ALISE / LMC Paper Award

Library Media Connection (LMC Magazine) and the ALISE Youth Services and School Library Media SIGs (Special Interest Groups) proudly announce the call for research papers addressing library and information science issues for children and young adults. The ALISE/LMC Paper Award provides $1000 to recognize an outstanding paper reporting innovative research in library services to young people.

Papers are invited on topics related to youth services in public libraries or school library media centers, including, but not limited to:

  • Resources specially developed for youth
  • History of youth services in libraries
  • Information seeking behavior of youth
  • Service and program evaluation
  • Policy research
  • Technology innovation
  • The relationship between libraries and other organizations
  • Collection development

Co-Chairs:

Board Liaison:

Heidi Julien, University at Buffalo - [email protected]

Award Criteria:

Papers must include a section on the applicability of the research to practice. Also, papers should not have been previously published.

Authors MUST be personal members of ALISE (Association for Library and Information Science Education) and members of either the ALISE Youth Services SIG or the School Library Media SIG. In cases of joint authorship, one honorarium will be awarded for the paper. Graduate students, as well as faculty, are eligible to submit papers. Only one paper per entrant may be submitted for the award. Authors may not simultaneously submit the same paper to other ALISE competitions or venues. Currently-serving panel selectors are not eligible.

The winning author is expected to present a summary of the paper during the ALISE Conference. The paper will be scheduled into one of the ALISE Awards sessions by the conference planning committee. Winning papers subsequently published should acknowledge having received the ALISE/LMC Paper Award.

The author(s) of the winning paper must also agree to produce a version of the paper for publication in Library Media Connection. The decision to publish or not to publish will be at the discretion of the journal’s editor.

Note: This award is administered through the Youth Services SIG and the School Library Media SIG. The LMC paper rotates between the two SIGs: odd year conference (service during even year) is administered by YS SIG; even year conference (service during odd year) is administered by SLM SIG Chair.

Submissions Requirements

Papers, including title page, abstract (150 word maximum), and references, must not exceed 25 double-spaced pages, should have one-inch margins, be in 12-point font, and should be paginated in the upper right corner of each page.

The paper should be organized as follows:

·         Title page (separate page)

·         Abstract

·         Text

·         References 

Award Submission Instructions
Access the submission form here. After you create a login, click on Award Submission/Nomination at the bottom of the page. In the submission form, please be sure you enter the name(s) of the individual being nominated. List one nominee per line. If there is more than one nominee, use the Org. Index box on the right side to indicate institutional names. The number in the Org. Index box must correspond to the number below it. Prior to uploading documents, be sure to refer to your award’s requirements.

Selection Process:

All submissions will be subject to double-blind peer review. Papers will be judged by an awards committee constituted jointly by members of the Youth Services and School Library Media SIGs, selected by the Immediate Past Chairs of both SIGs. Each Immediate Past SIG Chair solicits and appoints 2 committee members from their respective memberships. These 4 then serve as the review panel, work independently, and render the award decision. Immediate Past SIG Chairs cannot serve on the selection panel. The committee reserves the right not to make an award if the submissions are considered to be of insufficient quality.

One Immediate Past Chair will serve as Chair of the process, and that charge alternates (year by year) between SIGs. In the event of co-chairs within a SIG, the co-chairs must decide between them who will take primary responsibility.

Previous Recipients

2015 - Mega Subramaniam, Beth St. Jean, Natalie Greene Taylor, Rebecca Follman, and Christie Kodama, University of Marland, Dana Casciotti, National Library of Medicine, for Bit by Bit: Unpacking Health Literacy Instruction for Young People

2014 - Sharon McQueen, Old Dominion University, for A Permanent and Significant Contribution: The Life of May Hill Arbuthnot

2013 - Jeffrey DiScala and Ann Carlson Weeks, University of Maryland, for Access Denied: School Librarians' Responses to School District Policies of the Use of Social Media Tools

2012 - Eric Meyers, University of British Columbia, for The Group 6: Toward the Development of an Information Problem Solving


2011 - Marianne Martens, Rutgers University, for The Librarian Lion: Constructing Children's Literature Through Connections, Capital, and Criticism

Honorable Mention: Natasha Isajlovic-Terry, MLIS, and Lynne McKechnie, University of Western Ontario, for 'I don't think they should stop you' (Emily, 9 years): Children's Views of Censorship

2010 - No award given


2009 - Shana Pribesh, Old Dominion University, and Karen Gavigan, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, for Equal Opportunity? Poverty and Characteristics of School Library Media Centers

2008 - Kara Anne Reuter, University of Maryland, for Children Selecting Books in a Library: Implications for Encouraging Effective Book Selection