The ALCTS Outstanding Publication Award will not be presented in 2021. Please visit the Core Awards & Scholarships page for information on the Core awards that will be presented for 2020-2021.
Purpose
Honors the author or authors of the year's outstanding monograph, article, or original paper in the field of technical services, including acquisitions, cataloging, collection management, preservation, continuing resources and related areas in the library field. Papers published in Library Resources & Technical Services (LRTS), the ALCTS journal, are ineligible.
Criteria
Publications from the calendar year prior to the Annual Conference in which the award is presented are eligible. Reprints of earlier publications will not be accepted.
Each paper shall be judged on the following points:
- intellectual content (original, thought-provoking),
- practical value,
- theoretical value,
- scholarship,
- presentation, and
- style.
Submission
Each nomination shall include:
- Full bibliographic citation;
- Written justification for the for nomination (can be 1-2 sentences or longer); and
- A copy of the piece, if possible (i.e. full text article)
Award
The award consists of a $250 cash prize and a citation.
Presentation
The award is presented in years when a recipient is chosen at the ALCTS Awards Ceremony at the ALA Annual Conference.
Award Jury
The ALCTS Outstanding Publication Award will not be presented in 2021. Please visit the Core Awards & Scholarships page for information on the Core awards that will be presented for 2020-2021.
Award Recipients
Note: Prior to 2011, the award was known as the Blackwell’s Scholarship Award. Papers published in LRTS were eligible for consideration. For the 2011 award, the criteria changed to exclude publications from LRTS, since the Best of LRTS award is given each year. Additionally, the criteria has been broadened to include papers covering all areas of technical services, not limited to acquisitions and collection development as was previously the case.
| Year | Recipient |
|---|---|
| 2020 | Rachel Ivy Clarke and Sayward Schoonmaker for their article “Metadata for diversity: Identification and implications of potential access points for diverse library resources". Journal of Documentation 76, no. 1 (September 2019): 173-196. |
| 2019 | Trevor Owens for his monograph The Theory and Craft of Digital Preservation. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2018): 240p. |
| 2018 | Alana Verminski and Kelly Marie Blanchat for their monograph Fundamentals of Electronic Resources Management. (Chicago: ALA Neal-Schuman, 2017). |
| 2017 | Dawn Hale as editor for the monograph Shared Collections: Collaborative Stewardship (Chicago: ALA Editions, 2016). |
| 2016 | Ann Okerson and Alex Holzman for their monograph The Once and Future Publishing Library, Council on Library and Information Resources, 166 (CLIR, 2015). |
| 2015 | Robert Maxwell for his monograph Maxwell's Handbook for RDA: Explaining and Illustrating RDA: Resource Description and Access using MARC 21 (Chicago: ALA Editions, 2014). |
| 2014 | Magda El-Sherbini for her monograph RDA: Strategies for Implementation (Chicago: ALA Editions, 2013). |
| 2013 | Ronald J. Murray and Barbara B. Tillett for "Cataloging Theory in Search of Graph Theory and other Ivory Towers" published in Information Technology in Libraries 30, no.4 (December 2011): 170–84. |
| 2012 | Jeffrey Beall for "Academic Library Databases and the Problem of Word-Sense Ambiguity" published in The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 37 (January 2011): 64–69. |
| 2011 | Karen Coyle for “Understanding the Semantic Web: Bibliographic Data and Metadata,” published in Library Technology Reports 46, no.1 (January 2010). |
| 2010 | Kristin Blake and Jacquie Samples for their article "Creating Organization Name Authority within an Electronic Resources Management System,” published in Library Resources & Technical Services, volume 53, no. 2 (April 2009): 94–107. |
| 2009 | Karen Schmidt, Wendy Allen Shelburne, and David Steven Vess for “Approaches to Selection, Access, and Collection Development in the Web World,” published in LRTS (vol. 52, no. 3, July 2008, pp. 184–191). |
| 2008 | Lucy Eleonore Lyons for her article, “The Dilemma for Academic Librarians with Collection Development Responsibilities: A Comparison of the Value of Attending Library Conferences versus Academic Conferences,” published in The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 33, no. 2, March 2007, pages 180–189. |
| 2007 | Ross Atkinson, “Six Key Challenges for the Future of Collection Development,” published in Library Resources & Technical Services (LRTS), volume 50, no. 4 (October 2007): 244–251. |
| 2006 | John Willinsky. "The Access Principle: The Case for Open Access to Research and Scholarship." MIT Press, 2006. |
| 2005 | Peggy Johnson. Fundamentals of Collection Development & Management. (Chicago: ALA, 2004). |
| 2004 | Katherine Treptow Farrell and Marc Truitt. "The Case for Acquisitions Standards in the Integrated Library System." Library Collections, Acquisitions & Technical Services. 27 (2003), 483–492. |
