Earlier this month, Beinecke Rare Book and Mansucript Library Archivist Susan Brady took home the Theatre Library Association’s highest honor — the 2011 Award for Distinguished Service in Performing Arts Librarianship.

The annual award has been given since 1994 to a performing arts librarian, curator, archivist or scholar “who has made extraordinary contributions to the field,” the TLA website reads.

Selected by a committee of three members for the award, Brady previously held librarian or archivist positions at the Arts Library, the Yale Center for British Art and Sterling Memorial Library’s Department of Manuscripts and Archives. In addition to her work at Yale, she has also worked at the Harvard Theatre collection, and has served as a board member, vice president and president of the TLA.

Brady currently serves as co-chair of the American Theatre Archive Project’s steering committee, working to preserve records of North American theatre companies.

Nominations for the 2012 award were due by Dec. 1.