ACRL seeks nominations for 2009 awards

CHICAGO – The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) is seeking nominations for its annual series of awards. Nominations and supporting materials for most awards must be submitted by Dec. 5, 2008.

For more than three-quarters of a century, ACRL has been committed to celebrating the achievements of academic and research librarians through the presentation of awards, grants and fellowships. With almost $37,000 donated annually by corporate sponsors, ACRL has, and will continue to, nominate, select and honor the very best in academic librarianship.

Members are an integral part of ACRL’s successful awards program. ACRL urges members to nominate colleagues whose work has influenced their thinking and growth as an academic librarian and whose contributions merit recognition by the profession. Member nominations will ensure that the pool of candidates for each award remains both competitive and distinguished.

Outstanding achievement and distinguished service awards are:

Excellence in Academic Libraries Award (sponsored by Blackwell’s Book Services) recognizes academic libraries that are outstanding in furthering the educational missions of their institutions. A $3,000 award is given for each type of library (e.g., college, community college and university).
Academic/Research Librarian of the Year Award (sponsored by YBP Library Services) awards $5,000 and recognizes an outstanding member of the academic or research library profession.
Hugh C. Atkinson Memorial Award (sponsored by ACRL, ALCTS, LAMA and LITA), provides a cash award and recognizes outstanding achievements (including risk-taking) in the areas of library automation, management, development and research.
Law and Political Science Section Marta Lange/CQ Press Award (sponsored by CQ Press), provides a $1,000 award and recognizes a librarian who has made distinguished contributions to bibliography and information service in law or political science.
Miriam Dudley Instruction Librarian Award (sponsored by Elsevier on behalf of its library and information science program), recognizes and awards $1,000 to an individual librarian for significant contributions to the advancement of instruction in a college or research library environment.
Instruction Section Innovation Award (sponsored by LexisNexis), honors librarians who have implemented innovative approaches to information literacy at their respective institutions or in their communities. The winners will share a $3,000 award.
Community College Learning Resources Leadership/Library Achievement Awards (sponsored by EBSCO Information Services), recognizes outstanding achievement in library programs and leadership. The awards will be presented to two recipients, who will each receive $500.
Haworth Press Distance Learning Librarian Conference Sponsorship Award (sponsored by Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group), provides a $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.
Distinguished Education and Behavioral Sciences Librarian Award (sponsored by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.), honors and awards $1,500 to an individual librarian for outstanding contributions to education and behavioral sciences librarianship through accomplishments and service to the profession.
Women’s Studies Section Awards for Achievement (sponsored by Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. and Routledge), recognizes career and significant achievements in the area of women’s studies librarianship. The two recipients will each receive $1,000.

Research awards are:

Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship (sponsored by Thomson Reuters),awards $1,500 to assist doctoral students in the field with their dissertation research.
Samuel Lazerow Fellowship (sponsored by Thomson Reuters), awards $1,000 cash for travel and writing in the fields of acquisition or technical services.
Coutts Nijhoff West European Specialist Study Grant (sponsored by Coutts NijhoffInternational), supports research pertaining to Western European studies, librarianship or the book trade by providing up to $3,000 for travel expenses.

Publication awards are:

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 catalogues published by American or Canadian institutions in conjunction with library exhibitions. Deadline: Oct. 15, 2008
Ilene F. Rockman Instruction Publication of the Year Award, (sponsored by Emerald Group Publishing Limited) awards $3,000 to recognize an outstanding publication related to instruction in a library environment that was published in the last two years.
The Oberly Award, is given in odd-numbered years for the best English-language bibliography in the field of agriculture or a related science.

More information, including submission procedures, past winners, criteria and contact information, is available in the awards section of the ACRL Web site at http://www.ala.org/acrl or by contacting ACRL Program Coordinator Megan Griffin at (312) 280-2514.

The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) is a division of the American Library Association (ALA), representing nearly 13,000 academic and research librarians and interested individuals. ACRL is the only individual membership organization in North America that develops programs, products and services to meet the unique needs of academic and research librarians. Its initiatives enable the higher education community to understand the role that academic libraries play in the teaching, learning and research environments. ACRL is on the Web at http://www.acrl.org/.