Academic/Research Librarian of the Year Award

ACRL's Awards program will be on hold for the 2021-2022 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 contact Brian Lim.

The ACRL Academic/Research Librarian of the Year Award 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.

Award

Sponsored by GOBI Library Solutions from EBSCO. Plaque and $5,000 award.

Criteria

This award recognizes and honors achievement in such areas as:

  • Service to the organized profession through the Association of College and Research Libraries and related organizations
  • Significant and influential research on academic or research library service
  • Publication of a body of scholarly and/or theoretical writing contributing to academic or research library development
  • Planning and implementing a library program of such exemplary quality that it has served as a model for others

Submissions

Submissions are not currently being accepted.

Electronic submissions through the online nomination form are required. The nomination form must be completed in its entirety. Nominations must be received by the award deadline to receive consideration. Individuals may nominate themselves or others.

Supporting documents to accompany the nomination form include:

  • a letter from you supporting the nomination
  • a current vita for the person being nominated
  • as many letters as you wish from other librarians supporting the nomination
  • a high resolution photo of the nominee (at least 300 dpi), which will be used to make the official announcement immediately after the ALA Midwinter Meeting

All letters of support should be compiled by the nominator and uploaded through the nomination form as a single PDF (max size 20MB). Applications are kept in the award pool for three years. Applications may be updated each year, as long as they are received by the award deadline.

Information & Assistance

Questions should be directed to the chair, Adrian Morales, morales.ad@gmail.com, or staff liaison Brian Lim, blim@ala.org.

This award is juried by the ACRL Academic/Research Librarian of the Year Award Committee.

2021 Recipient

Photo of a blond woman with glasses smiling (Julia Gelfand)
Julia M. Gelfand

Read the full announcement!

Previous Recipients