Financial Award: $500

The Academic & Special Library Section of the New York Library Association seeks to recognize outstanding scholarship produced by academic and special librarians or library workers in New York.

Criteria: Publications are judged on the basis of relevance to the field of instruction in academic or research libraries, originality, timeliness, and quality of writing (40 points total).

Relevance
* Applicable to academic or special librarianship (5 points)
* Displays evidence that the publication is grounded in theory, existing literature, and/or practice (5 points)

Originality
* Addresses questions or issues that have not been addressed before or addresses questions or issues in a completely new and novel way, e.g. in research methods, solutions, etc. (10 points)
* Pushes the profession in new directions (5 points)

Timeliness
* Reflects the current landscape in academic or special libraries (5 points)
* Addresses a current challenge or opportunity in academic or special libraries (5 points)

Quality of Writing
* Writing is cohesive, clear, and well argued (5 points)

Eligibility: Applicants must be a member of NYLA and ASLS. Publications include journal articles, books, book chapters, and published proceedings. Submitted publications may be authored by one or more individuals, a group, organization, or committee. Publications from 2018 and 2019 can be considered for the 2020 award.

Submissions: Electronic submissions are required. Nominations must include a letter supporting the publication and a complete citation of the publication. Whenever possible, an electronic version of the article, book, etc., should also be included.

Submissions due October 14, 2020.