DeKALB — Cindy Ditzler and Joan Metzger of Northern Illinois University are the 2012 recipients of the Spotlight Award from the Society of American Archivists. The Spotlight Award recognizes the contributions of individuals who work for the good of the profession and archives collections — work that does not typically receive public recognition.

Ditzler, NIU’s university archivist, and Metzger, assistant university archivist, are being recognized for the work they accomplished at the university’s Regional History Center.

Specifically, they demonstrated extraordinary commitment to preserving the documentation of a tragic event on NIU’s campus on Feb. 14, 2008, when a gunman killed five students in an auditorium, injured 21, and then shot himself.