John Cotton Dana Award

Purpose of the Award

This award recognizes an individual member of the Association for a lifetime achievement as well as exceptional service to the Special Libraries Association and the library and information profession.

Eligibility

The nominee must meet the following qualifications:

Nominees shall be current members in good standing of ASIS&T and have been members of SLA for at least ten years.
Prior award winners, current members of the Awards & Honors Committee, and current members of the Board of Directors are not eligible.
Nominations will not be carried forward, but an individual may be re-nominated.

Criteria

Submissions will be judged on the following criteria:

Dedicated service to SLA as evidenced by the amount and length of participation in, leadership of, and support to SLA programs, chapters, communities, committees, publications, etc.
Sustained, active involvement in SLA (in future years to include ASIS&T)
Engagement in activities that create a meaningful impact on the library and information profession

Nominations Process

Nominations must be submitted by 11:59 pm US Pacific Time on the deadline date via the designated online portal.

Nominations must include the following only:

Name, affiliation, and contact information of nominee
Name, affiliation, and contact information of nominator
A nomination statement (200-500 words, some or all of which may be included in the citation for the award)
Nominee’s Curriculum Vitae
A letter of nomination with supporting reasons for the choice of the nominee. Specific information about the quality and length of service of the nominee should be provided, with careful consideration given to continuous, dedicated service, and membership.
A comprehensive list of the contributions of the member to SLA and the profession. Such contributions need not have been on a national or international level, but nominees should show strong continued service to the association and profession.
Up to three (3) supporting letters of up to 3 pages in length each.

Jury

A jury of at least five members (including the Jury Chair) and one alternate shall be appointed by the Awards & Honors Committee at the recommendation of the Jury Chair. Jury members must:

Be a member in good standing of ASIS&T;
Not submit a nomination for the award in the year of their jury service; and
Declare any conflict of interest related to any nominee for the award and recuse themselves from the jury should the conflict be deemed significant by the Jury Chair (in which case the alternate would be appointed).

Selection Process

The jury will utilize both asynchronous scoring and synchronous discussion to arrive at a final decision as to who wins any award.
Through the evaluation platform or system, jury members will rate each nominee on a scale of 10 (highest) to 1 (lowest) on each of the criteria listed above. Jury members should also submit a brief synopsis summarizing the most exemplary accomplishments of that nominee.
The Jury Chair shall total all the scores.
In the event of a tie that cannot be resolved through synchronous discussion, the jury chair will identify an additional jury member to break the tie. This new jury member will evaluate only the tied nominations and will rate them using the same criteria used by the other jurors.
In the event that no nominee can be declared the awardee, no award shall be given that year.
The jury chair shall use the qualitative feedback from the jury as well as their own judgment to write a ~ 250-word citation stating the rationale for making the award.

Nature of the Award

The John Cotton Dana Award, commemorating the founder and first President of SLA, was established in 1979. The award is sponsored by the Association-at-Large and consists of an engraved glass flame.

Presentation of the Award

The award shall be presented at the Information Science Summit & Special Libraries Conference.

Important Dates

Jury Appointment: March 15
Submission Deadline: April 8 (or adjacent weekday)
Selection Deadline: May 15