Nancy McCormack, Associate Professor and Librarian, has won the 2014 Denis Marshall Memorial Award for Excellence in Law Librarianship established by LexisNexis Quicklaw. The award, presented by the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL) at its annual conference held in Winnipeg, recognizes her outstanding commitment to serving the association and enhancing the profession.

McCormack, who has been with Queen’s Law since 2002, calls the honour “particularly gratifying” because Denis Marshall, former Associate Dean (Administrative) and her library predecessor, was “an icon of our profession.”

In presenting the award, CALL President Annette Demers quoted McCormack’s nominators, calling her “the consummate law librarian” and a “well respected author and expert on the profession.” She has written four books in three years and numerous academic articles providing “thorough and practical overviews of legal research theory and process.” While Editor of the Canadian Law Library Review 2009-2013, she “significantly improved [its] overall quality and profile.” Generous with her time and noted for valuable insights into law librarianship, “she has been an inspiration to many librarians and a wonderful role model,” Demers concluded.
 
What does McCormack find most rewarding about her library role? “It’s the challenge of finding answers to the most difficult questions posed to us,” she says. “Often they involve research into obscure historical legislation, cases or courts, or other countries’ hard-to-find legal or government information.” Even for the more usual questions about Canadian law, she finds it “deeply satisfying” to guide the inquirer to the exact spot where the answer lies in the Lederman Law Library’s intricate collection. “It’s wonderful to feel yourself an integral part of a process that’s been going on from the beginnings of our culture.”