LIASA - UKS Librarian of the Year Award 2024

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:19 June 2024
2. Closing of nominations:31 July 2024
3. Shortlisting of finalists:10 – 15 August 2024
4. Finalist interviews:30 September 2024 (At Conference, Durban)
5. Announcement of winners: 03 October 2024 at the LIASA 2024 Conference Dinner, Durban International Convention Centre
   
   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, the sponsor, 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 Board 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.
• Any person under performance or disciplinary process in their institution

The following groups of people are eligible for this award:

• All paid-up LIASA members who meet the criteria, other than members of the LIASA Board.

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 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

• All finalists must attend the LIASA 2024 Conference in Durban in-person
• All finalists must attend the interviews on 30 September 2024, in Durban.The time will be communicated to the finalists

• 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.
• The winner/s are required to be actively involved in events and social platforms the sponsor’s manage throughout their year of reign.

Downloads:

• Call for nominations
  
• Nomination Form 
  

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