LIASA - UKS Librarian of the Year Award 2023

The Librarian of the Year is a role model for the Library and Information Services community, a person whose contributions make a lasting impact on the sector and who will be an ambassador for LIASA, the sponsor and the profession for the upcoming year.

This accolade is granted in recognition of the achievements and accomplishments of inspiring and exceptional public, academic, school and special librarians.

This award should be used for educational and development purpose and should be in line with the sponsor’s guidelines. 

Timeline:

1. Call for nominations: 05 July 2023
2. Closing of nominations: 13 August 2023
3. Shortlisting of finalists: 14-18 September 2023
4. Online interviews: 04–06 September 2023
5. Announcement of Top 3 finalists: 08 September 2023
6. Finalist interviews: 11 October 2023
7. Announcement of winners: 12 October 2023 during the Conference Dinner at the LIASA Conference, Lord Charles Hotel, Somerset West, Cape Town.

Selection Criteria

All nominees will be evaluated on the following criteria: The nominee must:

• Be a current LIASA individual, paid-up member for a minimum of 5 consecutive years
• Have a recognised LIS qualification
• Currently be engaged in the LIS sector with more than 5 years’ experience in the LIS field
• Not be older than 50 years of age at the time of nomination
• Be knowledgeable about the LIS sector and its resources
• Demonstrate high levels of professionalism
• Have made an impact on the sector
• Be passionate, enthusiastic and have good presentation skills
• Must act as an ambassador for LIASA and UKS during their year of reign.
• LIASA and the sponsor reserves the right not to confer an award

Eligibility

The following groups of people are not eligible for this award:

• LIASA Executive Committee members,
• LIASA staff,
• UKS staff,
• Previous national winners (1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place) of the Librarian of the Year award
• Any person who won any LIASA award in the past 7 years.

The following groups of people are eligible for this award:

• Members of the Representative Council, other than members of the LIASA Executive Committee
• Branch and Interest Group Executive Committees
• All other paid-up LIASA members who meet the criteria.

Nomination

The nomination must include:

• Nomination form to be completed and signed by the nominator and the nominee
• A motivation statement of a maximum of 200 words (1.5 spacing, 12 point font) by the nominator indicating the motivation for the nomination
• A profile[1]of the nominee not exceeding 500 words (1.5 spacing, 12 point font)
• A motivational statement by the nominee, not exceeding 700 words (1.5 spacing, 12 point font) which opines on:
  • How you have driven change in your community, what your success stories are, how have you created this successful environment, and how would you ensure sustainability of this successful environment
• A clear, colour, digital, head and shoulder photo (in .jpg, .jpeg, or .png) that will be used for promotional purposes. The National Office reserves the right to not use photos of inferior quality.

   

  Additional requirements

Additional requirements

• All finalists must attend virtual interviews during the week of 04 – 06 September 2023.The date and time will be communicated to the finalists.
• LIASA and the sponsor reserves the right to conduct second interviews at the LIASA 2023 Conference.
• All finalists must attend the LIASA 2023 Conference in Somerset West in person.
• It will be required from all shortlisted candidates to make a presentation using any media to illustrate:
  • how you would promote the sponsor, LIASA and Librarianship should you win the Librarian of the Year award,
  • And should you win, how would you use the award money and promote LIASA, the profession and the sponsor
• Important things to note for the successful awardee(s)
  • The award winner/s will need to submit a detailed proposal and budget for consideration by LIASA and the sponsor on the use of the award money
  • Upon approval of the proposal by LIASA and the sponsor the award money will be deposited into her/his bank account
  • Within six weeks after the completion of the awardee’s project, they will:
    • Submit a formal report to LIASA and UKS
  • The winner will do a 5 minute visual presentation at the following year’s Annual Conference
• The winner/s might undergo training/mentoring to support the ambassador role
• The winner/s must submit articles on topics related to your field of interest for each of the 4 issues of the LIASA-in-Touch for the Awards column.
• The winner/s must submit articles for all issues of the sponsor’s newsletter during their year of reign.

[1] NOT the CV. See examples such as: https://www.nata.org/membership/honors-and-awards/awards-profile-guidance

Downloads:

• Call for nominations
  
• Nomination Form 
  

 Send the completed nomination form and all the required documents to awards@liasa.org.za