ACRL’s Hall of Fame: An Analysis of the Academic/Research Librarian of the Year Award

Abstract

The Association of College & Research Libraries’ (ACRL) Academic/Research Librarian of the Year awardees constitute a “hall of fame” for ACRL. This article reports research analyzing 30 years of awardees between 1978 and 2007. Studying the demographics and accomplishments of the awardees contributes to knowledge of how academic librarianship has evolved as a profession and how its values have shifted. As the profession begins to explore and better comprehend the outcomes of its award processes, it may choose to evaluate and redesign them. This study offers several recommendations for change to the Academic/Research Librarian of the Year Award.