The Dalhousie School of Information Management (SIM) Associated Alumni (AA) is delighted to announce that Patrick Ellis (MLIS ’88) has been chosen as the recipient of the 2012 Outstanding Alumni Award. The award will be presented on October 4th, 2012 at SIM.

Mr. Ellis has been the Director of Dalhousie University’s Kellogg Health Sciences Library for the past 8 years and has worked with the Kellogg Health Sciences Library for 33 years. Prior to his current position, he held roles such as Head of Access Services, Coordinator of Reference Services, and Dental Librarian.

Patrick is honoured and humbled to accept the Outstanding Alumni Award.

Patrick is a natural leader. He is recognized for his excellent management ability and his personable, collaborative approach to librarianship by colleagues in the Dalhousie Library system, the Novanet consortium and affiliated health institutions. One nominator writes: “He is a natural leader, who studies problems, ensures that everyone is included in decision-making, and that the end results is best possible for the greatest number.”

Mr. Ellis’s commitment to health libraries and librarianship is most evident from his committee work. Accepting leadership at all levels, he has chaired and sat on numerous boards and executives, including Canadian Health Library Association (CHLA), the Atlantic Health Knowledge Partnership (AHKP), and the Maritime Health Libraries Association (MHLA), in addition to a multitude of Dalhousie and Novanet Committees. One nominator writes, “through the MHLA, AHKP and CHLA, Patrick has led many initiatives that bring health librarians from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island and beyond our region together to work for common goals for the health information community.”

Patrick is an advocate for universal access to health information. Evidence of this is his role in bringing access to the Cochrane Library (a major evidence-based health care database) to all Nova Scotians, and his work with the Virtual Health library of Nova Scotia.

Mr. Ellis has held an outstanding leadership role in the development of the National Network of Libraries for Health (NNLH), where he has worked to establish the Canadian Virtual Health Library.  The goal of the Canadian Virtual Health Library is to bring equitable access to high-quality health information to all Canadian health professionals as a means to improve health outcomes and patient safety for Canadians.  Patrick was Principal Investigator on a Canadian Institute for Health Research (CIHR) grant for the project’s implementation. He now serves as a member on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Virtual Health Library. (http://cvhl.ca/en)

As one selection committee member states: “Patrick’s contributions cover multiple constituencies; from the Dalhousie library community, to that of the larger East Coast, to health information users across Canada. All have benefited from the professionalism, collegiality, foresight and hard work of this great alumnus.”

Patrick is described by his nominators as a genuinely wonderful person: very affable, friendly and full of fun. Nominators also boast of his musical talents – Patrick has been a professional drummer and singer since 1969. One nominator states: “On top of all his accomplishments, Patrick is a great guy!”