Chase Ollis

ACRL’s 2019 Awards Program

Honoring outstanding achievements in academic librarianship

Chase Ollis is ACRL program officer for professional development, email: collis@ala.org

© 2018 Chase Ollis

Every year, ACRL celebrates the opportunity to honor the outstanding achievements of academic and research librarians across North America. These inspiring innovators from our community have continued to demonstrate the notable impact librarianship has in the academic landscape.

Made possible by generous corporate support, the annual presentation of our prestigious awards, grants, and fellowships to these deserving individuals and institutions enables ACRL to honor the very best in academic librarianship. This year, ACRL once again seeks to celebrate and recognize the accomplishments of our peers.

ACRL members are an integral part of our successful awards program. Please consider acknowledging those who have influenced your thinking, your practice, and your growth as an academic or research librarian. We urge you to nominate colleagues whose work you admire, and whose contributions merit recognition by the profession. Your nominations will ensure that the pool of candidates for each award remains both competitive and distinguished.

Complete information about the ACRL awards program, including nomination procedures, past winners, criteria, and contacts, is available in the “Awards & Scholarships” section of the ACRL website at www.acrl.org. December 7, 2018, is the deadline for most of the awards to be presented in 2019. A brief description of each award follows.

Achievement and distinguished service awards

• Excellence in Academic Libraries Award (sponsored by GOBI Library Solutions from EBSCO): $3,000 for each type of library award (college, community college, and university). Recognizes academic libraries that are outstanding in furthering the educational missions of their institutions.

SUNY Geneseo receives the 2018 ACRL Excellence in Academic Libraries Award at a ceremony on their campus, presented by ACRL Vice-President/President-Elect Karen Munro (third from right).

• Academic/Research Librarian of the Year Award (sponsored by GOBI Library Solutions from EBSCO): $5,000 award. Recognizes an outstanding member of the academic or research library profession.
• Hugh C. Atkinson Memorial Award (sponsored by ACRL, Association for Library Collections and Technical Services, Library Leadership and Management Association, Library and Information Technology Association): cash award. Recognizes outstanding achievements (including risk-taking) in the areas of library automation, management, or development and research.
• Community College Learning Resources Leadership/Library Achievement Awards (sponsored by EBSCO Information Services): $750 for each of two awards recognizing outstanding achievement in library programs or leadership.
• College Libraries Section Innovation in College Librarianship Award (sponsored by SCELC): $1,000 award. Honors librarians who demonstrate a capacity for innovation in working with or serving undergraduates or instructors in the areas of programs, services, and operations or creating innovations for library colleagues who facilitate their ability to better serve the library’s community.
• Distinguished Education and Behavioral Sciences Librarian Award. Honors outstanding contributions to education and behavioral sciences librarianship through accomplishments and service to the profession.
• Instruction Section Innovation Award (sponsored by EBSCO Information Services): $3,000 award. Honors librarians who have implemented innovative approaches to information literacy at their respective institutions or in their communities.
• Miriam Dudley Instruction Librarian Award (sponsored by the ACRL Instruction Section): $1,000 award. Recognizes an individual librarian for significant contributions to the advancement of instruction in a college or research library environment.
• Politics, Policy, and International Relations Section Marta Lange/SAGE-CQ Press Award (sponsored by SAGE-CQ Press): $1,000 award. Recognizes a librarian who has made distinguished contributions to bibliography and information service in law or political science.
• Routledge Distance Learning Librarianship Conference Sponsorship Award (sponsored by Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group): $1,200. Conference sponsorship award to honor any individual ACRL member working in the field of, or contributing to the success of, distance learning librarianship or related library service in higher education.
• University Libraries Section Outstanding Professional Development Award (sponsored by Library Juice Academy): $1,000 award. Recognizes librarians, archivists, or curators whose contributions to providing professional development opportunities for librarians have been especially noteworthy or influential.
• Women and Gender Studies Section Award for Career Achievement (sponsored by Duke University Press): $750 award. Recognizes career achievement in women and gender studies librarianship.
• Women and Gender Studies Section Award for Significant Achievement (sponsored by Duke University Press): $750 award. Honors a distinguished academic librarian who has made outstanding contributions to women and gender studies through accomplishments and service to the profession.

Research awards and grants

• ESS De Gruyter European Librarianship Study Grant (sponsored by the Walter de Gruyter Foundation for Scholarship and Research): €2,500 grant. Supports research in European studies with an emphasis on librarianship, the book trade, resource documentation, and similar information-science related topics.

Publications

• Katharine Kyes Leab and Daniel J. Leab Exhibition Catalogue Awards (sponsored by Katharine Kyes Leab and Daniel J. Leab, American Book Prices Current). Recognizes outstanding catalogs published by American or Canadian institutions in conjunction with library exhibitions. Deadline: October 15, 2018.
• Ilene F. Rockman Instruction Publication of the Year Award. Recognizes an outstanding publication related to instruction in a library environment published in the last two years.
• Science and Technology Section Oberly Award for Bibliography in the Agricultural or Natural Sciences. This biennial award is given in odd-numbered years for the best English-language bibliography in the field of agriculture or a related science.

If you would like more information about the ACRL Awards Program, visit the “Awards & Scholarships” section of our website at www.acrl.org or contact ACRL Program Officer Chase Ollis at collis@ala.org.

We welcome your nominations and look forward to celebrating achievements in academic librarianship in 2019.