The Library Faculty Award was created by the Office of the Provost in 2019. It is awarded every two years to a member of the AOK Library & Gallery faculty with permanent status who has made significant contributions to the Library and the University through service, teaching/librarianship, and research, sustained leadership and performance, and working above and beyond assigned responsibilities. The award carries a one-time stipend of $2,000 to support faculty development.

Eligibility

The award is based on achievements while at UMBC, and nominees must be UMBC Library & Gallery faculty members who hold permanent status. An individual may receive the award only once every five years. The Library Director and members of LEC are not eligible to receive the award. Applications for the award will be accepted every other year, following the process outlined below.

Selection Criteria

The award is based on overall excellence of the Library faculty member's contributions in one or more of the areas listed below:

• Administration/Committee Work

• Communication

• Customer Service (internal and external)

• Innovation/Creativity

• Mentoring/Training

• Outreach/Marketing

• Teaching

• Teamwork/Cooperation

• Scholarship/Research

• Service to the Library, Campus, and/or Profession

• Supervision/Management

• Workflow Improvements/Efficiency

Source: Library Faculty Award criteria final.pdf

Nominations

The Library Director will announce the call for nominations and set a deadline for receiving them, typically in February or March of the award year. Self-nominations are accepted. Nominations should include a primary letter of nomination describing how the nominee meets the criteria, plus at least one letter of support. Letters of nomination and support may come from anyone who is qualified to comment on the candidate's work in relation to the criteria. Nominators may also submit supporting documentation as examples of excellent or innovative work; for example, slides from a presentation, a library guide or finding aid, a successful grant application, or a previous commendation or award could all be submitted as supporting documentation.

Award Committee

The awardee is selected by an ad hoc committee of at least five library faculty with permanent status. The Library Director will select members and a Chair, and will form the committee when the call for nominations is announced.

The committee will meet as needed to review all nominations received by the deadline. When the committee completes its work, it will communicate its decision to the Library Director in the form of a letter. The Director will forward the letter to the Office of the Provost, which will approve the award.

Announcing the Winner

When the Library Director receives notice that the award has been approved, the Director will notify the winner with a letter, including a copy of the Award Committee's original letter, and copy their supervisor. The Director will also notify all library staff of the award, and will coordinate the updating of the "perpetual plaque" on the first floor of the library with the new winner's name and year. The plaque was ordered from Advantage Trophy, https://advantagetrophy.com/ (Plaque model #RPP12). The library will maintain a public-facing webpage or other platform to publicize the award and its recipients. The awardee's supervisor or Associate Director may publicize the award further, as appropriate. 

The Award

The award is a one-time stipend of $2,000, which can be used by the winner to support their professional development. Examples of uses for the funds include (but are not limited to) paying for training courses (online or in-person), conference registration, travel to conferences or professional meetings. When the funds are received from the Office of the Provost, they will be placed in a revolving account, which does not expire. They may be used to pre-pay expenses, or to reimburse the winner for travel or professional development expenses incurred after the award is given.

To access the award stipend, the winner should submit a travel request for the desired professional development activity and include a note in the "Purpose" section indicating that expenses will be paid from the Provost's Library Faculty Award. Administrative staff will monitor the reward funds and provide an updated balance to the award winner upon request.

Past Winners

For the list of past winners, see the Staff Awards wiki page.