Dean of the School of Library and Information Studies at Florida State University, and Dean of the College of Librarianship at the University of South Carolina.

The F. William Summers Award is intended to honor academic accomplishments and service. Selection criteria for the award include academic achievement and contributions to the school, college, university, courses and profession.  As one member of this year’s award committee said,  “Kevin Davis exemplifies the professional and personal qualities the award is designed to promote.” During his time as a student in the MLIS program, Davis contributed to the iSchool’s graduate courses by sharing the rich and varied experiences he has gained through his work in public and academic libraries in Maine. This relationship is reciprocal, as Davis has pointed out, saying “my ongoing work allowed me to apply many of the ideas discussed in classes to my workplace immediately.” Davis maintained an active involvement in the library profession while completing his coursework, completing a two-year term as Chair of the Executive Board for Minerva, Maine’s largest consortium of libraries. Davis highlighted the value of such library consortia, saying, “The growth of Minerva greatly broadens the level of access to library services for Maine’s many smaller, underserved communities.”

“We are proud that Kevin Davis is an alumnus of the School of Information at Florida State University,” shared Michelle Kazmer, Professor in the School of Information. “We are grateful for his rich contributions to the intellectual life of the School while he was a student, and for his ongoing contributions to the information professions in general and to the people of the state of Maine in particular.”

Grateful and humbled by the award, he shared, “My FSU experience was a rewarding one, with instructors and classmates who opened my eyes to new ways of thinking about the field of librarianship. I am proud to be an FSU graduate and am honored to be chosen to receive this award.”

Davis is currently Library Director at the South Portland Public Library in Maine.