AASL Research Paper Award

The AASL Research Paper Award recognizes excellence in manuscripts addressing a persistent and recurring challenge in the field of school librarianship.

Sponsored by ABC-CLIO

Monetary Amount: Three papers will be selected and each author will receive a $350 award.

Applications for 2025 are closed. The award application will open February 1, 2026, and close April 1, 2026.

NEW - submissions can be either self-nominations from the author(s) who published the paper, or someone can submit a paper for consideration written by someone else.

2025 Recipients

Brenda Boyer, Instructor, Rutgers University, and Ewa Dziedzic-Elliott, Education Librarian, The College of New Jersey, “What I had, what I needed: First-year students reflect on how their high school experience prepared them for college research.”

Rhys Dreeszen Bowman, PhD student, University of South Carolina, and Jenna Spiering, Assistant Professor, University of South Carolina, “Contesting Queer Books: Analyzing the Discourses in Public Comment Sections at School Board Meetings.”

Jenna Spiering, Assistant Professor, University of South Carolina, and Kate Kedley, Associate Professor, University of South Carolina, “From Book Rating to Book Bans: A Critical Content Analysis of BookLooks.org’s Report Cards on LGBTQIA+ Titles.”

Award Information

2023	Joyce Kasman Valenza, Associate Teaching Professor, Rutgers University, Heather Dalal, Gihan Mohamad, Brenda Boyer, Cara Berg, Leslin H. Charles, Rebecca Bushby, Megan Dempsey, Joan Dalrymple, Ewa Dziedzic-Elliott “What Library? A Survey of Charter School Leaders About School Library Services," by Katie Klein, Doctoral student at University of South Carolina “1:1 Computing: A Case Study Examining How a Large District Leveraged School Librarians to Improve Teacher Practice, Learning Environments, and Digital Content,” by Mary H. Moen, Assistant Professor and Coordinator of the School Library Media Program, University of Rhode Island
2022	“Enabling School Librarians to Serve as Instructional Leaders of Multiple Literacies" by Melanie Lewis Croft, Assistant Professor in Media, University of West Georgia “A Content Analysis of District School Library Selection Policies in the United States," by April Dawkins, Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and Emily Eidson, School Library Media Coordinator, Ledford Middle School, Davidson County Schools “Librarian-Teacher Co-Teaching and the Role of School Librarians in Facilitating Inquiry and Maker Learning," by Kyungwon Koh, Associate Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Xun Ge, Professor, University of Oklahoma, and Julia Burns Petrella, Doctoral Candidate, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
2021	“Place Consciousness: A Narrative Inquiry of the Advocacy Practices of Five Rural/Frontier School Librarians” by Ann Ewbank, Professor and Head, Department of Education, Montana State University “Collaborating with Teacher Librarians to Support Adolescents’ Literacy and Literature Learning” by Margaret Merga, researcher and author in libraries and literacy, Edith Cowan University, Perth, Australia “Factors Influencing Intention to Introduce Accessibility in Makerspace Planning and Implementation” by Heather Moorefield-Lang, Associate Professor, UNC Greensboro, and Ana Dubnjakovic, Head of Music Library, University of South Carolina
2020	“School and Public Library Collaboration: A Phenomenology of Working Together” by Jenna Kammer and Denise Moreland “Rethinking Curation in School Libraries and School Library Education: Critical, Conceptual, Collaborative” by Jenna Spiering and Kate Lechtenberg “Application of the Teacher Citizenship Behavior (TCB) Theory to the Extra-Role Work of School Librarians” by Karen Reed
2019	“Does ALA Ban Books? Examining the Discourse of Challenged Books" by Sue C. Kimmel and Danielle E. Hartsfield “E-Book Collections in High School Libraries: Factors Influencing Circulation and Usage” by April Dawkins and Karen Gavigan "Lessons Learned: Intentional Implementation of Second Makerspaces” by Heather Moorefield-Lang

AASL Research Paper Award

2025 Recipients

Award Information

Overview

Eligibility

Criteria

Additional Requirements

Questions

Historical Recipients