| 2003 | Richard Fyffe. "Technological Change and Scholarly Communications Reform Movement; Reflections on Castells and Giddens." Library Resources & Technical Services. 46 (April 2002), 50–61. |
| 2002 | Richard Meyer. 2001. A Tool to Access Journal Price Discrimination. College and Research Libraries 62 (May): 269–288. |
| 2001 | Joseph Branin, Frances Groen, and Suzanne Thorin. "The Changing Nature of Collection Management in Research Libraries." Library Resources & Technical Services. 44 (1), 23–32. |
| 2000 | Anna H. Perrault. "National Collecting Trends: Collection Analysis Methods and Findings." Library & Information Science Research. 21 (1), 47–67. |
| 1999 | Ross Atkinson. "Managing Traditional Materials in an Online Environment: Some Definitions and Distinctions for a Future Collection Management." Library Resources & Technical Services. 42 (January 1998), 7–20. |
| 1998 | David F. Kohl. "Resource Sharing in a Changing Ohio Environment." Library Trends, Winter 1997: 435–447. William Gray Potter. "Recent Trends in Statewide Academic Library Consortia." Library Trends. Winter 1997: 416–434. |
| 1997 | Walt Crawford and Michael Gorman for Future Libraries: Dreams, Reality and Madness, ALA Editions, 1995. |
| 1996 | Samuel G. Demas, Peter McDonald, and Gregory Lawrence for "The Internet and Collection Development: Mainstreaming Selection of Internet Resources," Library Resources & Technical Services 39 (July 1995), 275–90. |
| 1995 | Patricia Buck Dominguez and Luke Swindler for "Cooperative Collection Development at the Research Triangle Libraries: A Model for the Nation" ( College & Reserach Libraries: 470–496, November/December 1993). |
| 1994 | Anna L. DeMiller, Elizabeth A. Fuseler, and Joel S. Rutstein for "Ownership versus Access: Shifting Perspectives for Libraries" In Advances in Librarianship, v. 17, pp. 33–60, 1993. |
| 1993 | Ann L. Okerson for "With Feathers: Effects of Copyright and Ownership on Scholarly Publishing" ( College & Research Libraries 1(5):425–538, September 1991). |
| 1992 | Richard M. Dougherty and Carol Hughes for "Library Cooperation: A Historical Perspective and a Vision for the Future" In Advances in Library Resource Sharing, v.1, 1990) and Cal Gough for "Key Issues in the Collecting of Gay/Lesbian Library Materials" ( Gay and Lesbian Library Service, pp. 3–10, 1990). |
| 1991 | Gary D. Bird for "An Economic 'Commons' Tragedy for Research Libraries: Scholarly Journal Publishing and Pricing Trends" ( College & Research Libraries, 51: 184–95, May 1990). |
| 1990 | Joe A. Hewitt for his article "On the Nature of Acquisitions" ( Library Resources & Technical Services, 33: 105–22, April 1989). |
| 1989 | Frederick C. Lynden for "Prices of Foreign Library Materials: A Report" ( College & Research Libraries, 49: 217–231, May 1988). |
| 1988 | Joe A. Hewitt and John S. Shipman for "Cooperative Collection Development Among Research Libraries in the Age of Networking" ( Advances in Library Automation and Networking, v.1, 1987). |
| 1987 | Ann Okerson for "Periodical Prices: A History and Discussion" ( Advances in Serials Management, v.1, 1986). |
| 1986 | Patricia A. McClung; William Hepfer; Stanley P. Hodge; Marcia Pankake; Beth J. Shapiro; and John Whaley for Selection of Library Materials in the Humanities, Social Sciences and Sciences. (Chicago: American Library Association, 1985). |
| 1985 | Ross Atkinson for his article. "The Citation as Intertext: Toward a Theory of the Selection Process." ( Library Resources &Technical Services 28: 109–19, April/June 1984). |
| 1984 | Nancy E. Gwinn and Paul H. Mosher for their article "Coordinating Collection Development: the RLG Conspectus," ( College & Research Libraries 44: 128–40, March 1983). |
| 1983 | Phyllis J. Van Orden for The Collection Program in Elementary and Middle Schools: Concepts, Practices and Information Sources, illustrated by William R. Harper (Littleton, Colo.: Libraries Unlimited, 1982). |
| 1982 | Richard K. Gardner for Library Collections: Their Origin, Selection & Development (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1981). |
| 1981 | Robert D. Stueart and George B. Miller, Jr. for Collection Development in Libraries: A Treatise (Greenwich, Conn.: JAI Press, 1980). |
| 1980 | Charles B. Osburn for Academic Research and Library Resources: Changing Patterns in America (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1979). |
| 1979 | Mona East and Rose Mary Magrill for "Collection Development in Large University Libraries" (Advances in Librarianship, v. 8, 1978). |
| 1978 | J. Michael Bruer for "Resources in 1976" (Library Resources & Technical Services 21: 234–48, Summer 1977). |
| 1977 | Herbert S. White for article "Publishers, Libraries and Costs of Journal Subscriptions in Times of Funding Retrenchment" (The Library Quarterly, 46:359–77, October 1976). |
| 1976 | Hendrick Edelman, Carol Nemeyer and Sandra Paul for article "The Library Market: a Special Publishers Weekly Survey" (Publishers Weekly, June 16, 1975). |