ACRL congratulates our 2021 award recipients.
Check them out!ACRL's awards recognize and honor the professional contributions and achievements of your peers. This special recognition by the Association of College and Research Libraries enhances the sense of personal growth and accomplishment of our members, provides our membership with role models, and strengthens the image of our membership in the eyes of employers, leadership, and the academic community as a whole. Made possible by generous corporate support, the annual presentation of our prestigious awards and grants to these deserving individuals and institutions enables ACRL to honor the very best in academic librarianship.
In April 2022 the ACRL Board approved a continued pause of ACRL’s current award program for the length of time it takes to fully consider and implement the Award Task Force recommendations. ACRL's Awards program will be on hold for the 2022-2023 award season, during which time nominations will not be accepted or juried and no recipients will be chosen for any ACRL awards. For more information, please send a message to awards@acrl.org.
Browse Awards, Grants, and Scholarships:
Awards recognize impact.
You don't need to be a formal leader to affect change and make a positive impact in your library and on your campus community. In this video, 2019 Academic/Research Librarian of the Year Kaetrena Davis Kendrick shares her experience receiving the award.
Who inspires you at your library? Please consider nominating those who have influenced your thinking, your practice, and your growth as an academic or research library worker. We ask you to remember the significant achievements of those we've honored in the past and recognize the contributions of your peers with your nominations.
Achievement and Distinguished Service Awards
Sponsored by GOBI Library Solutions from EBSCO
Recognizes an outstanding member of the library profession who has made a significant national or international contribution to academic or research librarianship and library development.
Recognizes college librarians and staff who demonstrate innovation in their library.
Sponsored by Routledge/Taylor & Francis
Honors 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.
Sponsored by EBSCO Information Services
Recognizes a project that demonstrates creative, innovative, or unique approaches to information literacy instruction or programming.
Recognizes an academic or law librarian who, through research, service to the profession, or other creative activity, makes distinguished contributions to bibliography and information service in law or political science.
Sponsored by Library Juice Academy
Recognizes librarians, archivists or curators whose contributions to providing professional development opportunities for librarians have been especially noteworthy or influential.
Publication Awards
Funded by an endowment from Katharine Kyes Leab and Daniel J. Leab, editors of American Book Prices Current
Recognizes excellence in the publication of catalogues and brochures that accompany exhibitions of library and archival materials, as well as for electronic exhibitions of such materials.
Research Awards and Grants
Note: The 2021 grant is temporarily on hold due to funding suspension from the sponsor. Supports research in European studies with an emphasis on librarianship, the book trade, resource documentation and similar information-science related topics. 2,500 Euro donated by the De Gruyter Foundation to cover travel to and from Europe and transportation, room, and board in Europe, for up to thirty (30) consecutive days.
2021 Award Recipients
ACRL congratulates our 2021 award recipients! Visit our award recipient page to learn more about these outstanding members of the academic and research library community.
*Please note that monetary award amounts are subject to change without notice and are contingent upon donor funding supplied at the time the award is presented. Questions about awards should be directed to the committee chairperson or to Lauren Carlton at lcarlton@ala.org.
Information is also available about starting new awards.