ALIA Information Online Group

Excellence Award - Guidelines

1. Purpose: To acknowledge excellence/innovation in performance by an information professional.

2. Frequency: Biennial. The Award will be presented at the ALIA Information Online Conference.

3. Nature of the Award:
The recipient will be presented with a perpetual trophy.

The Award will also cover:

• Full registration, for an individual, to a conference of their choice (within the parameters of the Information profession, and subject to ALIA IOG committee agreement) anywhere in the world
• Travel
• Accommodation or per-diem allowance
• The total value of the award shall be up to $10,000 with all arrangements being undertaken by the awardee.

4. Selection Criteria: The Award will focus on performance in the two years preceding the Conference (eg. for the 2009 Conference, applications will require demonstrated performance during 2007-2008) and will primarily be based on a project undertaken individually or in collaboration. Nominations would be assessed against the following criteria:

• Contribution to, and enhancement of, the information profession/industry
• Outstanding project work, whether by an individual or as part of a team
• Collaboratively working within or between organisations
• Originality/innovation regarding services or solutions
• Excellence / innovation in terms of best practice

5. Outputs: The awardee will

• Undertake an IOG Online OnTour to a number of Australian locations, to discuss and share information about the project/study. [The tour should be in the same year as the ALIA Information Online Conference in which the award was presented.]
• Submit an inCite article or journal article for the Australian Library Journal or Australian Academic and Research Libraries Journal

6. Eligibility: All award nominees must be either

• A current personal member of ALIA, or,
• One nominated ALIA representative of an institutional member

7. How to Apply: Nominations must be submitted to the ALIA IOG Secretary using the form available from the ALIA IOG website, describing the nature of the nominee's contribution, together with the endorsement of a seconder.

8. Deadline: The nomination must be received by 31 August of the year preceding the ALIA Information Online Conference.

9. Presentation of the Award: The Award is presented at the biennial ALIA Information Online Conference, by the IOG Conference Convener.

10. Decision Process: Nominees are considered by a Panel, with a representative from the following:

• ALIA Academic, Research and Collection Management Group
• ALIA Acquisitions Group
• ALIA Health Libraries Australia Group
• ALIA Information Online Group
• ALIA National Library Technicians Group
• ALIA New Graduates Group
• ALIA TAFE National Group
• The last recipient of this Award
• Vendor representative
• Library School representatives (from a TAFE library course and / or from a University library course); one representative to cover both, chosen on a rota basis.

• The Panel will vote for their top 3 choices, in order of merit.
• The 3 choices will be weighted (3 points for first choice, 2 points for second choice, one point for the third choice).
• The choices are submitted to the ALIA IOG Committee.
• The winner will be by a simple majority - if there is a tie, the casting vote lies with the IOG Committee.
• The ALIA IOG Committee will make a recommendation to the ALIA Membership and Awards Standing Committee to confirm the selected nominee.
• The result will not be disclosed to the Panel before the Conference Dinner. The nominations and the results are to remain confidential until announced on that night.
• The top 3 nominations will be invited to the Dinner