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ALA’s EMIERT Announces María Emerson as Winner of the 2026 David Cohen Multicultural Award; Opens Nominations for 2028 Cycle

The Ethnic and Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table announced María Emerson, assistant professor and student success librarian at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, as the recipient of the 2026 David Cohen/EMIERT Multicultural Award.

Congratulations to the 2026 Core Career LIFT Award Recipients!

CHICAGO-- Congratulations to the 2026 recipients of the Core Career LIFT Award. The recipients are: Irina Stanishevskaya LIFT Award Sponsored by OCLC Irina is an Associate Professor, Head of the Collection Management Services, Metadata Librarian for...

RUSA

RUSA BRASS Announces Dewey as Sponsor of Research Grant Award

The Business Reference and Services Section (BRASS) of the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), a division of the American Library Association, is pleased to announce that Dewey will serve as the new sponsor of the BRASS Research Grant Award...

AASL NSLY 2026 Vernon Hills Staff

Vernon Hills High School named National School Library of the Year

CHICAGO – Vernon Hills High School, located in Vernon Hills, Illinois, is the recipient of the American Association of School Librarians’ (AASL) 2026 National School Library of the Year (NSLY) Award. Sponsored by Follett Content, the NSLY Award annually...

Lisa Wells honored with 2026 ALA Ken Haycock Award for Promoting Librarianship Award

CHICAGO — Lisa Wells, Executive Director of the Pioneer Library System (PLS) in Oklahoma, has been honored with the 2026 ALA Ken Haycock Award for Promoting Librarianship

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2026 Lemony Snicket Prize for Noble Librarians Faced with Adversity Winner- Mary Anne Antonellis

CHICAGO - The 2026 Lemony Snicket Prize for Noble Librarians Faced with Adversity is awarded to Mary Anne Antonellis, Director of the Shutesbury Public Library in Massachusetts.

2026 Beta Phi Mu Award Winner- Dr. Laura Saunders

Dr. Laura Saunders, Associate Dean and Professor of the Simmons University’s School of Library and Information Science in Boston and Director of the Simmons Center for Information Literacy has been selected as the 2026 recipient of the Beta Phi Mu Award.

2026 ALA EBSCO Information Services Library Staff Development Award Winner- Olympic Library Leadership Incubator

CHICAGO —The American Library Association (ALA) is pleased to announce that the 2026 ALA EBSCO Information Services Library Staff Development Award has been awarded to the Washington Library Association (WLA) for the Olympic Library Leadership Incubator (OLLI) program

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2026 Scholastic Library Publishing Award Winner - Rachel G. Payne

CHICAGO — Rachel G. Payne has been named the 2026 winner of ALA’s Scholastic Library Publishing Award.

2026 Joseph W. Lippincott Award Winner - Sara Kelly Johns

CHICAGO — Sara Kelly Johns is the recipient of the 2026 Joseph W. Lippincott Award. This award is sponsored by Joseph W. Lippincott III and presented by the American Library Association (ALA) for distinguished service in the profession of librarianship.

Jessie Commerce receives AASL Frances Henne Award

CHICAGO – Jessie Commerce, assistant librarian at Salem Church Middle School in Richmond, Virginia, is the recipient of the 2026 American Association of School Librarians’ (AASL) Frances Henne Award. Sponsored by Bloomsbury Libraries Unlimited, the $1,250...

2026 ALA/Information Today, Inc. Library of the Future Award Winner- Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar Library

CHICAGO – The American Library Association (ALA) Information Today Library of the Future Award Jury is delighted to announce that Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar Library has been selected as the winner of the 2026 Library of the Future Award for its innovative AI2@CMU-Q program.

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2026 Ernest A. DiMattia, Jr. Award for Innovation and Service to Community and Profession Winner

CHICAGO — Chelsea Foust won the 2026 Ernest A. DiMattia, Jr. Award for Innovation and Service to Community and Profession by the American Library Association.

2026 ALA Medal of Excellence Award Winner

CHICAGO — Amy Mikel, Senior Director of Customer Experience of the Brooklyn Public Library, is the 2026 American Library Association (ALA) Medal of Excellence Award winner.

Danny Joudrey

Danny Joudrey Awarded 2026 Margaret Mann Citation

Danny Joudrey has been selected as the recipient of the 2026 Margaret Mann Citation, sponsored by OCLC and Core: Leadership, Infrastructure, Futures. Joudrey is currently the Professor and Director of Libraries and Librarianship Concentration at Simmons...