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Excellence in Academic Libraries Award

Sponsored by Blackwell's Book Services

Guidelines

Purpose

To recognize academic librarians and staff who work together as a team to develop academic libraries that are outstanding in furthering the educational missions of their institutions.

Award

The program, sponsored by Blackwell's Book Service, will support three annual awards of $3,000 each by type of academic library (community, college, and university). Awards will be made by an ACRL representative at a presentation at each institution receiving the award. Further recognition of award recipients will be made at the ACRL President's Program at the annual ALA conference.

Blackwell's gift will cover the outright awards and provide $3,000 for travel to presentation ceremonies.

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.

Criteria

1. Demonstrate how academic librarians and staff work together as a team to develop an academic library that is outstanding in furthering the educational mission of its parent institution.
2. The criteria for recognizing excellence through the Blackwell Award Program will emphasize "outcomes" rather than "inputs" as the best measures of quality. "Outcomes" are defined by the ACRL Task Force on Academic Library Outcomes and reflected in the philosophy of Standards for Libraries in Higher Education. Potential nominees are referred to these documents. An academic library may demonstrate excellence as a team of librarians and staff in furthering the educational mission of its institution through one or more of the following, or in other ways that reflect the purpose and philosophy of this award: 
   • Creativity and innovation in meeting the needs of their academic community.
   • Leadership in developing and implementing exemplary programs that other libraries can emulate.
   • Substantial and productive relationships with classroom faculty and students.
3. Agree to take responsibility for organizing and funding a recognition ceremony on campus to receive the award.

Submissions

The applicant must agree to take responsibility for organizing and funding a recognition ceremony on campus to receive the award.

Electronic submissions are required.  Applicants must submit an application form and supporting documents via email to Megan Griffin, mgriffin@ala.org. The application form must be completed in its entirety and applications must be received by December 5, 2008 to receive full consideration.  Applications will be confirmed via email.

Interested parties should feel free to contact the chair and/or the members of the Nominations Committee for additional information.

Nominations Committee

Because of the importance of obtaining a good pool of worthy candidates for this award, a Nominations Committee will actively seek nominees for this award. This committee will seek to identify worthy nominees and to encourage them to apply for the award. This committee will conduct its work during the fall and present a slate of nominated libraries to the Selections Committee prior to the Midwinter Conference. The committee will actively work with potential nominees to facilitate the completion of applications. This committee has broader representation both by type of library and by geographic region of the country, to facillitation the solitation of nominations. It also includes a representative of the ACRL Chapters Council to encourage involvement of ACRL Chapters members in the nominations process. Libraries may also self-nominate or nominate other libraries.

Nominations Committee composition: The Committee will have six members with half of the members rotating off each year. Two members will be appointed at large for two-year terms. Initially, one will serve only one year and will serve as chair that year. The second will be appointed by the vice-president/president-elect of ACRL for a two-year term to rotate in as chair of the committee in the second year of his/her term. The vice-president/president-elect of ACRL will appoint three other members for two-year terms. One representative will be appointed from the Eastern Time Zone, one from the Central Time Zone, and one from the Combined Mountain, Pacific, Hawaii, and Alaska Time Zones.

Attention should be given to representation by type of library (community, college, and university). These individuals will serve a two-year term on a staggered basis so not all three will rotate off at the same time. The final member of the committee will be the current ACRL Chapters Council chair or someone recommended by this individual for appointment for a one-year term by the vice-president/president-elect of ACRL. This appointment is done to encourage involvement of ACRL Chapter members in the nomination process.

Chair: 
Richard Sweeney
University Librarian
Van Houten Library
New Jersey Institute of Technology
T: 973-596-3208
E-mail: sweeney@njit.edu

Selections Committee

The Selection comittee is chaired by the immediate past-president of ACRL and has representation by type of library. This committee meets in closed session at the Midwinter ALA conference and makes the final selection of the award winners at that conference. The committee reports its decisions to the ACRL Executive Director and the ACRL President before the close of the Midwinter Conference. The ACRL Executive Director will announce the award winners immediately after the Midwinter conference.