University Libraries Section (ULS): About Our Committees

ACRL's Awards program is coming back! Beginning in 2025, nominations will be accepted for ACRL awards. 

The ULS Award Committee's charge is to solicit, collect, and review applications for the ULS Outstanding Professional Development Award and to select the most qualified individual for the annual award in accordance with the criteria.

The Award Committee is chaired by the ULS vice-chair and usually has five members. See the current committee roster.

The Award Committee on ALA Connect: Post and find agendas, minutes, and committee happenings.

Please note that you will need to sign in to ALA Connect using your regular ALA web site username and password to access ACRL ULS committee content.

The chair of the committee (who is also vice-chair of ULS) is responsible for these tasks:

• Liaising with the Conference Program Planning Committee since the award is presented at ALA Annual during the ULS program.
• Picking up the award plaque and check at ALA Annual. The award plaque is usually at the ACRL Booth in the ALA Office, and the check is with an ACRL staff member at ACRL Leadership Council.

Other potential roles for committee members include the following:

• Liaising with the Membership Committee. The awardee should be recognized at the ULS Social (planned by the Membership Committee) if the awardee is present.
• Liaising with the Communications Committee to both solicit applications for the award and recognize the award winner.

ACRL Program Coordinator Chase Ollis can answer any questions you have about the award process and provide you with official ACRL documentation about section awards. Be sure to follow the timeline and process outlined in the documentation.

Meetings can be virtual or in person at ALA Midwinter and Annual. Much of the work happens around ALA Midwinter as the committee scores applications and selects a winner, so an in-person meeting at ALA Midwinter is useful. It’s also useful for some committee members to attend ALA Annual to help in physically picking up the award plaque and check, attending lunch with the award winner, presenting the award (if needed), and/or attending the ULS Social to toast the award winner.

The ULS chair and sponsor generally present the award at ALA Annual at the beginning of the ULS Program. Treating the award winner to lunch is another nice thing to do (and can be coordinated with the Conference Program Planning Committee if they are treating speakers to a lunch).

At the start of your term:

• Talk to the previous chair (current chair of ULS) to ensure these best practices are up to date.
• Get copies of any helpful documents, including the rubric for scoring applications.
• Schedule your first virtual meeting with the committee for July or August.
• Contact ACRL Program Coordinator Chase Ollis to introduce yourself and ask for all documentation about section-level ACRL Awards.
• Review the timeline for the award and plan a schedule for meetings and milestones.

Meet virtually with the committee before the end of August since award applications are due in early December each year and promotion starts well beforehand. Have a minimum of four meetings per year:

• July or August: Discuss a promotion/communications plan for soliciting nominations.
• December: Review application rubric and prepare for scoring.
• ALA Midwinter: Review committee members’ scores and select an award winner.
• ALA Annual: Review the past year’s work and discuss the transition to the incoming committee.

The committees uses this online form to submit requests for promotion of committee and discussion group activities.