Awards for Librarians & Information Professionals

While doing some research recently I noticed that there really is no one place on the Web to find out about the many, varied awards for librarians and information professionals.

LibraryHQ’s Awards for Librarians page, listing seventeen (at last count) national and international librarian awards, is a great starting place. With a few exceptions, most of the awards listed there are either from the American Library Association or a division of the American Library Association, such as RUSA, PLA, LITA, LAMA, etc. As anyone who is familiar with the size of ALA and all its divisions and round tables knows, the librarian awards and recognitions through ALA are numerous. For a complete list check the website which has an index to the dozens of awards and recognitions available from the American Library Association.

Since the ALA-affiliated awards are already listed and/or discussed at the places mentioned above, then, the remainder of this article will focus on non ALA-affiliated awards and recognitions for librarians and information professionals.

Awards Through Associations

Almost every professional association has their own award, or series of awards. For instance, the Special Libraries Association alone has the following awards:

* The John Cotton Dana Award (named in honour of the founder of SLA) award, for exceptional service to special librarianship.

* SLA President's Award, given annually to an SLA member who, during the previous year, has shown a commitment to the development of the Association.

* The Factiva Leadership Award, presented to an SLA member who exemplifies leadership as a special librarian through excellence in personal and professional competencies.

* SLA’s Diversity Leadership Development Award, which recognizes individuals from multi-cultural backgrounds who display excellent leadership abilities in the profession and develop and strive for leadership opportunities within SLA.

* The SLA Professional Award, presented to an individual or group, in recognition of major achievements in, or a specific significant contribution to, the field of librarianship or information science.

And SLA has many, many more. For a complete list of SLA's awards and recognitions, and this years winners, check the February press release on their website.

If you are interested in a particular field or aspect of librarianship, one way to find out about awards in that area is simply to visit the Web pages of associations in that field and find a link to awards or recognitions.

For instance, the American Society for Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T) award winners and the Medical Library Association Awards may be of interest. And don't forget to check individual state library associations if awards and recognitions on the state level is what you're after.

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